Obituary Journal

Chris Williams

Mr. John Nardone

ENG 225

11 February 2014

I chose to read and analyze an obituary about Kurt Cobain. The first paragraph stated who he was and that he was part of Nirvana, which was his claim to fame. It also included information about how he dealt with previous drug and alcohol addictions. The first paragraph concluded with explaining how he died. The first paragraph successfully answered the questions, who, what, where, when, and how. The next paragraph went into detail about how his band Nirvana formed in Aberdeen, Washington. The next few paragraphs discussed his career as a musician and just how much fame he had at the time of his death. The final paragraph had a statement that his mother made as well as a comparison to some other famous rockstars who died at the age of 27 such as Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. 

The format did follow most obituaries where it gives the most important information first and then continues to go into more detail as it moves along. Due to who he is, they probably covered much more personal stuff than what they would if he was not a rock star. In the first paragraph it stated that he died from a self-inflicted "shotgun blast to the head". If he was of a much lesser notoriety, they would not go into detail like that and would most likely just say it was a suicide. It also discussed his previous addictions which would also be left out of most normal obituaries. The areas where it discusses his rise to fame with Nirvana, that would be where it discusses what a person did or was known for. Due to his notoriety, the media will give out way more information because everyone wants to know the specifics when you are as famous as he was. It didn't state this in the article because it was probably not released yet, but they even let his suicide note become public.

The article was almost exactly what i expected it to be especially since it was written only four days after his death. I am indifferent to the article for many reasons. I understand he was massively famous at the time of his death, so everyone wants to know exactly what happened, but if I were his family I would try to keep as much information private as I can. I personally would have chose different things to cover when he wrote about Nirvana's rise to fame. I liked how he did include that last statement from his mother though. An obituary of a celebrity is going to be very different from that of a normal person so this obituary included what I expected considering the circumstances of who he was.

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/1994/apr/09/obituaries.adamsweeting