Analysis Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema By Horace Miner

Horace Miner’s perception about, the appearance and health, was a little bit of a reach, but very true on how our culture is revolved around beauty and perfecting our image just to fit in to the eyes of others; men and women. This becomes clear after reading Horace Miner’s article “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” Miner writes about an odd tribe with strange rituals that may seem a bit weird to the outsider. The author tells a story of how the American culture has an obsession with, “The appearance and health.” Although, it might be a little exaggerated, I still agree with how our culture is so fascinated with the beauty and perfecting our image just to fit into the society or culture, even as far as getting others to like us.
Foundation

is used to perfect the skin, and mascara is used for a much more feminine look to the eyes, blush is used to fake the already rosy color we have in our cheeks, since we have created a blank canvas with foundation we need to create dimension, and lastly contour is to reshape or “enhance” the outlines of our face. That is only a very small example as to what Miner’s main purpose of explaining how the Naciremans were so obsessed with appearances is. I want to begin by explaining the legitimacy of my thesis, in his article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema,” Miner describes how the North American group called the Nacirema, which is literally just America backwards, and how they are obsessed with the perfections and imperfections of the human body. The idea of Nacirema was first mentioned by Professor Linton in the 1900’s. The author then gives examples of how the Nacireman society have an obsession with their image and then proceeds to describe everything as though the Nacirema was of native culture. For example, when Minor illustrates shaving as “Scraping or lacerating the surface” and dentist as “Holy mouth men.” What I gathered from the article was that Miner was trying to portray Americans as people who are overly concerned about themselves to the point that they can not acknowledge or appreciate all the diversity in the cultures right in front of them. It does not stop there, there are many more reasons as to why I believe that Miner’s perception of the American culture and its rituals are true.
To start off , Miner claims that our society spends a lot of time in the restroom, which he calls a “Shrine.” It’s true that people spend a lot of time in the bathroom perfecting the way they look for work, interviews, a night in the town, and even something as simple as a typical lunch. It is no one’s fault if I am being honest, because magazines and social media tend to put this idea in people’s heads that everyone needs to look their very best at all times. This can cause people to have a low self-esteem, especially for younger girls, such as myself. For example, I am only eighteen years old and I spend most of my time in front of the mirror and taking notes about all the things I need to fix. It can be hard at times to see myself as beautiful, so to fix that I do my daily routines in the bathroom, which can take hours. Before I begin to apply makeup, I do my entire skin routine, which consists of washing, toning, and moisturizing my skin, then I take at least an hour to apply my makeup. I tell my mother that I need to look nice when she meets her friends or when I am just going to the park with my dog and boyfriend. This is why Miner calls these rituals a secret because no one wants to tell others how they manage to get that beautiful glow and how long it takes them to do it.
Next, Miner states that people visit the “Holy mouth men” twice a year because they are obsessed with their smiles, since their friends would probably leave them if they did not have a nice and perfect smile.

He also noted that their lovers would not be attracted to them if they did not have perfect teeth. There are so many rituals that are taught early on in children’s lives that stay with them throughout their adulthood and dental hygiene is one of them. All of these beliefs and rituals become part of our culture, so it slowly end up being a necessity in our everyday lives and the people we share it with. As an example, my aunt is a bit overweight, she went for a job interview but ended up getting denied the job even though she was qualified for the job down to the T. She claimed that the interviewer had looked more into her appearance than her degrees and experience. The interviewer told her that they are looking for someone with a more professional look for the job. The first thing people look at are our teeth when we smile, but since dental procedures are so expensive not everyone can afford them. Attractive people with good teeth will most likely find a job much faster than an unattractive person. It might be considered as discrimination in some eyes, but it is true and most people can relate to

that.
After all, it was concluded that Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” has so much accuracy to it when it comes to our nation and how we exist. As humans, we live our lives being obsessed with being perfect, and instead of socializing and growing with each other we waste time looking for perfection. In the article, Miner discusses the different ways Americans live, while also adding his own perspective on life. The way he writes is basically him trying to tell us that our way of living does not have to define us; he continues to state that our way of living will not change anytime soon because we have lived like this for decades. Instead of living life and trying to be perfect, we should instead live to be free and focus on the beauty of life itself.