What the Living Do

In “What the Living Do,” the only temperatures mentioned are uncomfortable. The speaker slams their car door “in the cold” (Line 10) and has a “chapped face” (Line 15) and coat due to the cold. The heat in the speaker’s house is too high, and she spills (presumably hot) coffee on her wrist. Cold and hot temperatures serve two symbolic purposes in “What the Living Do.” First, they add to the minor inconvenience that characterizes the daily actions described. The speaker hurries through her errands and slams the car door shut because the cold is mildly uncomfortable. Spilling coffee on her wrist connotes a momentary burning sensation. This discomfort augments the presentation of “what the living do” (Line 7) as a series of minor difficulties from which humans tend to yearn for deliverance.

The brisk cold throughout “What the Living Do” also represents feeling and life. This is a particularly deft and nuanced symbol, as coldness is so often used to represent death, as opposed to warmth and life. In “What the Living Do,” however, discomfort means that people are at least feeling something. Feeling cold and physical discomfort is “what the living do” precisely because the dead feel nothing. In the last two stanzas, the cold stings the speaker’s face, but reminds her that she is alive. The cold air helps her to cherish her life in the face of Johnny’s death and absence.