Death, Dying, Grief, and Mourning in Western Literature
Accidental - Animals - Assassinations - Biblical - Burial Rites - Criminals - Children - Friend - Funerals - Grief - Group/Genocide - Heroes - Lover/Spouse - Martyrs - Metaphoric - Mourning - Murder - Mysterious - Noble - Old Age
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Accidental: | Victor Hugo, Hunchback of Notre Dame | Priest |
| Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime & Punishment | Friend | |
| Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy | Roberta | |
| Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God | Tea Cake | |
| Nevil Shute, Trustee from the Tool Room | John Dermott and wife |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Animals: (Sacrificial) | Bulfinch Mythology, Legends of Charlemagne | Rinaldo |
| Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis | Gregor Samsa | |
| Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises | Bull | |
| Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible | African Gray Parrot | |
| Monique Truong, The Book of Salt | “Old Man” |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Animals: (Pets) | John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga | Balthasar |
| Katherine Mansfield, The Canary/ Dove’s Nest | The Canary | |
| Farley Mowat, The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be | Mutt | |
| Monique Truong, The Book of Salt | Bird & Mother | |
| Jennifer Lash, Blood Ties | Birkin |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assassinations Murder Criminals | Homer, The Iliad | Patroklos |
| Euripides, Alcestis | Alcestis | |
| Bulfinch Mythology, Legends of Charlemagne | Rinaldo | |
| Shakespeare, Othello | Othello | |
| James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans | Cora & Magua | |
| Alexander Pushkin, Queen of Spades | Countess & Ghost | |
| Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime & Punishment | Pawnbroker | |
| Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray | Dorian Gray | |
| Joseph Conrad, An Outcast of the Islands | Willems | |
| Franz Kafka, The Trial | Herr K | |
| Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy | Roberta | |
| William Faulkner, Light in August | Joe Christmas | |
| John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men | Lenny | |
| Albert Camus, The Stranger | The Arab | |
| Truman Capote, In Cold Blood | Hickock | |
| John le Carre', Smiley’s People | Leipzig | |
| Toni Morrison, Beloved | Sethe | |
| Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain | Inman | |
| Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones | Susie Salmon |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Biblical | King James, The Bible, Deuteronomy 32 & 34 | Moses |
| King James, The Bible, Ecclesiastes 9 & 12 | Humankind | |
| Unknown, Book of J. 177 & 178 | Moses | |
| King James, New Testament | Jesus | |
| John Milton, Paradise Lost | Redeemer |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Burial Rites Funerals Rituals after Death | Unknown, Gilgamesh | Enkidu |
| King James, The Bible, Deuteronomy 32 & 34 | Moses | |
| Unknown, Book of J. 177 & 178 | Moses | |
| King James, New Testament | Jesus | |
| Modern Text, Beowulf | Beowulf | |
| Snirru Sturluson, Prose Edda, The Death of Balder | Balder | |
| The Sagas of the Icelanders, Viga Glum’s Saga | Thorvald Tafald | |
| J. Bedieren, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult | Tristan & Iseult | |
| Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron | Salvestra & Girolamo | |
| Johathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travel’s | Burial Rites | |
| Marie Henri Beyle (Stendhal), Red & Black | Julien Sorel | |
| Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Arthur Huntingdon | |
| Emile Zola, Nana | Nana | |
| Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace | Prince Andrey | |
| Leo Tolstoy, Death of Ivan Ilych | Ivan Ilych | |
| James Joyce, Ulysses | Patty Digham’s Funeral | |
| Joseph Roth, The Radetzky March | Emperor Francis Joseph & Von Trotta | |
| Harold Robbins, A Stone For Danny Fisher | Danny Fisher | |
| Farley Mowat, The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be | Mutt |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Child Children | Euripides, Medea | Alcestis |
| Euripides, The Trojan Women | Astyanax | |
| Mary Shelley, The Last Man | Son & Wife | |
| Victor Hugo, Hunchback of Notre Dame | Esmerelda | |
| Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop | Little Nell | |
| Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Match-Seller | Match-girl | |
| George Eliot, Mill on the Floss | Tom & Maggie | |
| Walt Whitman, Death of a Pennsylvania Soldier | Frank H. Irwin | |
| Mark Twain, The Death of Jean | Jean, Daughter | |
| Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis | Gregor Samsa | |
| Thomas Mann, Magic Mountain | Joachim Ziemssen | |
| Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy | Roberta | |
| Harold Robbins, A Stone For Danny Fisher | Danny Fisher | |
| Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones | Susie Salmon |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Friend | Unknown, Gilgamesh | Enkidu |
| Homer, The Iliad | Patroklos | |
| Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron | Salvestra & Girolamo | |
| Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote | Don Quixote | |
| Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop | Little Nell | |
| Emile Zola, Nana | Nana | |
| Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace | Prince Andrey | |
| Steven Crane, The Red Badge of Courage | The Tall Soldier | |
| Henry James, Portrait of a Lady | Ralph Touchett | |
| John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga | Old Jolyon & Balthasar | |
| James Joyce, Ulysses | Patty Digham’s Funeral | |
| Katherine Mansfield, The Canary/ Dove’s Nest | The Canary | |
| Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop | Fa. Jean Marie Latour | |
| William Faulkner, Light in August | Joe Christmas | |
| William Faulkner, Delta Autumn | McCaslin | |
| Helen Zenna Smith, Not so Quiet on the Western Front | Women - WWI | |
| Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall | Granny | |
| Joseph Roth, The Tale of the 1002nd Night | Von Taittinger | |
| John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men | Lenny | |
| Irene Nemirovsky, Suite Francaise | Charlie Langelet | |
| Simone De Beauvoir, She Came to Stay | Xaviere | |
| Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood | Mr. Motes | |
| Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory | Cousin | |
| Carson McCullers, Clock Without Hands | J. T. Malone | |
| Joseph Heller, Catch 22 | Snowden | |
| John le Carre', Smiley’s People | Leipzig | |
| Adam Zameenzad, My Friend Matt | Golam et.al. | |
| Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient | English Patient | |
| Jennifer Lash, Blood Ties | Birkin | |
| Monique Truong, The Book of Salt | Mother & Pigeon |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Grief Mourning | Unknown, Gilgamesh | Enkidu |
| Sophocles, Oedipus The King | Jocasta | |
| Euripides, Alcestis | Alcestis | |
| King James, New Testament | Jesus | |
| Snirru Sturluson, Prose Edda, The Death of Balder | Balder | |
| Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat | Omar Khayyam | |
| J. Bedieren, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult | Tristan & Iseult | |
| Dante Alighieri, La Vita Nuova | Beatrice | |
| Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron | Salvestra & Girolamo | |
| Geoffrey Chaucer, Knight’s Tales | Arcite | |
| Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur | King Arthur | |
| Shakespeare, Richard II | Richard | |
| Shakespeare, Henry V | Falstaff | |
| Shakespeare, King Lear | Lear | |
| Johathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travel’s | Burial Rites | |
| Sir Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor | Lucy | |
| Marie Henri Beyle (Stendhal), Red & Black | Julien Sorel | |
| Anton Chekhov, The Bishop | The Bishop | |
| Mark Twain, The Death of Jean | Jean, Daughter | |
| D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers | Mother | |
| James Joyce, Ulysses | Patty Digham’s Funeral | |
| Katherine Mansfield, The Canary/ Dove’s Nest | The Canary | |
| Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall | Granny | |
| Katherine Anne Porter, Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Adam | |
| Katherine Anne Porter, Ship of Fools | Echegaray, The Basque | |
| Joseph Roth, The Radetzky March | Emperor Francis Joseph & Von Trotta | |
| Audous Huxley, Brave New World | Linda | |
| Farley Mowat, The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be | Mutt | |
| Monique Truong, The Book of Salt | Mother & Pigeon | |
| Jennifer Lash, Blood Ties | Birkin |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Group Mass Genocide | King James, The Bible, Ecclesiastes 9 & 12 | Humankind |
| Thucydides, Pericles, The Funeral Speech | Greek Soldiers | |
| Theodoret, Of the Massacre of Thessalonica | Towns’ people | |
| John of Apamea, Ecclesiastical History (Fragments) | Soldiers | |
| Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias | Martyrs | |
| Helen Zenna Smith, Not so Quiet on the Western Front | Women - WWI | |
| Adam Zameenzad, My Friend Matt | Golam et.al. | |
| Sebastien Japrisot, A Very Long Engagement | French Soldiers | |
| Harold Pinter, Death etc. | Anonymous Body |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Heroes Heroic Noble | Unknown, Gilgamesh | Enkidu |
| Unknown, Book of J. 177 & 178 | Moses | |
| Homer, The Iliad | Patroklos | |
| Aeschylus, Agamemnon | Agamemnon | |
| Thucydides, Pericles, The Funeral Speech | Greek Soldiers | |
| King James, New Testament | Jesus | |
| Theodoret, Of the Massacre of Thessalonica | Towns’ people | |
| Bulfinch Mythology, Legends of Charlemagne | Rinaldo | |
| Arabian Nights, Angel of Death | The Proud, The Devout | |
| The Battle of Maldon | Brythnoth | |
| Beowulf | Beowulf | |
| Snirru Sturluson, Prose Edda, The Death of Balder | Balder | |
| Unknown, Chanson de Roland | Roland | |
| The Sagas of the Icelanders, Viga Glum’s Saga | Thorvald Tafald | |
| J. Bedieren, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult | Tristan & Iseult | |
| Geoffrey Chaucer, Knight’s Tales | Arcite | |
| Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur | King Arthur | |
| Shakespeare, Henry V | Falstaff | |
| Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote | Don Quixote | |
| James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans | Cora & Magua | |
| Walt Whitman, Death of a Pennsylvania Soldier | Frank H. Irwin | |
| Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace | Prince Andrey | |
| Steven Crane, The Red Badge of Courage | The Tall Soldier | |
| Thomas Mann, Magic Mountain | Joachim Ziemssen | |
| F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby | Gatsby | |
| William Faulkner, Light in August | Joe Christmas | |
| Helen Zenna Smith, Not so Quiet on the Western Front | Women - WWI | |
| Joseph Heller, Catch 22 | Snowden | |
| Sebastien Japrisot, A Very Long Engagement | French Soldiers | |
| Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient | English Patient | |
| Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain | Inman |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lover/ Spouse | Sophocles, Oedipus The King | Jocasta |
| Euripides, Alcestis | Alcestis | |
| Ovid, Metamorphoses | Pyramus & Thisbe | |
| Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Macrina | Macrina | |
| Theodoret, Of the Massacre of Thessalonica | Towns’ people | |
| Dante Alighieri, La Vita Nuova | Beatrice | |
| Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron | Salvestra & Girolamo | |
| Geoffrey Chaucer, Knight’s Tales | Arcite | |
| Shakespeare, Othello | Othello | |
| Shakespeare, Hamlet | Ophelia | |
| Shakespeare, Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | |
| Wolfgang Von Goethe, Sorrows of Young Werther | Werther | |
| Sir Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor | Lucy | |
| Mary Shelley, The Last Man | Son & Wife | |
| James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans | Cora & Magua | |
| Victor Hugo, Hunchback of Notre Dame | Esmerelda | |
| Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist | Nancy | |
| Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre | Bertha Rochester | |
| Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights | Catherine | |
| Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Arthur Huntingdon | |
| Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary | Madame Bovary | |
| Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime & Punishment | Marmeladov | |
| Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace | Prince Andrey | |
| Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina | Anna Karenina | |
| Leo Tolstoy, Death of Ivan Ilych | Ivan Ilych | |
| Joseph Conrad, An Outcast of the Islands | Willems | |
| D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers | Mother | |
| Henry James, Portrait of a Lady | Ralph Touchett | |
| Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie | Hurstwood | |
| Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy | Roberta & Clyde | |
| Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway | Septimus | |
| William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying | Addie | |
| Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall | Granny | |
| Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God | Tea Cake | |
| Caroline Slade, The Triumph of Willie Pond | Willie Pond | |
| Simone De Beauvoir, She Came to Stay | Xaviere | |
| Harold Robbins, A Stone For Danny Fisher | Danny Fisher | |
| Carson McCullers, Clock Without Hands | J. T. Malone | |
| C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed | Wife, Helen Joy | |
| Toni Morrison, Beloved | Sethe | |
| Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera | Dr. Juveral Urbino | |
| Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient | English Patient | |
| Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain | Inman |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Martyrs Sacrificial Religious Person | King James, The Bible, Deuteronomy 32 & 34 | Moses |
| Unknown, Book of J. 177 & 178 | Moses | |
| King James, New Testament | Jesus | |
| Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Macrina | Macrina | |
| Jacob of Sarug, The Fall of the Idols | Martyr | |
| The Holy Qur’an | Believers | |
| Bulfinch Mythology, Legends of Charlemagne | Rinaldo | |
| Arabian Nights, Angel of Death | The Proud, The Devout | |
| Roswitha, Dulcitus | Irena | |
| Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias | Martyrs | |
| John Milton, Paradise Lost | Redeemer |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Metaphoric | Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat | Omar Khayyam |
| Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis | Gregor Samsa | |
| Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises | Bull | |
| Adam Zameenzad, My Friend Matt | Golam et.al. | |
| Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible | African Gray Parrot | |
| Monique Truong, The Book of Salt | Mother & Pigeon | |
| Harold Pinter, Death etc. | Anonymous Body |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mysterious | Unknown, Gilgamesh | Enkidu |
| Sir Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor | Lucy | |
| Alexander Pushkin, Queen of Spades | Countess & Ghost | |
| Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray | Dorian Gray |
| Accidental: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Old Age | King James, The Bible, Deuteronomy 32 & 34 | Moses |
| Unknown, Book of J. 177 & 178 | Moses | |
| Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote | Don Quixote | |
| Anton Chekhov, The Bishop | The Bishop | |
| Thomas Mann, Death in Venice | Gustav Aschenbach | |
| Marcel Proust, Guermantes Way | Grandmother | |
| Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop | Fa. Jean Marie Latour | |
| William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying | Addie | |
| William Faulkner, Delta Autumn | McCaslin | |
| Vita Sackville-West, All Passion Spent | Lady Slane | |
| Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall | Granny | |
| Joseph Roth, The Radetzky March | Emperor Francis Joseph | |
| Caroline Slade, The Triumph of Willie Pond | Willie Pond | |
| Conrad Richter, The Town | Mother Sayward | |
| Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood | Mr. Motes | |
| C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed | Wife, Helen Joy | |
| Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine | Great-grandma | |
| Jennifer Lash, Blood Ties | Birkin | |
| Monique Truong, The Book of Salt | Mother & Pigeon |