Most profile writers take notes when interviewing people. Later, they may summarize their notes in a short write-up. In this section, you will see some of the interview notes and a write-up that Brian Cable prepared for his mortuary profile, “The Last Stop.”
Cable arranged to tour the mortuary and conduct interviews with the funeral director and mortician. Before each interview, he wrote out a few questions at the top of a sheet of paper and then divided it into two columns; he used the left-hand column for descriptive details and personal impressions, and the right-hand column for the information he got directly from the person he interviewed. Following are Cable’s notes and write-up for his interview with the funeral director, Howard Deaver.
Cable used three questions to guide his interview with Howard and then took brief notes during the interview. He did not concern himself too much with notetaking because he planned to spend a half hour directly afterward to complete his notes. He focused his attention on Howard, trying to keep the interview comfortable and conversational and jotting down just enough to jog his memory and catch especially meaningful quotations. A typescript of Cable’s interview notes follows.
The Interview Notes
Questions
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Descriptive Details & Personal Impressions |
Information |
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weird-looking tall long fingers big ears low, sloping forehead like stereotype—skin colorless |
Howard Deaver, funeral director, Goodbody Mortuary “Call me Howard” Printed Page 111
How things work: Notification, pick up body at home or hospital, prepare for viewing, restore distorted features—accident or illness, embalm, casket—family selects, chapel services (3 in bldg.), visitation room—pay respects, family & friends. Can’t answer questions about death—“Not bereavement specialists. Don’t handle emotional problems. Only a trained therapist can do that.” “We provide services for dead, not counseling for the living.” (great quote) Concept of death has changed in last 40 yrs (how long he’s been in the business) |
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plays with lips blinks plays with Adam’s apple desk empty—phone, no paper or pen |
Phone call (interruption) “I think we’ll be able to get him in on Friday. No, no, the family wants him cremated.” Ask about Neptune Society—cremation Cremation “Cheap, quick, easy means of disposal.” |
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angry disdainful of the Neptune Society |
Recent phenomenon. Neptune Society—erroneousclaim to be only one. |
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“We’ve offered them since the beginning. It’s only now it’s come into vogue.” Trend now back toward burial. Cremation still popular in sophisticated areas 60% in Marin Co. and Florida Ask about paperwork—does it upstairs, lives there with wife, Nancy. |
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musty, old stained glass sunlight filtered |
Tour around (happy to show me around) Chapel—large service just done, Italian. |
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man in black suit roses wooden benches |
“Not a religious institution—a business.” casket—”beautiful craftsmanship”—admires, expensive |
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contrast brightness fluorescent lights Plexiglas stands |
Display room—caskets, about 30 of them Loves to talk about caskets “models in every price range” glossy (like cars in a showroom) cardboard box, steel, copper, bronze starting at $500, averaging $1,800. Top of line: bronze, electronically welded, no corrosion—$25,000 |
Cable’s interview notes include many descriptive details of Howard as well as of various rooms in the mortuary. Though most entries are short and sketchy, much of the language found its way into the final essay. In describing Howard, for example, Cable noted that he fits the stereotype of the cadaverous undertaker, a fact that Cable emphasized in his essay.
He put quotation marks around Howard’s actual words, some of them written in complete sentences, others in fragments. We will see how Cable filled these quotes in when he wrote up the interview. In only a few instances did he take down more than he could use. Even though profile writers want good quotes, they should not use quotes to present information that can be more effectively expressed in their own words. In profiles, writers use direct quotation both to provide information and to capture the mood or character of the person speaking.
As you can see, Howard was not able to answer Cable’s questions about the families of the deceased and their attitudes toward death or mortuaries. The gap between these questions and Howard’s responses led Cable to recognize one of his own misperceptions about mortuaries—that they serve the living by helping people adjust to the death of loved ones. This misperception would become an important theme of his essay.
Immediately after the interview, Cable filled in his notes with details while they were still fresh in his mind. Next, he took some time to reflect on what he had learned from his interview with Howard. Here are some of his thoughts:
I was surprised by how much Howard looked like the undertakers in scary movies. Even though he couldn’t answer some of my questions, he was friendly enough. It’s obviously a business for him (he loves to talk about caskets and to point out all their features, like a car dealer kicking a tire). Best quote: “We offer services to the dead, not counseling to the living.” I have to bring up these issues in my interview with the mortician.
The Interview Write-Up
Writing up an account of the interview a short time afterward helped Cable fill in more details and reflect further on what he had learned. His write-up shows him already beginning to organize the information he had gained from his interview with the funeral director.
I. His physical appearance.
Tall, skinny, with beady blue eyes embedded in his bony face. I was shocked to see that he looks just like the undertakers in scary movies. His skin is white and colorless, from lack of sunshine. He has a long nose and a low, sloping forehead. He was wearing a clean white shirt. A most unusual man—have you ever seen those Ames Home Loan commercials? But he was friendly, and happy to talk with me. “Would I answer some questions? Sure.”
II. What people want from a mortuary.
A. Well first of all, he couldn’t answer my second question, about how families cope with the loss of a loved one. “You’d have to talk to a psychologist about that,” he said. He did tell me how the concept of death has changed over the last ten or so years.
B. He has been in the business for forty years(!). One look at him and you’d be convinced he’d been there at least that long. He told me that in the old times, everyone was buried. Embalmed, put in a casket, and paid final homage before being shipped underground forever. Nowadays, many people choose to be cremated instead. Hence comes the success of the Neptune Society and others specializing in cremation. You can have your ashes dumped anywhere. “Not that we don’t offer cremation services. We’ve offered them since the beginning,” he added with a look of disdain. It’s just that they’ve become so popular recently because they offer a “quick, easy, and efficient means of disposal.” Cheap too—I think it is a reflection of a “no nonsense” society. The Neptune Society has become so successful because it claims to be the only one to offer cremations as an alternative to expensive burial. “We’ve offered it all along. It’s just only now come into vogue.”
Sophisticated areas (I felt “progressive” would be more accurate) like Marin County have a cremation rate of over 60 percent. The phone rang. “Excuse me,” he said. As he talked on the phone, I noticed how he played with his lips, pursing and squeezing them. He was blinking a lot, too. I meant to ask him how he got into this business, but I forgot. I did find out his name and title: Mr. Howard Deaver, funeral director of Goodbody Mortuary (no kidding, that’s the real name). He lives on the premises, upstairs with his wife. I doubt if he ever leaves the place.
III. It’s a business!
Some people have the idea that mortuaries offer counseling and peace of mind—a place where everyone is sympathetic and ready to offer advice. “In some mortuaries, this is true. But by and large, this is a business. We offer services to the dead, not counseling to the living.” I too had expected to feel an awestruck respect for the dead upon entering the building. I had also expected green lawns, ponds with ducks, fountains, flowers, peacefulness—you know, a “Forest Lawn” type deal. But it was only a tall, Catholic-looking building. “Mortuaries do not sell plots for burial,” he was saying. “Cemeteries do that, after we embalm the body and select a casket. We’re not a religious institution.” He seemed hung up on caskets—though maybe he was just trying to impress upon me the differences between caskets. “Oh, they’re very important. A good casket is a sign of respect. Sometimes if the family doesn’t have enough money, we rent them a nice one. People pay for what they get just like any other business.” I wondered when you had to return the casket you rented.
I wanted to take a look around. He was happy to give me a tour. We visited several chapels and visiting rooms—places where the deceased “lie in state” to be “visited” by family and friends. I saw an old lady in a “fairly decent casket,” as Mr. Deaver called it. Again I was impressed by the simple businesslike nature of it all. Oh yes, the rooms were elaborately decorated, with lots of shrines and stained glass, but these things were for the customers’ benefit. “Sometimes we have up to eight or nine corpses here at one time, sometimes none. We have to have enough rooms to accommodate.” Simple enough, yet I never realized how much trouble people were after they died. So much money, time, and effort go into their funerals.
As I prepared to leave, he gave me his card. He’d be happy to see me again, or maybe I could talk to someone else. I said I was going to interview the mortician on another day. I shook his hand. His fingers were long and his skin was warm.
Writing up the interview helped Cable probe his subject more deeply. It also helped him express a humorous attitude toward his subject. Cable’s interview notes and write-up were quite informal; later, he integrated this material more formally into his full profile of the mortuary.