Body Ritual Among The Nacirema Summary

In the article Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner, Americans are described as a very unique and exotic tribe because of their extreme rituals. All rituals being as simple as looking into the mirror, shaving, potty training, women going to a beauty salon, and even going to the dentist. Miner also says that anthropologists also think of this tribe as extraordinary to make our curiosity grow even further. He also adds a magical and tribal tone to the article. The author's purpose in writing Body Ritual Among the Nacirema was to criticize American behavior in a satirical way. Miner exposes Americans by giving examples on how they are obsessed with their body and self-image. Horace Miner uses confusion, exaggeration, and verbal irony in his satirical article to criticize how Americans are obsessed with their body in a comical way.
One technique Horace uses is exaggeration. He exaggerates how “extreme” the rituals of Americans are. We think of our rituals as normal because they are so common to us, but that is why the author uses a foreigners point of view. With using an …show more content…
Some examples of verbal irony are when he says “The medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community of any size”, he means hospital. Also when he describes as women going to the beauty salon as “women baking their heads in an oven for about an hour.” These statements are confusing and sarcastic. Verbal irony is found all throughout the article. Miner’s sarcasticness is also shown when he is describing teeth brushing. Miner says this ritual “consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures.” This technique was very effective because after understanding that the Nacirema were Americans, you can see the sarcasm behind each and every one of his explanations of Americans’ daily