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Week 15 - Death
"I Live With That Every Day"

Opening

You who have an eye for miracles regard the bud now appearing on the bare branch of the fragile young tree.

It's a mere dot, a nothing.

But already it's a flower, already a fruit, already its own death and resurrection.

-Diego Valeri

Episode 5.7: Fool for Love

What to watch for

  • Spike's perspective of Slayers

Transcript is available at http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season5/transcripts/85_tran.shtml

Episode 5.16: The Body

What to watch for

  • Buffy's family connections

Transcript is available at http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season5/transcripts/94_tran.shtml

Questions

If you were given insight as to the time, place, and method of your death, would that be a blessing or a curse?

When someone dies, what explanation do we give, beyond the basic facts? What explanation can we accept?

What can we do to prepare, spiritually, for our own death? Is this a morbid thing to do?

How do we prepare for the death of others? If we bear the burden of being the guardian of someone who is dying, how should we perform this task?

How does death affect our appreciation for life?

Fear of death can be paralyzing to many of us. What is the most effective way to face this fear so that we can live fully?

Closing

It is better to decide from the beginning that you will die and investigate what is worthwhile. If you keep in mind how quickly this life disappears, you will value your time and do what is valuable.

-the Dali Lama

Additional Reading

Battis, Jes, Blood Relations: Chosen Families in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2005.

Brock, Rita Nakashima, and Rebecca Ann Parker, Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.

Hanh, Thich Nhat, The Miracle of Mindfulness. Boston: Beacon Press, 1975.

Larbalestier, Justine, The Only Thing Better Than Killing a Slayer: Heterosexuality and Sex in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kaveny, Roz, Reading the Vampire Slayer, second edition. London: Taurisparke Paperbacks, 2004.

Riess, Jana, What Would Buffy Do? San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004.

Sakal, Gregory J., No Big Win: Themes of Sacrifice, Salvation, and Redemption. South, James B, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2003.

Wilcox, Rhonda V., "Who Died and Made Her Boss?": Patterns of Mortality in Buffy. Wilcox, Rhonda V., and David Lavery, Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002.