Natural Disasters and Grief: An Analysis

The following is an essay assigned to me by my English teacher after reading Upon the Burning of our House by Anne Bradstreet.

Natural Disasters and Grief: Ananalysis by Brian A. Wong

Natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami of 2004, can generate many emotions. There are many aspects of grief, but society as a whole does not akways recognize the emotional aspect of natural disasters. The most common of these emotions is grief and the grief related to natural disasters should not be ignored.

John W. James and Russell Friedman founded The Grief Recovery Institute in Sherman Oaks, California. The Institute works to educate those who are grieving a loss about their feelings and to find ways to complete the un-finished emotional aspects of their loss. They have written a book titled The Grief Recovery Handbook: The Action Program for moving beyond Death, Divorce, and other Losses. There is no correct definition of grief. But James and Friedman define grief in very general terms: "the normal and natural reaction to loss of any kind," and "the conflicting feelings caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior."

In the news of Hurricane Katrina you probably saw families who lost their houses and were angry. The family had everyone with them, but their house was washed out. This is also a loss. As mentioned before, society does not always recognize the emotional aspects of a natural disaster. Instead we consider grief to be only related to death and that is not true; that is a myth.

Another form of natural disasters is a house burning down. In Anne Bradstreet's poem "On the Burning of my House," she talks about how she values her family more than her possessions. Assuming that this poem was written within one month of the burning, she may have later began to feel some emotions for her tangible possessions; sometimes it takes time for reality to sink into our minds after a significant loss. Most of us are used to acquiring things but are not prepared with what to do when we lose them. "While we have learned much about acquiring things, we have precious little accurate information on what to do when we lose them," says James and Friedman in the Handbok.

With a couple of situations being listed, it would be best to look at how these people coped with their losses. Bradstreet coped by means of poetry and mentioning God in her poetry; Bradstreet included religion in her poetry. The survivors of the hurricane may use other methods: creating online memorials, submitting In Memoriam notices in papers, or establishing memorial funds in their loved ones' names. As viewed in both instances, we grieve in different ways.

Bradstreet shows through poetry, that losing a house is also a reason to experience grief. In the original Showtime dark comedy "Dead Like Me," an episode, titled "Sunday Mornings" a college English professor talks about how poetry and literature contributes to loss. The professor recently experienced the sudden death of his daughter and talks to his class about how he found comfort in the sonnets, poems, and other forms of literature when his sad emotions were at their peak.

While we pay attention to grief connected with death, we should also pay equal attention to grief connected to natural disasters, losses that are not related to death.