When you need to hit the word count of an essay, but its kind of genius - Death with Interruptions (Week 11)

I did not expect to love this novel as much as I did. I was so hooked from the beginning. Given that I criticized Piglia heavily last week on how dense the text was with such a lack of dialogue I thought I would be saying the same for Saramago, but this density worked for me! My first impression of this novel was a little like when you need to hit the word count of an essay and tend to ramble on a bit, but after I got into the structure of the writing, I got so lost in it. It was almost meditative. It was also really cool to read a Portuguese novel! I'm actually Portuguese and I've never been able to read a book from Portugal before, so I felt a nice connection with the work from the beginning in that sense.

What I loved about this book is that it looks at death from macro and micro perspectives. So many stories about death are very singular and this story bended the rules with that. Another thing that I enjoyed about this novel was how it looked at death (or lack thereof) as a shift in power. It is interesting how power was given and at the same time taken away from the government once nobody was able to die. Also interesting how the government (aka maphia) still found a way to almost control death itself by removing those who became old. Even when power and control were taken away from the organization and natural flow of society in the way that it was, the government still found a way to instill control in how society "needed" to be conducted. 

The removal of the older population from the country was also a fascinating sociological addition to the novel. Now in this globalized society, those in the first world have the freedom of migration and mobility, while for others outside of privileged communities, their position is often dictated by the state. I thought this read as a great metaphor for how governments pick and choose their citizens based on their desired criteria. It also really made a statement about who is viewed as more valued by society. I thought in a society where death was taken away, the elderly and sick would be given more power, but they were still considered unwanted in the community, despite them now being on the same level as everyone else. Naming the government the maPHia was also so cheeky and genius I loved it.  

Question for the class: why do you think Saramago chose to focus so much on the government when examining the topic of death? There was mention of religion, but the government took the main focus. Why do you think that is?