Typee · Chapter
Taboo and Tattooing: The Sacred and the Profane in Typee explained
The narrator explores the pervasive power of the taboo in Typee society, witnessing its effects on everyday objects, food, and even the shadows of trees.
What happens
The narrator explores the pervasive power of the taboo in Typee society, witnessing its effects on everyday objects, food, and even the shadows of trees. He recounts a harrowing incident where he inadvertently violates a taboo by touching sacred tappa cloth, causing panic among the women. The chapter also describes the art of tattooing, with the narrator narrowly escaping being forcibly tattooed by an enthusiastic artist. Two anecdotes illustrate the taboo's authority: one involving a captain who defies it by shooting tabooed fowl, and another detailing the severe consequences for violating sacred streams and houses. The narrator reflects on the mysterious origins and capricious nature of the taboo, and concludes with observations on the complexity of the Typee language.
Themes in this chapter
Taboo and Social Order
The chapter delves deeply into the taboo system, showing how it regulates behavior, protects sacred objects, and maintains social hierarchy, while also highlighting its arbitrary and capricious nature.
Colonialism and Its Effects
The captain's disregard for native taboos exemplifies colonial attitudes of superiority and the violent clashes that arose from European imposition on indigenous cultures.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
Describes his accidental violation of the taboo by touching sacred tappa, and his narrow escape from being tattooed.
- Kory-Kory
Accompanies the narrator on a stroll and later betrays him by urging him to submit to tattooing.
- Mehevi
Bestows a taboo upon the narrator by braiding a band around his wrist after Toby's disappearance.
- Captain
Defies the taboo by shooting tabooed fowl at Tior, angering the natives and nearly provoking violence.
Key passages
“dropped their work, stood before me with starting eyes, swelling bosoms, and fingers pointed in horror towards me.”
The women stopped what they were doing and stared at me in terror, their eyes wide and fingers pointing accusingly.
The narrator's accidental violation of the taboo causes immediate and intense horror among the native women.
“The capricious operations of the taboo are not its least remarkable feature: to enumerate them all would be impossible.”
One of the most striking aspects of the taboo is how unpredictable it is; listing all its rules would be an endless task.
The narrator reflects on the arbitrary and ever-changing nature of taboo restrictions.
“Horrified at the bare thought of being rendered hideous for life if the wretch were to execute his purpose upon me, I struggled to get away from him.”
Terrified at the idea of being permanently disfigured, I fought to escape the tattoo artist's grasp.
The narrator's intense fear of tattooing reflects his cultural aversion to permanent body modification.