The stigma of death can be attributed to many factors, including fear of the end of life and anticipation of pain. It is clear that although death is a natural process, the fact that we know so little (if anything) about it is a source of stress for many people; this feeling does not escape Sherman Alexie. In his collection of short stories War Dances, Alexie begins by describing an experience in which he discovers a dead cockroach in his suitcase. He finds himself asking the cockroach: “When he died, did he feel fear? Isolation? Existential fear? (Alexie 29 years old), not knowing that he will later be able to ask himself the same questions with all affirmative answers when he thinks of dying. The lifeless cockroach in Sherman Alexie's suitcase, and the many thoughts and questions it inspires, represent the role of death in the story "War Dances" as well as the fear that death stimulates. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essayAs is often the case after the realization that a person is or might be dying, Sherman Alexie shows an increasing intensity of his fear as he learns more about his condition. Throughout these moments, the cockroach he found in his luggage is revisited at multiple points in the story in which Alexie speaks distressingly about health and medicine. Immediately following “My Kafka Baggage,” the author describes a story in which a man was admitted to the emergency room after waking up with much of his hearing lost: “The doctor looked in one ear…reached with a little tweezers and pulled out a cockroach, then I reached into the other ear and pulled out a much larger cockroach” (30). Whether real or fictional, this story seems to frighten Alexie, who later sings hymns and prays while trying to use the mirror to see what might be lodged in her ear. In this scenario, the cockroach represents the fear of not knowing what is wrong, and the story it tells only exacerbates its fear. Alexie also, at the beginning of the story, exclaims that he is “invaded” (29). In this particular quote he is referring to the invasion of cockroaches in his luggage and property, but this parallels the invasion he feels from the tumor in his head and his subsequent deafness, which, he worries, can also be caused by cockroaches. In this way, the cockroaches are directly related to Alexie's fear. Another common symptom among the sick and/or dying is a feeling of isolation, and this is Alexie's second question about the blues at the beginning of War Dances. Even if he's not actually dying in the way he worries, it's also a question he can ask himself later. Due to a combination of his steroid-induced agitation and fear that his tumor would become malignant, Alexie spent the night of his wife's return uncomfortable and feeling "distant from the world – from my wife and from my sons, my mother and my brothers and sisters – all my friends” (62). Although the cockroach is not directly related to this scene, this quote relates to the questions he asks the cockroach at the beginning of the story. He wonders if the cockroach feels isolated while dying and then comes to identify with this feeling. In this way, the cockroach represents the emotions that accompany death. Even if Alexie doesn't ask typical existentialist questions like "What is the meaning of life?" ", the story shows elements of the existential fear he evokes by questioning the cockroach's last thoughts. While waiting to collect his prescription, Alexie finds himself buying.