The responsibilities of an undertaker
Bruce embalmed within his funeral home, so he was always busy when there was a funeral. It only amounted to a part time job with the number of people dying in the city, but would have been emotionally as well as physically intensive. For each funeral he would have potentially retrieved bodies from their houses or hospital, met with families, planned the viewing and funeral service, embalmed the body, dressed it, and more. The graphic novel even shows Alison waiting on him as he talks with a gravedigger, either supervising digging or discussing the graveside service process.
Bruce brought the children with him to help at the funeral home from a very young age, and not only to visit their grandmother, who lived there. The children helped run the
business, getting well acquainted with death early on. While Bruce grew up with a father who ran a funeral home, he became a licensed mortician. None of his three children ever followed in his professional footsteps, so the long tradition of Bechdel funeral directors ended when Bruce died. The Fun Home is no longer a funeral home and no longer in the Bechdel family. It's now just a regular home, hopefully, a fun one.
The process of embalming
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Evaluation of the deceased’s condition and mixing of the embalming chemicals based on the deceased’s height, weight, and physical condition.
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Washing the body with germicidal soap while bending, flexing, and massaging muscles to relieve rigor mortis.
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‘setting the features’ by closing the eyes with a cap that keeps them shut, closing the mouth with adhesive, sutures, or wire.
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Arterial embalming. This involves injecting embalming chemicals into the blood vessels with a centrifugal pump through the arteries and draining blood through the right jugular vein.
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Cavity treatment. Fluid is suctioned from the hollow organs with an instrument called a trocar, then fluid is placed into the cavity and the incision is closed with a small circular called a trocar button.
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The deceased is washed again and a cream is put on their face to prevent skin dehydration.
This is the end of the embalming process, but then the deceased is dressed, their hair is combed into place, and cosmetics are put on so they may be placed into a casket for viewing.
Terms
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Formaldehyde- formaldehyde solutions are used in embalming to disinfect and temporarily preserve remains. It is also commonly used in anatomy and biology labs to preserve specimens for study.
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Aneurysm hook- used to hook around and raise specific arteries and veins for drainage and injections.
