Analysis Of Never In Anger: Portrait Of An Eskimo Family
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The ethnography Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family, by Jean Briggs took place between June 1963 to March 1965. She spent 17 month living on a remote artic shoreline staying as an adopted daughter of an Utku family to study their lives, focusing on mostly their way of training children, and their handling of deviations from desired behavior. I believe that Briggs claim is that adults in the Inuit community must restrain their emotions because they are able to and possess the isuma to stop themselves, which shows maturity and wisdom. The children on the other hand are able to express themselves freely and thus show their immaturity. Emotional control is a one of the most important eskimo traits and among the “highest valued” of Utku culture (Briggs, 4).
Grewal 2…show more content… They are allowed to behave poorly by getting angry, excited, sad, or scared. Within the family, Saarak is the youngest of all her siblings, and is also considered the favorite of the family for being a cuter more adorable baby. Because Saarak is so young, she is allowed to express as much emotion as she wants and her parents shower her with love and affection. Saarak enjoys an enormous amount of love from both of her parents and other adults while her older sister, Raigili, was left aside, ignored and overlooked compared to Saarak. Briggs was confused by this until she realized that Raigili was in possession of isuma while Saarak was not. Raigili understood that adults were able to control themselves and would find it offensive if someone gave her the love and attention that Saarak