IRB Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Mary Roach introduces the subject of death in a rather interesting manner; she compares being dead as going on a cruise. "These cruises take their passengers to unknown, unimagined places. They give them the chance to do things they would not otherwise get to do"(1). Roach then goes on to justify this heavy topic of using human cadavers for experiments with humor. She describes Cadavers as superheroes and lists a bunch of "abilities" that they possess: the ability to brave fire, withstand falls from buildings, gunshots, and being in six places at once. She then concludes the paragraph with a statement that leaves the audience thinking, "What are shame to waste these powers, to not use them for the betterment of humankind" (3). This thought provoking sentence helps sway audience members who have previously been hesitant about reading a book about corpses and convinces them to keep on reading. Roach continues to clarify her book by stating, "this book is not about death as in dying" (4). Dying is sad and profound because it is the loss of a loved one. She characterizes the dead on the other hand as hulls and just the shell of a person who use to be. By contrasting between death and dying, the audience can see that Roach approaches this subject in a humane matter and they are further able to  understand the position Roach is taking on in her book. Besides the use of humor to approach as touchy subject, Roach also employs the use of perspective to her advantage. Stiff is written in first person and third person as well as both the past and present. When writing about historical events, she uses third person and appears in the past tense, taking on a tone that is less intimate and more objective. Here, her primary focus is to communicate information to the reader, and not necessarily to be humorous. However, when she appears in the first person in the present tense, Roach seems to be "very present" to the reader and establishes humor as well as intimacy and immediacy. By alternating between these two tenses, Roach effectively alternates her tone and mood of her writing to suit the situation.