Faith Walker Dr.

Nighan Honors British Literature October 7, 2011 Auto-Wreck Philosophers have pondered the meaning of life and death from the beginning of time. Death occurs every day, but no one is able to fully comprehend or the questions that follow. In Auto Wreck, Karl Shapiro illuminates how irrational death can be. From his poem, Shapiro presents death as an event that can never fully be reasoned with because death is supernatural, and through this poem, it can be inferred that death frequently occurs on unexplainable terms, bringing questions that can never be reasoned with fully. Death, in the poem, is presented as an everyday occurrence. An accident where someone had died has just occurred. Yet, police officers sweep glass and are large and composed (line 16), while the witnesses of this accident are terribly affected. One cop in particular is making notes under the light (line 17), while another with a bucket douches ponds of blood/into the street and gutter (line 18/19). At these lines, the reader can easily assume that the cops, who are handling the situation, have done so frequently. It can be inferred that this accident was fatal enough were at least one person has died, and there is enough blood in the street where it has to be cleaned up with a bucket. However, one of the cops takes notes on the incident as if it can be accurately described on a piece of paper. But death, in and of itself, isnt able to be fully described at all, yet alone on a piece of paper. Policemen are desensitized to the situation, because of its frequent, and less brutal, occurrence.

Although police officers are desensitized to the situation, many of the witnesses are unstable: We are deranged (line 15). Although the author uses we as a reference to the onlookers, he also uses the pronoun to include the readers in the poem. By using we, Shapiro insinuates that what he speaks of in the poem not only plagues the characters, but eventually everyone at some point in time. Many people are at a loss to speak: Our throats were as tight as tourniquets (line 22). The witnesses are more affected by death than the victim. While, the victims life is over, the witnesses are left to contemplate what has just happened, but there is no way to rationally make a conclusion on the events that have just transpired. To cover the fact that they are shaken by what they have seen, the witnesses attempt to smile at each other, but each smile is described as sickly smiles and warn with the stubborn saw of common sense (line 25). Through each of these smiles, each person tries to rationalize what they have just seen with their common sense, but they realize they cant. Their common sense, in a manner, is being sawed away, as they realize that they could have been the victim, as well as the fact that they are powerless to events that happen around them. This in the greatest sense: opens up our richest horror (line 30). As soon as people realize they are powerless to have stopped the accident or change anything they have just seen, they begin to realize that they are even more powerless to the supernatural events that surround death. Death, by definition of the poem: Invites the occult mind/Cancels our physics with a sneer (line 36/37). Death has three main reasons why its occurrence is supernatural; the first being death never needs a reason to happen. No death can be fully explained and every death that can be explained is done so limitedly. A person dies of cancer, because it slowly starts to take all the energy and weaken their health. But a severe car crash, even to someone in good health, can kill them. Death can occur suddenly, or slowly, but the full reason behind it will always remain

unknown. For death in war is done by hands; /Suicide has cause and stillbirth, logic;/And cancer, simple as a flower, blooms. (Lines 32-35) Every death mentioned above has a reason behind it, but if analyzed at a deeper level, would still have flaws. Just because someone fights in a war does not necessarily mean death nor is it a true reason behind the nature of death. Suicides reason is based on one persons emotions, stillbirth goes beyond science, and cancers reasons for blooming in one person, while not blooming in anothers is invalid. No death can be fully reasoned with; therefore no death can be fully predicated. Another, supernatural characteristic of death is that it is able to happen at any moment. Science, no matter how advanced, can ever determine the exact time of ones death. If at best, it can determine the time frame, but even this has been proven to be untrue in certain cases. The only person who can foresee when they are going to die, is that person, and only seconds before. For example, the readers can infer from the poem, that the person now dead, did not know of his coming death and even if he did, he still didnt have a chance to avoid it. Death is unavoidable, and can happen at any moment in any situation. This is why death cancels our physics; no science could factor, quantify, or qualify, all the times a person could die in their entire lifetime, because death could happen at any second.