¶ … Dead
Jim Crace's book, "Being Dead," is the story of two zoologists who are murdered on the beach. While some people believe the book presents a scientific view of death, however, there are many hints throughout the book that God played a part in the deaths. The author looks at the biological side of death, but there is another part of the book that is quite important, and that is why they were on the beach in the first place, and how much they loved each other. These are acts of faith and fate, and they show that there is more than science involved in the story.
Early in the book, the author writes "Anyone who found them there, so wickedly disfigured, would nevertheless be bound to see that something of their love had survived the death of cells" (Crace 30). That is because in his last moments, Joseph reaches out to touch his wife. This is the final act of love between them, and it shows their faith in each other and their love. It shows that God was with them when they died, and he placed them on the beach that day for a purpose. They had not revisited this beach, where they first made love, for 30 years, and there was a reason they were there that day. They had to die so their daughter could be reborn. As the author says late in the book, "Their deaths were her beginning" (Crace 348). They had to die for her to become human and loving again, and she had to see the outward sign of their love, her father's hand on her mother's ankle, to understand life and love.
Ultimately, God played a part in their deaths because he created them, and he caused them to be there on the dunes that day. There were many events that could have changed and placed them somewhere else, but everything fell into place according to fate and God's plan. He even placed the murderer in the same area. They were supposed to visit the dunes that day; it was their fate and God's plan for them. They needed to die to show Syl that they loved her, and that she needed to change her life.
References
Crace, Jim. Being Dead: A Novel. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.
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