Levi-Strauss and Today's Relationship between the Living and the Dead

Something that struck me as interesting in this week’s readings was Pearson’s allusion to Claude Levi-Strauss’s description of the relationships between the living and dead.  Strauss argued that “the wide variation of power relationships between living and dead [fall] somewhere between two poles, epitomized by stories of the 'grateful corpse' and the 'enterprising knight.'  These two metaphors represent two worlds in which one is shared with the dead, and in the other the dead play little part as long as they are respected.  This interpretation of relationship to the dead set me thinking.  What does our society represent? Perhaps more importantly, what do I believe?  It seems that today our society may have become so secular that even the latter interpretation is redundant.  However, the more introspection I did on the topic, the more I came to realize this is not so cut and dry.  All around us are monuments to the dead.  People still feel that no ill will should be said of the recently deceased.  This is probably not the best example, but when a famous figure or celebrity passes away, it is frowned upon to joke on the subject.  Is this because we believe the dead should be respected? Does this respect come out of a fear of retribution? Probably not.  What I find interesting though, is that it is done out of a sense of avoiding harm to the recently deceased.  It is almost as if they can still be present and have feelings in the living and tangible world. 

            Personally, I can relate to the second interpretation of Strauss’s.  Although, I would argue that I respect the memories of those close to me, not because I fear retribution, but because I feel that allows them to continue partially in my life.  If I recall the lessons from my grandfather, and I imagine him there telling me how to live and what to do, in a way his memory is contributing to my world today…