Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Black humor, sometimes called “gallows humor,” helps mediate the dark subject matter of cadaver research. It is present to lighten the mood of what would otherwise be a very dark text. Black humor also shows how Roach wishes to upend some of our traditional, long-standing beliefs surrounding death. Roach is, as we see, committed to science, and she seeks to divorce some of the gravity and seriousness from our cultural attitudes toward death that have kept us from performing testing on cadavers in the past. 

The author is an active participant in Stiff. To underline the theme that cadaver research is indeed important, Roach puts herself in the heart of the action, no matter how disturbing or uncomfortable the situation. This motif serves dual purposes in that Roach’s participation also brings the reader closer to the author. The reader feels a sense of camaraderie, as we share in her shock, disgust, or disbelief.

Emphasizing themes related to spirituality and sacrilege, taboos about death appear over and over again to reinforce boundaries between what we think is appropriate and what is not. Taboos are useful in that they help us discover the contours and nuances of cultural norms that we usually accept without question.