生死存亡

生 = 牛 + 一 : Mnemonic symbol: a cradle.

Sherlock Holmes (sh) comforts a crying baby bull (牛) in a cradle (生) in front of the engine ((e)ng1) and plays him a tune on a flute (一).

死 = 匕 + 歹 : Shakespeare is scared to death when suddenly a witch attacks him with her ladle in the space station.

存 = 一 + 仔 : Mnemonic symbol: a floppy disc. Kitty Cat (cu) wants to protest against the law that women have to wear skirts, so wearing jeans (仔) she dances and plays a flute (一) in the encampment's kitchen ((e)n2) and records her demonstration on a floppy disc (存) to upload it later to her livejournal.

亡 = 乚 + 亠 : Willy Walrus (w) just finished digging a grave (亡) for his dead relatives who were killed in the Arctic in the anglepod's kitchen (ang2). Exhausted, he sticks the shovel (乚) in the earth and puts his beret (亠) on it. Finally, he sets up the tombstone (mnemonic symbol for 亡).

亾 = 乚 + 人 : My mnemonic for 亡 is a tombstone, so this ancient variant gets to be a sarcophagus.

Willy Walrus (w) has to bury the Neanderthal man (人) in the anglepod's kitchen (ang2). The Neanderthal man (人) is lying in a half open sarcophagus (亾) next to Willy, and Willy uses a shovel (乚) to dig the grave.