I think that being a coffin maker would be one of the most depressing jobs to
have. One would have to constantly be thinking about who is going to die and who had
just died. This occupation would be very influential on one's attitude towards life and
First of all, a coffin maker would have to always know who was sick and about to
die. They would have to be around sorrow and sickness all of the time. Like Jacob stated
about the police superintendent in "Rothschild's Fiddle" he "had waited impatiently for
him to die"(52). This just seems awful. It has to be a bad life to have to be waiting for
someone to die just to have a job.
Even after a person dies, the depressing part is not over. After a person dies the
coffin maker has to meet with the dead person's loved ones. The people he meets with
are normally really sad. This just makes things even more depressing, but it doesn't end
there. The next part of making the coffin would just makes things worse. First, the
coffin maker has to measure the dead body and then make the coffin after seeing the dead
body. It would just be horrible. I guess after a while the coffin maker gets used to the
process though and it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
A coffin maker's perception on life and death would be very different from just a
normal person's views. A coffin maker would probably start to view death as something
that happens all the time and starts to lessen the value on life. This idea is shown by
Jacob when "he took his iron ruler, went up to the old woman and measured her"(55).
This old woman being his wife is just unbelievable that he can think of this as not even a
big deal. He just thinks that this happens to everyone and it doesn't bother him that he
should be upset that his wife is dying. Jacob bel
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