Grief is often magnified when it involves more than one of these losses. In the biblical story of Job, the protagonist lost virtually everything, his family, amicable relationships with his friends, his home and sources of wealth, and even his health (Kroll, 2012)
Therefore, this story is extremely suitable for an examination of the five stages of grieving as denoted by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. There are a number of parallels between Job's emotions and actions during this austere test of God's design and the five stages of grieving that the author explains, which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Kubler-Ross, 1997)
In this particular religion, the death of certain individuals is a cause for rejoicing. Within the play a king of a particular tribe dies, and the religious ritual that accompanies this death is that the first born son is supposed to kill himself to look after the king in heaven (Soyinka, 1990)
Many experts believe that children can be taught about death during situations such as these, so that when it happens to a parent or sibling, they are better able to cope with the loss. One writer quotes a psychiatrist, saying, "She says it is important for parents to take advantage of these opportunities for education when the family is not in the midst of a crisis" (Hunker, 1997, p
Dr. Kubler-Ross notes, "In contrast to the stage of denial, this stage of anger is very difficult to cope with from the point-of-view of family and staff" (Kubler-Ross, 1989, p
Many people may not want the patient to die, because they believe there will be a miracle or a cure. Another writer notes, "Yet, not infrequently, I've heard family members say that they need to keep a dying loved one alive long enough 'for God to perform a miracle'" (Lustig, 2003, p
They are not happy with the outcome, but they know there is no other solution. It is interesting to note that Kubler-Ross came to these conclusions after interviewing numerous patients (Romulo, 2004)
He writes, "As Dr. Sherwin Nuland suggests, 'We live today in the era not of the art of dying, but of the art of saving life, and the dilemmas in that are multitudinous'" (Sexton, 1997)
'Oh, we have to get the ethics committee together,' and all this crap. I had a living will and they wanted to talk about ethics, okay?" (Tercel, 2001)