Miner makes subtle comedic reference to the classic stereotype of doctors having atrocious handwriting when he writes, "write them down in an ancient and secret language." He also describes shaving in a way that portrays the act as barbaric and self mutilating, "scraping and lacerating the surface of the face with a sharp instrument." Americans are seen by the author as private and secretive about their bodies and various bodily functions. He makes the observation that when they are in the "Latispoh" (Hospital) they are stripped of all dignity and control of their own bodies. Miner talks about how he finds it illogical for patients to completely trust thaumaturge when they have taken their privacy and may kill them with their treatment.
Aisha Reed Professor Navarette Sociology 10, 11 February 2013 Nacirema is American It is very difficult to think outside the box and let go of one’s cultural norms. It is very easy to point the finger in disgust and fall victim of ethnocentrism when it comes to an unfamiliar culture. The article Body Ritual among the Nacirema, by Horace Miner, brings to light a group of North American people, named Nacirema, that culture includes the obsession over rituals that are done to the human body. These rituals might seem different but try and take a culturally relative perspective and ask yourself, “Why?” Nacirema’s culture is highly developed and they are extremely committed to reaching economic goals. A substantial amount of money and time are spent on ritual deeds that are suppose to improve the appearance and health of the body.
The Eye of the Beholder Horace Miner's "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" focuses on the different aspects of the Nacirema culture in regards to the way its inhabitants view their bodies and overall physical appearance. In the passage Miner wastes no time in explaining the unique yet questionable rituals conducted by members of the Nacirema tribe. He also blatantly utilizes a sense of satire to express his own disapproval of the daily practices of a tribe very similar to the American people of the nineteen fifties. In an attempt to sum up his writing, it is safe to say that Americans are thought of to be disgusted by the human body and will go through extremely odd measures to correct its flaws. In the passage, Miner uses satire to deliver
Analysis of Riverside City Campus "The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of the powerful influences of ritual and ceremony." This was said by Bromislaw Malinowski, a British anthropologist, in Horace Miner's essay," Body Ritual among the Nacirema." In the essay, Miner shows the reader how an outsider views American culture, through sociological concepts of ethnocentrism and values. James M. Henslin, defines "ethnocentrism" as "the use of one's own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies, generally
Nacirema Claim: The Nacirema believe that certain rituals and ceremonies must be practiced to maintain and improve the condition of their bodies and social status because of superstitious beliefs and they believe the human body is ugly and the only way from preventing it from getting weak and diseased is to practice powerful rituals devoted to this purpose Evidence: This culture of these people is still poorly understood, even after being studied by various anthropologists. But we do know some things that can lead us to making the conclusion of why they do the things they do. They live around the Canadian Creel the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico and they are wealthy people. In paragraph 4 they speak about how families create shrines in their houses. In this shrine is a box with potions and charms that they believe are needed to
Sociology 9/13/13 My Analysis of “Body Ritual Among The Nacirema” Horace Miner writes about the bizarre tribal practices of the Nacirema in “Body Ritual Among The Nacirema.” While reading through his report it becomes ever more aware that he is inadvertently speaking abut the American people. Nacirema is American spelled backwards. Miner takes things we do in our every day lives that are accepted by society, and turns them around and calls the rituals. These rituals are talked about in such a way that makes the reader think the Nacirema people are crazy, almost making the foreigners seam animalistic. When in real life they were doing things such as going to the doctor and getting there teeth cleaned.
One example of bad criticism is from Infinity Book Reviews. Josh Barkman states, “ I really didn’t like the concept the author used for this series. He used the society’s (more specifically, the youth’s) desires to fit into their concept for ideal beauty, and created a world wherein turning “Pretty” was the ultimate achievement that can be attained in life. In this world, all of the “Uglies” undergo an operation when they come of age and turn into party-freak “Pretties” my feel is it down right degrading as a human being.” The reviewer shows he doesn’t like the way Westerfeld writes the novel by taking the concept of girl’s self-conscience and making a huge twist on it. Another bad critique of Uglies is from Imaginary Books.
Central to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is the theme of injustice. In both texts, the theme of injustice is present, due to societies failure to question superstitious beliefs and tradition resulting in inhumane treatments. The societies in both texts, adhere on tradition and superstitious beliefs regardless of the harmful effects it may cause. Fundamentally, it portrays human kind’s vagueness concerning the purpose of their actions, being more alarmed about tradition and rituals. Failure to this, leads to harsh penalties and measures towards the main characters, John Proctor and Tessie Hutchinson.
The society breeds ignorance of the physical change of a “true image” that is not subsequently developed, influences the fear of deviations. Firstly, Joseph Strorm is very strict and examines differences in appearances thoroughly to send people to suffer in the fringes afterwards. Joesph was struck when David stated
The truth in mental health lies somewhere between the shameless 20’s and the shameful war. As Americans we are taught to think that anything that has to do with the word shame is negative because the dictionary definition of the word shame means “the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable.” But shame can also mean “disgrace; ignominy.” More often than not shame is used when one would say they were a disgrace, which is why shame is always used when one wants to say something negative. In The Great Gatsby Scott Fizgerald redefines the word shame through the book, just like Tim O’Brien does in the “Things They Carried”. In the Great Gatsby Scott Fitzgerald argues that the word shameless should be redefined as careless. The Great Gatsby was at the time of the Roaring 20s where everything was new and if you were wealthy the world was basically your playground, if you were wealthy you didn’t really have much shame in what you did because you knew you could probably have someone else clean up the mess you made