Plainly, a great deal was difficult about understanding the activities in “The ‘Killing’ of Neni Bai”, and that is the way it should be. As someone who has not been socialized as a Hindu, or anything close to one, and as someone living in the overtly capitalistic America, with a life nothing like the ones shown through the eyes and words of Paul Winther, I should understand little about the point of view of the people described in “The ‘Killing’ of Neni Bai”. This includes the activities of: drinking tea with buffalo milk and sugar, cutting off Pancham Ram’s abnormal beard, the class system (different than that of the United States), and obviously, the killing of Neni Bai. Everyone is a product of their socialization, and since culture
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When it comes to the killing of Neni Bai, it was not so much that the villagers supported the killing, but that they did not bat an eye at it. In American society, killing someone, unless in self-defense or because they are an “enemy” in war, is murder. To the people Paul Winther studies, however, the killing of Neni Bai was not murder and seemed to be acceptable in their culture. This is because culture is learned (Addendum Week Three). The weak three addendum explains “No one is born acculturated; rather, we are born with a biological capability to learn. What people learn depends upon the cultural rules of the people who raise them” (Addendum Week Three). Neni Bai was killed, yet, the group in which she was raised experienced no significant reaction to this progression of events, much to Paul Winther’s chagrin. Winther explains that the people to which Neni Bai and Pancham Ram belonged were Hindu in his article, “The ‘Killing’ of Neni Bai” (Winther 95). Because of this, their ideas about killing were different than that of the non-Hindu Winther. Hindus, according to Winther, do not view the world as reality, but more as a “surface phenomenon” whereas western society/religion “believe[s] there exists a physical life” (95-96). To Neni Bai’s people, the fact that she was killed for being impregnated by a lower class male was not a horrific event, but actually something mostly acceptable due to the Hindu belief in the impermanence of life and the permanence of what lies beyond it. Westerners may view Neni Bai’s death as a murder, yet Winther’s article depicting her death uses the word “killing” in its’ title because that is what Neni Bai’s culture saw her death as: a killing, not a murder. In the same way, a culture that strongly disagrees with war
When it comes to the killing of Neni Bai, it was not so much that the villagers supported the killing, but that they did not bat an eye at it. In American society, killing someone, unless in self-defense or because they are an “enemy” in war, is murder. To the people Paul Winther studies, however, the killing of Neni Bai was not murder and seemed to be acceptable in their culture. This is because culture is learned (Addendum Week Three). The weak three addendum explains “No one is born acculturated; rather, we are born with a biological capability to learn. What people learn depends upon the cultural rules of the people who raise them” (Addendum Week Three). Neni Bai was killed, yet, the group in which she was raised experienced no significant reaction to this progression of events, much to Paul Winther’s chagrin. Winther explains that the people to which Neni Bai and Pancham Ram belonged were Hindu in his article, “The ‘Killing’ of Neni Bai” (Winther 95). Because of this, their ideas about killing were different than that of the non-Hindu Winther. Hindus, according to Winther, do not view the world as reality, but more as a “surface phenomenon” whereas western society/religion “believe[s] there exists a physical life” (95-96). To Neni Bai’s people, the fact that she was killed for being impregnated by a lower class male was not a horrific event, but actually something mostly acceptable due to the Hindu belief in the impermanence of life and the permanence of what lies beyond it. Westerners may view Neni Bai’s death as a murder, yet Winther’s article depicting her death uses the word “killing” in its’ title because that is what Neni Bai’s culture saw her death as: a killing, not a murder. In the same way, a culture that strongly disagrees with war