Susan Anderson (psychotherapist)
While Kübler-Ross, Anderson, and others have attempted to define discrete stages of grief, such as an initial period of numbness leading to depression and finally to reorganization and recovery, most modern grief specialists recognize the variations and fluidity of grief experiences, that differ considerably in intensity and length among cultural groups and from person to person. No grief stage theory has been able to account for how people cope with loss, why they experience varying degrees and types of distress at different times, and how or when they adjust to a life without their loved one over time.
Blu's Hanging
Grief: From the very first chapter of the novel, the reader encounters the Ogatas in their moment of deepest and most unconstrained grief. This feeling encompasses the entire book. Poppy's sadness is translated through his repeated singings of "Moon River", whose whimsical lyrics take on a haunting and troublesome edge when Ivah confesses that "I know where he wants to go," and "And who the dreammaker is". Her brother Blu eats to control his grief, "eating away all the sadness until he's so full that he feels numb and sleepy". Finally, her sister Maisie, turns inward. As a young child, her expression of grief is more physical. The fear and insecurity she feels after her mother's death is demonstrated through her refusal to say more than a handful of words and in the frequency which she wets her panties.