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Enrique Flores
English 113B
Professor Batty
March 26, 2015
Get Me Out: Buried Alive
While waking up, you realize that you are trapped in an underground box of some sort,
perhaps a coffin. First of all, no one would like to wake up buried under any type of material,
which is just not humane at all. In the coffin with you are a cellphone and a Zippo lighter. Next,
you soon realize that you have an hour or more of oxygen left to figure a way out and that you
are six feet underground. Whom would you call first, whom will you have your last few minutes
of conversation with? Or will you try to find your exact location and call someone for help?
Would you have hope of being rescued? Or would you give up on life entirely? (Rodrigo). Being
buried alive underground or under any type of debris can causes someone to become
claustrophobic, which is the fear of confined spaces, which causes a person to feel as if they have
lost self-control; also the individual may become provoked to anxiety because of the terrifying
fear of death itself.
In the article, Buried Alive with Terror, Emotion, by Claudia Puig, Puig tells her
audience that being buried alive is our primal fear. She is writing about how a movie called
Buried, directed by Rodrigo Cortes in 2010 and written by Chris Sparling, uses the setting in this
case, of being buried alive underground, in a coffin, to causes us to become claustrophobic and
become scared of death. Ryan Reynolds stars as Paul Conroy, an American truck driver occupied
in Iraq, whom wakes up buried alive. Reynolds shows us during his time in the coffin; the
horrific and terrifying time he had in the prone position trapped in a confined space, worried

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because he was without control of the situation he was in, and praying for his life (Rodrigo). In
her article, Puig reconfirms her argument and agrees with my view that one should never be
buried alive, Very simply, Buried plays on out most primal fears, boldly thrusting us into
situation most of us hope never to experience, at least not while we are alive.(Puig1). No one
wants to be buried alive not until they are actually dead. So any living human being should never
be put in that place, because the fear of being in a confined space causes one to lose control of
their selves and they begin to panic and freak out like Reynold was in the movie Buried. Also no
one wants to die not until it is their time to go. In the prone position, the camera angles switch
from close-ups to inside the coffin; which shows the character Ryan Reynoldss frantic panic
attacks and thoughts. Reynolds panic attacks come from his fear of confined spaces and of death
because the last thing he remembers is being in an explosion in Iraq (Rodrigo). In conclusion,
Reynolds character ends up dying because the FBI did not find him in time. Puig is telling her
audience that being buried alive is one of our most fearful fears due to the fear of confined
spaces and death.
In contrast, another person who was buried alive, but not technically underground, but
still buried beneath building debris, never lost hope and soon lived again. In the article, John
Mcloughlin: The Survivor, by Georgina Brennan, Brennan writes how a Port Authority Police
Department officer named John Mcloughlin was rescued from being buried under building debris
during the disaster in September 2001. The PAPD controls the law enforcement, firefighters, and
rescue operations in both New York and New Jersey. They also protect the World Trade Center,
which is the executive office and police station. Sergeant John Mcloughlin was pulled from thirty
feet of building debris after a period of twenty-two hours; he was still alive, but he was in critical
condition. Mcloughlin was sent to rescue and recover people from the first plane crash on

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September 11, 2001. Mcloughlin recalls, "We were on the concourse getting emergency
equipment to start recovery in the towers. We were between both towers when debris started to
fall. We did not know the building was coming down. Three of us ran down by the freight
elevator hallway to get away."(Brennan 1). During this time period Mcloughlin was scared for
his life and was scared to die like is fellow officers. Seconds later, Mcloughlin is pinned to the
ground from the hips down. Now Mcloughlin is stuck, becoming claustrophobic, and fighting for
his life. He does not know whether he will live to tell his story or not. After hours passed
Mcloughlin was pulled out, but both of his legs were crushed and he suffered from compartment
syndrome where the chemicals inside the body began to destroy the tissues in his upper body.
Mcloughlin says, "They didn't know if I would make it the first night. I had to have skin grafts on
three-quarters of my body. I had no feeling in my feet or ankles."(Brennan 1). Mcloughlin
suffered from claustrophobia for over twenty-two hours and he was also afraid that he would not
make it out to see his family again. Mcloughlin unlike Reynolds character Paul, Mcloughlin was
able to have hope and strength to soon live again. In conclusion, Mcloughlins story was different
from Pauls story because Mcloughlin was able to fight through the pain and suffering from these
fears and was able to overcome it.
In the book, Buried Secrets, by Joseph Finder, Finder wants to tell the world of the fear of
claustrophobia and the fear of death. He wants people to know the really truth of these fears and
why people should not be put in these types of situations. The book starts with a teenaged girl
named Alexandra at a bar that meets a stranger that she thinks is handsome. The man soon offers
her a ride home, but surprisingly the girl does not end up home but ends up ten feet underground
in a coffin, not to mention that she has a very extreme fear of confined spaces. This was not the
first time that Alexandra has been kidnaped, so she has feared for alive before in the same life or

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death situation. In the book Heller talks to Alex about her fears and dangers, I told her that she
was not only a girl, but a beautiful girl, and a rich girl and that those were three strikes against
her I showed her some rudimentary self-defense techniques, a few basic martial-arts moves,
nothing to fancy, but enough. (Finder). This quote tells us that Heller had to teach her how to
protect herself if anything like this happens. The book shifts between the buried girl, the
kidnapper, the past, and the present. What we do not know is that Alexandras dad, Marshall
Marcus, is involved with some sort of criminal activity. Her dad asks a close friend by the name
of Nick Heller, to help him get his daughter back because Marcus in soon arrested. Heller will
find Alexandra and will find out whom and why did they kidnap her in the first place. The
kidnapper put a camera in the coffin with her Alexandra, so her family can see her suffer from
claustrophobia and pray for her life (Finder). She is scared of confined spaces because she feels
as she is not in control and wants to get out of the coffin as soon as possible. In conclusion, Nick
ends up finding out that one of Marcuss close friend had hired someone to kidnapper his
daughter because he owed him money. Alex has feared for her life once more and has suffered
from her dreadful fear of confined spaces again, but to the extreme of being in a tiny box ten feet
underground. Alex was saved but she will never forget to fortune her life and the space around
her.
In conclusion, any living human being should never have to be buried under anything
even if it is an avalanche of snow, building debris, mud slide, or anything else that would cause
one to feel a fear of death or a loss of control. Claustrophobia is a real problem and should be
taken serious, because it can cause a person to feel as if they have no control over what is going
on and make them also fear for their lives. Now that I have given you multiple sources, it is up to

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you how you react to any place that you might get buried in. Would you be scared of the
confined space or will you be clam or would you be scared to face your death or not?

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Works Cited
Buried. Dir. Rodrigo Cortes. By Chris Sparling. Perf. Ryan Reynolds. 2010. Film.

Finder, Joseph. Buried Secrets (Nick Heller# 2). St. Martins Press. 2011. Book.

Georgina, Brennan. John Mcloughlin: The Survivor. Irish America. New York. 2002. Print.

Puig, Claudia. Buried Alive with Terror, Emotion. USA Today. McLean, Va. 2010. Print.