Mary Douglass Purity And Danger Summary
Koume Ono
Ritsumeikan University
Introduction to Anthropology
The most surprising thing to me about reading Mary Douglas anthropology book, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, is that I was actually fascinated about everything she argues in the book, many things I had questioned about but did not know the answer or simple facts that make you realized how our society structure works. Which is why in these book review paper I will emphasize more in some chapters rather than the book itself in one big paragraph.
Mary Douglas, analyses the ideas of pollutions and taboo in different cultures and also different timing (primitive cultures, modern cultures) focusing in the Gestalt psychology. However, one of the things I liked the most about her writing style is that she avoided limited explanations, explained everything in details and giving examples making it easier for the
…show more content…
Douglas mentioned the primitive ritual of hygiene comparing to our ideas is totally different, even our comparison of uncleanness is different. However, I agree with her statement, in which she claims our washing, scrubbing, isolating, and disinfecting is only for superficial purposes and not purification meanings. Our acts are principally focused on hygiene, on the contrary theirs are symbolic; we kill germs and viruses, they deviate spirits.
Personally my favorite chapter “The Abominations of Leviticus”, in which Mary Douglas analyzed examples from the book of Leviticus, focusing principally on the dietary rules. At first, she mentioned Leviticus he claims we as humans are always looking for physical perfection, no matter what religion you practice. As an example, if there is a person with leper we separate him until he recovers. Holiness was given as a physical expression to see their body as a perfect container (p.
Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative
1393 Words | 6 PagesMary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, A Narrative of The Captivity and Restoration, written with many dominant motifs and different story structuring methods which provide to the overall interpretation of the story. During King Phillips War, Mary Rowlandson and the English explorers in Lancaster, Massachusetts were under attack by the Wampanoag Indians on February of 1675, Rowlandson was one of 25 in the community taken captive and held prisoner for 11 weeks following the attack, to create the captivity account known as “A Narrative of The Captivity and Restoration” Written by Mary Rowlandson. Rowlandson shows extreme anger, hatred, and discomfort towards the Indians in the narrative. She uses motifs such as “othering,” using the Indians food, style, demeanor, and religion as supporting facts to help portray the Indians as a terrible group of uncivilized savages. Using expressions like “savage” and “barbaric” to describe the Indians repetitively.
Summary Of The Captivity And Restoration Of Mary Rowlandson
815 Words | 4 PagesNarrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson Mary Rowlandson, in the Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, attempts to simulate her time spent captive by the Indians and explains in detail the events she witnessed. Mary was forced out of her normal Christian community in Lancaster on February 10th 1675 and was held captive for eleven weeks. Throughout the eleven weeks Mary experiences signs of depression, suicide, loneliness, starvation, anger, and even showing signs of losing her strong faith in GOD but in the end manages to overcome adversity by realizing the Indians were not as bad as they initially seemed. After a week of being captured Mary’s youngest daughter died in her arms due
Fredrick Douglass And Harriet Jacobs Narrative Analysis
520 Words | 3 PagesIn Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs narrative they show how the institution of slavery dehumanizes an individual both physically and emotionally. In Jacobs narrative she talks about how women had it worse than men did in slavery. While men suffered, women had it worse due to sexual abuse. The emotional, physical, and sexual abuse was dehumanizing for anyone.
Brief Biography Of Mary Mcleod Bethune
644 Words | 3 PagesMary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10 in 1875. Her parents were Patsy and Samuel McLeod. Mary was born the third youngest child out of her seventeen siblings and she was also the first born into freedom. Opportunities came for Mary that her older siblings may not have had and Mary didn’t pass them up. Mary graduated from Scotia Seminary in Concord, NC in 1894.
Response To Mary Rowlandson
258 Words | 2 PagesResponse Paper #2 Mary Rowlandson is a strong, puritan mother whose life gets turned upside down when Indians attack Lancaster and spit settlers apart and take her captive. Through God’s power and grace, she is able to capture the Puritan belief that everything that happens, happens for a reason. Whether it be good or evil, Mary Rowlandson is able to capture Gods power and grace through her traumatic experience held captive by Indians.
Story Of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous Past
589 Words | 3 PagesIn 1873, Mary Ann Cotton was arrested and put on trial for the murder of her seven-year-old stepson Charles Edward. Immediately after hearing of the boy's death, the coroner ordered a post mortem, which was carried about by Dr. Kilburn, on a table in Mary Ann's house. The inquest was held the exact same day next door from her house and with such little time, no cause of death was actually found and "natural causes" was recorded as the verdict of death ("The Story of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous Past"). Meanwhile, the entirety of Mary Ann's kitchen was analyzed to ensure that there were no traces of arsenic on any of the items (Herdman).
Mary Rowlandson Captivity
519 Words | 3 PagesPhysically in Bondage, Free in Christ In times of contentment and peace, it is easy to say that one will always trust in the Lord no matter what may come. Despite this eager and somewhat overconfident approach to faith, many Christians often are found questioning the Lord when actual trial and tribulation come their way. In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary Rowlandson, she shows readers that even through all she faced during her eleven weeks of captivity, her faith remained unwavering. Mary Rowlandson is the colonial image bearer of what it means to trust in the undeserved mercy that God shows his children, as well as in his nature regardless of your circumstance.
The Power Is In Their Hands: Frederick Douglass And Jane Addams
1714 Words | 7 PagesThe Power is in Their Hands: The United States of America is a prime example of the possibility of major change occurring due to the relentless perseverance of people and their desire to create a land in which they could thrive. While the United States had made progress under the Founding Fathers, there were still plenty of issues that groups of citizens saw as unfit for a successful nation, such as the oppression that revolved around the issue of voting rights. Two such leaders of this movement included African-American social reformer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and female American social activist, Jane Addams. Both Douglass and Addams are confident that America can change because the nation is young and devoted to the democratic
Summary Of Mary Matsuda Gruenewald's Looking Like The Enemy
1284 Words | 6 PagesMary Matsuda Gruenewald tells her tale of what life was like for her family when they were sent to internment camps in her memoir “Looking like the Enemy.” The book starts when Gruenewald is sixteen years old and her family just got news that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japan. After the bombing Gruenewald and her family life changed, they were forced to leave their home and go to internment camps meant for Japanese Americans. During the time Gruenewald was in imprisonment she dealt with the struggle for survival both physical and mental. This affected Gruenewald great that she would say to herself “Am I Japanese?
Frederick Douglass Literary Analysis
799 Words | 4 PagesSlavery is wicked and gory and monstrous and that is well known today but during the time it was well known. In Frederick Douglass’s, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass tries to persuade everyone to stop the madness and recognize how awful slavery is; to do this he uses comparison and realization leading to the reader being blown away by this one slave’s life story. The goal of Douglass’s writing makes the reader see slavery in a different light. This is why Douglass’s writing is such a heavy read. To get his point across he talks about how monstrous his whole life is, starting for the very beginning when “... the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it” (Douglass 1.4) Douglass had to go through
Compare And Contrast Douglass And Mary Rowlandsson
1157 Words | 5 PagesFredric Douglass wrote, “What to the Slave is Fourth of July” in 1852. In this speech to the American public, Douglass states how great of a country American “was” and how great the forefathers “were”. In contrast to those statements he professes his reasoning for freeing slaves. However, Mary Rowlandson wrote, “A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” in 1682. This captive narrative takes place during the King Philips war, and depicts how the native Americans treated their prisoners of war.
Harriet Ann Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl
769 Words | 4 PagesHarriet Ann Jacobs is the first Afro-American female writer to publish the detailed autobiography about the slavery, freedom and family ties. Jacobs used the pseudonym Linda Brent to keep the identity in secret. In the narrative, Jacobs appears as a strong and independent woman, who is not afraid to fight for her rights. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was published in 1961, but was unveiled almost 10 years later due to the different slave narrative structure. Frequently, the slave narratives were written by men where they fight against the slavery through literacy by showing their education.
Victor Turner's Rites Of Passage
1167 Words | 5 PagesAspects of Liminality in the Post-partum Ritual of the Twelve Apostles Church Introduction The purpose of this essay is to explore Victor Turner’s ideas on liminality. A description of the setsetse ritual of new mothers in the Twelve Apostles Church has been provided. Definition of Ritual, Liminality and Rites de Passage Every society has further divisions within it, whether by age, gender or rank.
Mary Rowlandson A Narrative Of The Captivity Analysis
1544 Words | 7 Pages“A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson”: The Influence of Intercultural Contact on Puritan Beliefs “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” by Mary Rowlandson gives a first person perspective into the circumstances of captivity and cultural interaction and an insight to Rowlandson 's attitude towards the Indians, both before and after she was held captive. Rowlandson displays a change in her perception of "civilized" and "savage", in spite of the fact that her overall world view does not alter. It should be covered below that in the following Essay, since the author and the narrator are the same person, will not be individually distinguished. For one thing, Mary Rowlandson provides all the conventions typical of a Puritan perspective.
Anthropology In A Globalized World: Hedotus, Marco Polo And Ibn Khaldun
1100 Words | 5 PagesAnthropology can be traced back to 5 B.C.E, where Hedotus, Marco Polo, and Ibn Khaldun wrote about the cultures they encountered in their all-encompassing travel of the world. Since Its early beginnings, anthropology has changed substantially. The methods used in the field changed, the adversities of anthropology changed, and its ethics as well. When anthropology was first an official field of study, anthropologists studied cultures from an “armchair” (Cultural Anthropology in a Globalized World), this method of study is otherwise known as armchair anthropology. It consisted of anthropologists staying at home and studying the words of travelers, missionaries, explorers, and the cultures they encountered.
More about Mary Douglass Purity And Danger Summary
Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative
1393 Words | 6 PagesSummary Of The Captivity And Restoration Of Mary Rowlandson
815 Words | 4 PagesFredrick Douglass And Harriet Jacobs Narrative Analysis
520 Words | 3 PagesBrief Biography Of Mary Mcleod Bethune
644 Words | 3 PagesResponse To Mary Rowlandson
258 Words | 2 PagesStory Of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous Past
589 Words | 3 PagesMary Rowlandson Captivity
519 Words | 3 PagesThe Power Is In Their Hands: Frederick Douglass And Jane Addams
1714 Words | 7 PagesSummary Of Mary Matsuda Gruenewald's Looking Like The Enemy
1284 Words | 6 PagesFrederick Douglass Literary Analysis
799 Words | 4 PagesCompare And Contrast Douglass And Mary Rowlandsson
1157 Words | 5 PagesHarriet Ann Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl
769 Words | 4 PagesVictor Turner's Rites Of Passage
1167 Words | 5 PagesMary Rowlandson A Narrative Of The Captivity Analysis
1544 Words | 7 PagesAnthropology In A Globalized World: Hedotus, Marco Polo And Ibn Khaldun
1100 Words | 5 Pages