Traumatic events leave an unforgettable imprint on people. It is often how people handle trauma that determines how they move forward with their lives. Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief" is about the plane bombing that took the lives of many people and how the families of these people deal with the grief they face. “Big Boy Leaves Home” by Richard Wright follows Big Boy as he goes on the run after killing a white soldier who killed two of his friends. As he tries to hide and survive, he must also grieve for his friends. Both stories focus on tragedy and grief, and the way these characters deal with grief reflects the realities that affect everyone. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Mukherjee begins his story by creating a chaotic scene. Many gathered at Sheila's house trying to make sense of a plane that had supposedly gone off-grid but was rumored to have a terrorist bomb. To understand the intensity of the situation, Mukherjee writes: “Two radios are on in the dining room. They are tuned to different stations… The big TV in the study is broadcast through American networks and cable channels.” (156) The description of this scene shows how no one knows or understands what is really happening. Everyone is trying to stay tuned to the media to see if they find out what happened to the plane. As the story continues to develop, readers feel the desperation and hysteria growing between Sheila and the other characters, because deep down they may have realized that their loved ones will not return. Mukherjee continues to write: “I wonder if the pills alone explain this calm. Not peace, just a dead silence. I have always been controlled, but never repressed. The sound can reach me, but my body is tense, ready to scream." (157) Even though Sheila seems to be in denial, it seems like her mind and body have accepted the sad truth that will soon come their way. This is, unfortunately, a universal reality. Tragedy is never an easy subject to accept, especially if it means wasting the time of a large number of loved ones. Denial is usually the first step that many take because they cannot accept death and prefer to be disappointed until proven otherwise. However, once people move away from denial, it is no longer easy to accept them as they try to grasp the reality that their loved ones will not be returning and that they may not have had the chance to say goodbye properly. onwards and the characters discover that the plane was actually bombed and that everyone died, so they have to go and identify the bodies. From there, many processed their grief in various ways. Mukherjee goes on to write: “Kusum has put his house up for sale…Pam has left for California…Dr Ranganathan…is changing jobs, going to Ottawa. But Ottawa is more than a hundred miles away, and he is forced to drive two hundred and twenty miles a day. He can't bring himself to sell his house. (165) Sheila believed that Kusum was running away, although she justified herself by saying that she was seeking inner peace. Readers can argue that Sheila might have felt the same about Pam, who also moved to a new place to start over. However, disconnecting from the place that brings pain is an approach taken by many. Returning to a place full of memories often becomes too much for them to bear, so leaving that place behind and starting from scratch is their way of dealing with the pain without having to constantly remember thepeople who were no longer with them. As for Sheila, she dealt with the deaths of her husband and two children in a strange way. During a visit to India, her husband spoke to her. Mukherjee writes: “Should I stay? I ask, but already the image is fading. You must finish alone what we started together. (164) Sheila's husband asked her from death to continue living, even if she were alone. To do this, Sheila returned to Canada to resume her life as best she could, even though it was still difficult for her to come to terms with it. Once she received a sign from her husband that he was doing what he asked, Sheila fully felt as if she could begin to truly live and overcome such a sad period in her life. The tragedy that follows Big Boy is very different from what happened with Sheila. It had all started innocently enough when Big Boy and his friends Bobo, Buck and Lester decided to skip school and invade a private area to go swimming. What started as innocent fun quickly escalated when they were seen by a white woman screaming because she felt her life was in danger. Although they did their best to assure her that they simply wanted to collect their clothes and leave, they did not escape so easily. As a result of her screaming, her partner, Jim, also a soldier, arrives with a gun and threatens to kill them all. Wright writes: “Lester grunted, stiffened, and lunged forward. His forehead hit the toes of the woman's shoes... Buck stopped at the edge of the bank, his head rolled back, his body arched stiffly to one side; it fell headlong, sending up a shower of bright spray in the sunlight. ("Big Boy Leaves Home") Jim ends up shooting and killing two of the boys. Since everything happened so quickly, Big Boy and Bobo may not have had time to process what had happened to their friends, especially if they were trying to run for their lives. Because they lived in a time when Jim Crow laws were still in effect, they had no choice but to run away to avoid being lynched. However, tragedy followed him as he continued on his journey. Big Boy ran until he felt he was a safe distance away, and then hid in a hole in the ground until the coast was clear. However, the mob that wanted to lynch Big Boy and Bobo soon found their way to him, and Big Boy feared for his life, along with Bobo, because he would have to join him soon. Unfortunately, the mob ended up capturing Bobo and burning him alive with tar. Wright goes on to write, “Big Boy could see the barrel surrounded by flames… His eyes looked at a long dark spot near the fire… That dark spot had moved. Lawd, that's Bobo... He smelled the tar, faintly at first, then stronger. The wind brought it to his face, then took it away. ("Big Boy Leaves Home") The death of his last friend was ultimately too much for Big Boy to accept. He must have felt very alone, especially considering that he had to leave his family behind, and ultimately even put them at risk. to get hurt. Having to deal with the deaths of all his friends in such a short time and under extremely cruel circumstances didn't allow Big Boy to truly accept the desperation he felt. Wright described: “Now he had no feelings, no fears. He was numb, empty, as if all the blood had been drained from him. ("Big Boy Leaves Home") Considering that Big Boy had witnessed death so close to him, it's fitting that he went into a state of shock and then numbness. It must have been easier for him to deprive himself of feelings because mourning could have been his final fall into death. If he chose to dwell in his pain, he could 2015.