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This 3 page paper contrasts the view of death held by the Pygmies described in the book “The Forest People,” with that of most Westerners. Bibliography lists 1 source.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KV32_HVdth2vu.rtf
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is viewed in the West. Discussion The Forest People is anthropologist Colin Turnbulls account of the time he spent with the Pygmies in Ituri Forest. He doesnt look at them
as specimens under glass or weird savages, but as friends. His acceptance of their culture is non-judgmental, which allows readers to simply learn about this fascinating tribe on its own
terms. One of the chapters of the book is entitled "The Good Death of Balekimito," which tells readers everything they need to know about the Pygmy view of death.
There are actually two deaths described in the chapter, that of the old woman Balekimito, and that of a child who is referred to only as the daughter of Cephu;
the girl is very ill with dysentery and the entire village is aware of it (Turnbull, 1987). She is in fact dying, but the Pygmies have various stages of death:
"... someone is hot, with fever, ill, dead, completely or absolutely dead, and, finally, dead for ever" (Turnbull, 1987, p. 42). The girl, in the evening, was very ill but
the next morning the "loud wailing from Cephus camp, a quarter of a mile away, told us that the little girl was now dead for ever" (Turnbull, 1987, p. 42).
The reaction to this death is a "burst of uncontrollable grief, not only from relatives, but from friends," including men (Turnbull, 1987, p. 42). Turnbull and the others heard that
sound "shortly after dawn" (Turnbull, 1987, p. 42). The girl was buried the same day she died, but almost immediately the Pygmies began laughing and joking although the Negroes
who were present were determined to find out if there had been witchcraft or some other evil associated with the death (Turnbull, 1987). But the Pygmies were "not co-operative. They
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