Truth, Beauty and Goodness: Return to Laughter
In Elenore Smith Bowen’s book Return to Laughter, she tells the experience of Laura Bohannan, an anthropologist who interacts with a remote tribe in West Africa. In the novel, Bowen is able to tell the highlights and struggles Bohannan endured over the year that she spent alongside the tribe. During the field experience that we read about, we can see her overcome cultural shock, and grasp foreign concepts of truth, beauty, and goodness. While Bohannan’s definitions of these terms are very established, this cultural experience sheds light on a more interpretive way to define truth, beauty and goodness.
The struggles Bohannan (Red Woman) faced can loosely be centered around the core values we each hold. Values are connected and rooted in truth, beauty and goodness – which are globally defined within each culture; making each culture unique.
Truth, is centered around the way we present statements and ideas; Beauty revolves around experience(s); and Goodness through the relationships we establish with others.
Truth, much like beauty and goodness, is defined through a broad group of concepts that brings us closer to an understanding of truth as a whole. From a philosophical perspective, truth is based off of the experiences we have and what we perceive our reality to be, based off of these experiences. Although philosophy poses an initial threat to anthropological concepts, as it is Philosophy can be defined as “the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.” However, the experiences that we have ultimately define our truth, because they have been confirmed to us that it is real, and true because we have the factual or physical evidence to confirm it. Truth, especially when explicitly expressed needs to have strong evidence supporting the claims that are being made.
In a very simplistic form, Truth can be defined as, “A convergence of methods of investigation should all point to the same reality/ truth” (Gardner). The convergent methods potentially include culture, [social/ individual] experience, individual interest and involvement.
We see these convergent methods applied in the novel. For example, Red Woman uses a journal during her time in the field writing down her experiences and (language driven) questions (p. 14). From her perspective, as an anthropologist, this aided her work; Not only later on for her to reflect on her experience, but to help her slowly break down her predisposed beliefs and cultural norms and accept [most, but not every] the tribes culture.
Early on in the novel, it is very evident that she struggles with culture shock; leaving her very scattered, which is presented in the way that the book is introduced and initially progresses. The reader develops a sense of scatterings from the novel, which in turn, could be a seen as a representation for the way that Bohannan was feeling. She experienced difficulty interacting and relating with the members of the tribe due to the language differences, on top of being viewed as an outsider; being stared at and ignored – she was not able to fulfill her desired field experience as an anthropologist. This was the turning point for her, as she quickly had realized that she needed adapt to the way things were going otherwise her time spent there would not be in any way beneficial to her field work. We see this turning point explicitly in the novel: “I’ll talk to anyone and everyone. I’m here to learn about these people, and there is no other way to do it.” (Bowen, 12).
As the novel progressed, more experiences shed light onto truth and acceptance, both things that Red Woman struggled with during the early stages of her experience. One of the most substantial dilemmas that she encounters revolves around the belief and practice of witchcraft. This topic sheds light on the contrast of her predisposed views and the cultural views and beliefs of the tribe she was working alongside. The first experience she has with “witchcraft”, is when she saw people(s) roaming through what could be described as the marketplace with ‘balls of light’, which resulted in the residents in this area petrified – refusing to leave their homes (Bowen, 39-43). The fear that had been instilled into those dwelling in this area, was something that Red Woman did not understand, as she saw the events to be simply happenstance, not witchcraft.
The interactions that she experienced aided the fulfillment she needed as an anthropologist. Which is when beauty is recognized in the novel.
Beauty is often times uncovered through experience and understanding. The ways that beauty is defined is dependent upon culture and opinion. Beauty can be interpreted and expressed many different ways, and is received through our senses the values we hold. In the novel, we see Red Woman struggle with accepting a new definition of beauty within culture.
Today’s culture in America is centered around models and materialistic items. Whereas in West Africa, where the novel takes place, it is focused on the appreciation for the simplistic acts and items as well as the relationships with one another. A way that beauty is celebrated within the novel, is through circumcision (p. 261). Within Christian belief, the act of circumcision is strictly spiritual, and within this tribe, represents respect and beauty through this act. Although it is a simple act, it had complex implications within the tribe – as it marked the moving up from boy to man.
Acknowledgment of these acts allows for recognition that beauty lies within us, and it is not always external, although it is often perceived that way in today’s American culture. Bohannan was able to find beauty in the culture and ended up enjoying herself which was a total turnaround viewpoint turn from the beginning of the novel.
Goodness can be defined as “relationships we have with others”, which is demonstrated in the novel between various interactions with people, but specifically could be focused on that of Kako, Amara, and Kako’s son. In the beginning of Return to Laughter, Kako’s son reaches out to Bohannan, resulting in a close relationship. This interaction was able to bring her heart to a place of central goodness and understanding where should could reflect and recognize what was good and what made her feel wholesome. An issue that challenged Bohannan was polygamy. She directly states “However, I personally could never be involved in polygamy.” (Bowen, 131) When Bohannan was speaking with Ava’s husbands, (one of the members of the tribe) she learned that rather than the woman being the one with the hard life, it was the man in this culture, or so in this case. This realization for Bohannan, instilled a sense of goodness into her, which became evident in the way that she began to treat others. Although she did not agree with many of the ideals she was exposed to, once she began to accept the cultural norms she treated them with respect and saw them as dignified people(sf).
Goodness can be represented through the relationships we have with others, and rooted in morals and values held by each individual. Typically, goodness is defined through the way that we interpret culture and what it deems as acceptable. Multiple times throughout the novel, we see Red Woman face moral and ethical dilemmas that were difficult for her to process and handle. Some of the specific issues Red Woman struggled with included polygamy, the treatment of men and women, as well as the treatment she received initially. The concept of polygamy in today’s culture is frowned upon, however; it is embraced within the tribe. It is a cultural difference Red Woman had to learned to come to terms with, while she began to understand their ways, she never fully became comfortable taking part in them (ex: polygamy). Originally, she struggled with the way that she treated and understood the members of the tribe, as well as was treated, until the point when there was an understanding, and she received the nickname, “Red woman”. Once she received this nickname, there developed grounds for a mutual truce amongst herself and the tribe.
Despite the challenges she faced, Bohannan developed a new understanding and appreciation for cultural goodness. She observed the goodness through the manners held by the members of the tribe. An example of this I shown early on in the novel, as she talks about her experience in accepting gifts and the various ways to accept them. On page 8, Bowen explains the socially ‘correct’ way to accept a gift, and how to do it in such a way that is deemed ‘respectful'(p.8). Respect, was ultimately one of the catalysts for the understanding that developed throughout her time in her field experience. Through goodness, the concepts held within truth and beauty become evident in goodness and the way it is viewed. Therefore, reiterating the concept that all three (truth, beauty and goodness) are intertwined.
In this novel, there are many instances where cultural differences are compared and contrasted, these differences give the reader a greater understanding for the concepts of truth, beauty and goodness. This allows them to see that truth, beauty and goodness are much more complex than initially believed to be. Relating what we learned in class to the novel, Bowen proves that different situations require adaptation of the original definition of truth, beauty and goodness.