1st- On page 76 in the conclusion it says, "The horror inspired by the corpse does not spring from the simple observation of the changes that occur in the body." This relates to the statement, “Each society constructs in its own image…this mystical society of souls.” It is not physically not breathing anymore or the decay of a body that scare people, but their idea of what becomes of a person after death. The biggest thing the living is afraid of is not “being” anymore. They are afraid of ending up in some version of hell, or haunted by a spirit with unfinished business. This belief is what leads to a society of souls. If people did not believe in anything beyond the physical aspects of death, there would be no afterlife.
2nd and also related, is from the second paragraph on page 85. It says, “All those who die a violent death or by accident…roam the earth forever.” This too is a form of life after death and adds to the idea of a society of souls. Old ghost stores are retold time and again, especially through the media. Although mostly told for entertainment, the very idea of ghosts, make an afterlife something to believe in or fear.

In Hertz's paper, Hertz makes the connection between society and death. for a very long time, death has been regarded as just another phase of existence. People, as a species, cannot think of death as the end of something, because the person who died was such a part of society that it is impossible of thinking that he or she is gone. There are connections between birth, marriage, and death, because they are regarded as phases of life. Death is not the end, but merely a continuation into the next phase of life, the afterlife. Some societies believe that the soul separates into two parts, the physical, and the non-physical. They believed that the only way that the person can move on and become part of the afterlife is when the