Lutz writes of the people of the Solomon Islands, who were able to weep at the side of a coffin, then go back to laughing and joking. Crying examines Western conventions alongside those of other peoples, and emphasizes the constructed nature of crying as well as its innateness. Fictional tears, too, play a part in our understanding of crying. From the labile Tita in Laura Esquival's Like Water For Chocolate to Hemingway's stoic men, crying or its absence characterize literary figures. At the movies, Lutz writes, images as widely divergent as those of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Titanic and Gregory Peck in Spellbound influence our understanding of what tears mean.
Different audiences respond differently.
Ultimately, Crying delivers more a satisfying tour of the world of tears than any didactic answers. The language of weeping is spoken worldwide, even if it is understood in myriad ways. Roland Barthes asked. We all will. Eliza McGraw teaches English at Vanderbilt University.