The Doomed in Their Sinking

By: William H. Gass
 

    Suicide: there are many different reasons for it; many different ways to achieve it.  Many try to make excuses for the act, however, in the end “Death will not fill up an empty life and in a line of verse it occupies only five letters of space” (Gass 380).  Death merely marks the end; that is all it can stand for.  No matter the reason for why someone commits suicide, it in no way can bring meaning to one's life.  William H. Gass, a National Books Critics Circle award winner and philosophy major, attempts to bring this point across to his audience in his essay The Doomed in Their Sinking.  Through his usage of both imagery and analogies between different views on suicide, Gass works to present to the reader what may go through someone's head when contemplating suicide.  Being that Gass lost his mother to suicide, it is evident throughout Gass’s writing that he himself is also somewhat confused as to why someone may want to commit such an act.  It is almost as though Gass is trying to figure out what went through his mother's head when she ended her life.  Due to this, it can also be inferred that Gass is trying to relate to an audience that includes individuals who may have also lost someone close to them to suicide.  Gass soon ends off his essay with by stating that “The world of the suicidal is, in a certain sense (for all its familiar elements: pain, grief, confusion, failure, loss…), a private and impenetrable one” (Gass 381).  Suicide is a decision chosen by the doer; although many may feel responsible, there was only one person who made the decision in the conclusion of it all.  While Gass’s essay is well written, due to Gass’s urge to change subjects, it is often difficult to follow what Gass is trying to communicate to his audience.  Being that this is the case, I believe that Gass executed his goal well enough to get his point across, however, the constant change in subject took away the essays full potential.

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