Bom Jesus Analysis

663 Words3 Pages
1.) An anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes does research and notices that mothers in Bom Jesus, Brazil had an odd view about the death of their children. In 1965, there was a terrible drought in which heavily affected the children in this area. Of course, under these conditions the supply of food and water was really limited. With all this going on, the babies could not receive the nutrients they need to survive. Babies were rapidly dying. They were dying from diarrhea and also dehydration. In 1965, over 350 babies ended up dying. These women were really unconcerned with the death of their children. It was like they had an indifference about their babies dying. There was a specific reason for the name of this article “Death without weeping.” In his town, there was a tremendously high rate for child mortality. Therefore, the average life expectancy rate was only as high as forty years old. We could imagine the current situations they were in to cause these feelings. 2.)…show more content…
It seemed that since it was so common and expected for these children to die, that it possibly even helped the mothers cope with the death. They feel as though it is best if they die. If they were to die they soon would become one of God’s angels and would be sent to heaven to be with him. And what better place is there to be than in heaven with God? The local people and places, often advised the mother when it was acceptable to allow the baby to go ahead and die. In the article, Scheper-Hughes discusses how at one point some girls attempted to get her to console a mother, by talking about how sad it was that the baby was so sickly it was and died. In town they even gave vouchers for getting a coffin for the baby for

    More about Bom Jesus Analysis

      Open Document