I assume that "gentry" was a typo there, but in fact the massive plush caskets are precisely because of the gentry being lowered into the ground. Once nice caskets became a status symbol, it was considered crass to put your dead relatives in an ecologically-responsible plain wooden box.

> it was considered crass to put your dead relatives in an ecologically-responsible plain wooden box.

The Jewish religion requires plain boxes, to show that by death everyone is equal, rich and poor.

It's actually preferable to have no box at all (because it slows decomposition), but US laws prevent that. So a plain wooden box with nothing that doesn't decompose is used.

It’s usually cemeteries that require vaults and caskets not the government.

A cynic in me thinks that if you wake up in the middle of being lowered into the ground, you won't be heard and rescued.

Also, the occupant is dead.