Pipatsorn Cheewachatchawarn (Mint) 1107

Truths Behind Death

Death is inevitable. Humans have been struggling to avoid
death for centuries. People who seek for eternal life and eternal
youth to never die and never age. Some people believe elixir of life
allow them to abandon mortality. Qin Shi Huang, the emperor of
China, consumed elixir of life made of mercury to be immortal. New
inventions and medicines were invented. Billionaires turn towards
digital avatars to be immortal. These days technologies,
medication, surgery, and beauty treatments keep people away from
thinking about death. People avert their eyes from the facts that
death is after them every seconds of their lives, and no one has ever
succeed to have an eternal life. By Trilobites being truthful and
realistic reminds people of those facts. Breece DJ Pancakes uses
symbols to reveal some truths about death: the cup, Ginny, and the
trilobite.
Pancakes uses the cups to remind people that death is always
chasing after them. When Colly is in the caf, he sees the cups
hanging at the front of the caf, and they make him feel creepy.
There are four of them. Each one is labeled with its owners name.
Three of them, including his fathers one, are dirty, and covered with
grease. The dirty cups owners have passed away. No one uses
those cups anymore. The fourth cup is clean. It is Jims. The cups
can be seen as a countdown. The first person passed away, and his
cup becomes dirty. Three clean cups remains. Then, second person
and Collys father passed away, and their cups become dirty. Jims
cup is the last one. He is the only person who is alive. His friend has
passed away. Soon, the time when Jims cup becomes dirty will
come too. Colly knows that. Jim is old. He cannot move around
properly like he used to anymore. Colly tries to make a joke out of it.
Colly said to Jim, You stink so bad the undertakers following you
(Pancakes, 2014, p. 27). The one last clean cup disturbs Colly. It

emphasizes the fact that death is near Jim. Death is chasing Jim, and
it almost reaches Jim just like it reached his father.
People change. They do not stay the same. Death is not
always about he end of life. It is about losing someone. When people
change, the old them died. This can also be considered as death. In
Trilobites, Colly experiences Ginnys changes. Ginny comes back
from Florida. They decide to hang out together like they used to.
When they meet, Ginny tells Colly that he has not changed even a
bit. He is still the same Colly, but Ginny is not. Colly notices Ginny
changes while he is sitting beside Ginny in her car. Ginny has let her
hair grown. She wears clothes that Colly have never seen her wear
before. Ginny also wears a lot of accessories. As they talk, Colly
discovers more changes in Ginny. Ginny does not really care about
her hometown and the time here anymore. She gets bored at the
moment she arrived. She is really looking forward to go back to
Florida. She has a new boy friend. Ginny does not even know where
her yearbook is. Her hometown is nothing comparing to her life in
Florida. Before Ginny and Colly are going to part, Colly sees a deep
empty shadow in Ginnys eyes. For a moment, Colly forgets Ginnys
names. He thinks, she is somebody I met a long time ago
(Pancakes, 2014, p.35). He has come to realize that the Ginny he
once knew is not there anymore. Ginny has died.
Aside from the fact that humans are going to die someday,
what really matters is what is left behind. Trilobite was a marine
creature that lived a long time ago. After it died and after a long
period of time, it becomes a fossil. It left behind something precious
for historians, and collectors. What it left behind is history. That is
the values in its life. Collys father has also left something behind.
What he left behind is memories. Colly has a lot of memories with
his father that are both good and bad. Fragments of his memories
with his dad are all over the place: in the farm, in the caf, and
around the town. Similarly how trilobite became a fossil, memories
of Collys father turn into something very precious to Colly. The

reason why is because Colly cannot make more memories with his
father any more, so the memories he has right now are
irreplaceable. The memories Collys father left behind are values in
his life. He makes Colly the way Colly is. As Collys mother said,
hell always be a part of us (Pancakes, 2014, p.32). Collys father
will always be a part of Colly. Collys father death took something
out of Colly, but at the same time he left something irreplaceable for
Colly.
Death is about loss like how Colly loses his father and Ginny
that he knows. It is not only about loss like how Collys father left his
memories with his son behind. Death is unavoidable. It is sad and
mournful, but death always gives something to the living no matter
whether people realize it or not.
Reference
Pancake, B. (2014). Trilobites and other stories. London: Vintage
Books