Summary In The Novel 'Go And Come Back'

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In reading the book “Go and come back” I was taken to a place that was described the way I remember camping in the jungles of Belize. From constantly swatting bugs away from myself to bathing in a creek, the village described in the book seemed very minimalist with only a place to sleep and a place to cook for each family. The people of the village lived off the land and each person played a role, when the men would go deep into the woods and hunt if they brought back an animal he would share it with the whole village, and that was expected. When two American anthropologists, Joanna and Margarita decided to stay in this particular village the dynamic changed.

The book was narrated by Alicia, a teenage girl described what the cultural norms were in her village. She talked about interactions, expectations, and things her views on relationships it seemed she was constantly confused as to why Joanna and Margarita did what they did and felt most times that they were dumb. In this case I believe Alicia’s “dumb” basically translated to being different, I
The two women studied and lived in the village for a year, when they first arrived they did not feel as though anyone owed them anything more than they had paid for and in return they did not owe anyone anything either. The village however felt that because they were outsiders with many things that they did not normally have access to like beads, that they should be generous and give much of what they had away. Towards the end of the book when Joanna and Margarita had already been there for a while they started to feel like they were a part of the village. At some point a couple of missionaries showed up to talk to the village about hygiene or something along those lines. During the missionaries visit they had many things and suddenly Joanna and Margarita started viewing the outsiders as the village had once viewed

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