The Decorated Body Eval
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Evaluation “The Decorated Body”
English 103
From the minute we are born clothing or some sort of article is waiting to cover the body. If one is not clothed or does not follow tribal customs that person is viewed as uncivil. Each culture seeks the perfect look even if it means subjecting oneself through pain and sometimes mutilating their bodies just for the perfect look.
We can not accept our bodies some how or some way we feel we have to do something to alter our body. Clothes, tattoos, by piercing it or other by using other articles to change the way we look to gain acceptance from others or show our beliefs.
Throughout the many regions of the world for thousands of years people have changed the way they look. In certain cultures changing the shape of a baby’s skull was thought to make the baby better looking. During the nineteenth century babies were tightly swaddled to prevent disfigurement. People who were viewed as uncivilized altered the looks of their children by means of tattoos, piercing different parts of their bodies or jewelry.
Some examples of how other cultures changed the physical appearance of their children were the American Indians, the Mangbetus of Africa and the Chinese. The America Indians used a cradleboard to flatten the skulls of their young. The Mangbetus of Africa used a knotted rope made of bark which was wrapped around the child’s neck to make the neck longer because the Mangbetus viewed a long neck as a beautiful. The feet of Chinese girls where deformed by cutting the feet and tying the feet. The Chinese believed that if a woman had small feet the woman would be better house wife.
Claude Levi-Strauss in talking about what he learned about a tribe in Brazil mentioned that if a man did not participate in the decoration of is body that man would be seen as less of a man by his tribe. Polynesian girls had to be tattooed to be accepted as a marriage worthy.
The women of the Tivs of Nigeria had to scar their...
English 103
From the minute we are born clothing or some sort of article is waiting to cover the body. If one is not clothed or does not follow tribal customs that person is viewed as uncivil. Each culture seeks the perfect look even if it means subjecting oneself through pain and sometimes mutilating their bodies just for the perfect look.
We can not accept our bodies some how or some way we feel we have to do something to alter our body. Clothes, tattoos, by piercing it or other by using other articles to change the way we look to gain acceptance from others or show our beliefs.
Throughout the many regions of the world for thousands of years people have changed the way they look. In certain cultures changing the shape of a baby’s skull was thought to make the baby better looking. During the nineteenth century babies were tightly swaddled to prevent disfigurement. People who were viewed as uncivilized altered the looks of their children by means of tattoos, piercing different parts of their bodies or jewelry.
Some examples of how other cultures changed the physical appearance of their children were the American Indians, the Mangbetus of Africa and the Chinese. The America Indians used a cradleboard to flatten the skulls of their young. The Mangbetus of Africa used a knotted rope made of bark which was wrapped around the child’s neck to make the neck longer because the Mangbetus viewed a long neck as a beautiful. The feet of Chinese girls where deformed by cutting the feet and tying the feet. The Chinese believed that if a woman had small feet the woman would be better house wife.
Claude Levi-Strauss in talking about what he learned about a tribe in Brazil mentioned that if a man did not participate in the decoration of is body that man would be seen as less of a man by his tribe. Polynesian girls had to be tattooed to be accepted as a marriage worthy.
The women of the Tivs of Nigeria had to scar their...