Life and Death – simple in appearance, these two words have much more meaning than they seem. Even today it is a challenge to find a universal definition of the two words. Depending on culture, education, and beliefs, the meaning of life and death can vary in so many different ways that it would be impossible to encompass them all in one general definition. Lesley Sharp's ethnography Strange Harvest helps us understand how life and death can have different cultural meanings in different groups. Strange Harvest examines the complicated implications of life and death through the world of organ transfer and its effects on the people involved. Life for the average person can begin from the moment they take their first breath and continue until the moment they take their first breath. finally, death comes. But in the world of organ transfer, it can't be defined so easily. There are many ongoing debates about medical definitions of death versus social definitions of death. In the United States, brain death is legally sanctioned as true death in medical terms. In the medical framework, it is understood that the mind and “self” are located in the brain, which is what defines someone as a person, giving them an individual personality. In this sense, when a brain ceases to function, the “self” disappears and the body is nothing more than an empty shell. Thus, the label of death is applied even if an artificially ventilated donor-patient remains warm to the touch, appears to be breathing, and has a heart that continues to beat in his or her own chest (Sharp 2006: 44). However, brain death criteria continue to lead to many questions, such as the exact definition of brain death. How much or what part of the brain should be damaged for... half of the document... gan donation. They offer messages that donors can continue to live in others, granting a new or “second” life to transplant recipients who, in turn, often describe their own surgeries as “rebirths” (2006: 83). Through this definition, death generates life. Just in the context of organ transfer, there are many meanings of life and death among different types of associated groups. Sharp is able to highlight how cultural, emotional, and medical factors play an important role in how people define life and death. Although the brain death criteria may still be disturbing in some respects, we must realize that the claim that brain death is “true death” is a consequence of the acceptance of organ transfer as an act of great social value (2006: 99). Therefore, organ donation certainly offers unique ways to experience and perceive life and death in America.