Death in the Family story
A wounded killer takes refuge in a funeral home where the undertaker has an unusual compassion for his charges. Note: Based on a short story by Miriam Allen deFord Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc. Story by: Rod Serling.
10 total · 5 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| compassion | major | Undertaker Jared Soames showed an extreme about of compassion for the dead. He went so far as to fashion the dead bodies under his care into his de facto family members. |
| escape from reality | major | Jared Soames appeared to have given up on being a part of his community and fashioned for himself a family out of dead bodies. |
| facing organized pursuit | major | The escaped felon was desperate to hide out from the police. |
| funeral rite | major | Christian funeral practices were at the center. |
| loneliness | major | Both Jared and the felon were alone in the world, we heard. The story started with a lonely old man who had died. |
| coping with the death of someone | minor | Jared Soames mourned the old man who died alone without anyone to grieve for him. |
| misanthropy | minor | Jared Soames noted that dead people are not greedy and do not display other human vices. |
| poverty in society | minor | The old man who had died in poverty. |
| the role of the elderly in society | minor | The old guy who had died lived languished alone for years. |
| treatment of prisoners | minor | The escaped convict had been sentenced to a lengthy prison term. |