Review+of+Montaigne's+Cannibals

The people of Montaigne’s “Of the Cannibals” are first referred to as “noble savages.” To Montaigne it seemed odd that peoples without “the benefits of Christianity and civilization,” were advanced. It’s important to first understand their government because “they are still ruled by the laws of Nature.” In a time when Europe was coming into the Age of Reason, this work provided an example of almost a completely opposite society. This “savage” society functioned without any traffic, letters (alphabet), numbers (math), positions of power, slaves, wealth, poverty, contracts, successions, partitions, occupation, clothing, agriculture, or metals. The words “falsehood, treachery, dissimulation, avarice, envy, detraction, pardon” were practically unheard of. Montaigne’s “Of the Cannibals” examines the daily life, family, religion, and warfare of these inhabitants of the New World.

The daily life of the Cannibals is very interesting. These people are “settled along the sea coast” with an abundance of both fish and other meat. They live in basic and easily constructed buildings that are “very long, capable of holding two or three hundred” people. Women and men sleep apart from each other in individual beds “suspended from the roof.” After sunrise they eat their one meal for the day but drink nothing with that meal. During the day they drink a beverage made from a “root” and “only drink it warm.” As far as work goes, it’s fairly nonexistent. The most they will do is hunt, dance, and warm the drink. The education of these people is very limited. Elders recommend “only two things, valor against the enemy and love to their wives.” Although their way of life seems limited, they live happily with their way of life. It is normal for a man to have many wives, and more if their “reputation for valor [is] greater.” The women do not feel jealousy toward each other but work “to have as many companions” as possible because it is indication “of their husband’s worth.”

Religion is an important aspect of this society. Their basic religious beliefs maintain that the “soul is immortal.” They believe that those who have lived a good, fulfilling life “are lodged” where the sun rises, “and those who are damned in the west.” They have a priest who acts as a prophet whom they barely see because he resides in the mountains. When the priest does come into town, the Cannibals have a great celebration with feasts and dancing. He lectures them on morals which only details “unfaltering courage in war” and “affection to their women.” He also tells them what is to come and gives advice on prospects of war. False prophets are “cut into a thousand pieces.” They found it one of the most terrible things to fake a gift from God and believed it a fitting punishment.

In warfare, the Cannibals are considered barbaric. They go to war naked with bows or wooden swords. Following battles, a Cannibal brings home the “head of the enemy he has slain.” If a man has taken a prisoner he keeps him and treats him well until it is decided that he will eat the prisoner, “not, as one might suppose, for nourishment, [...] but to signify an extreme revenge.” In general the nature of their warfare is noble: “their only motive being a zeal for valor.” It is unnecessary to the Cannibals to “conquer new territory.” Interestingly enough, “they are still in that happy state of not desiring more than their natural needs demand.”

Rather than laying out a perfectly, practical ideal world, Montaigne’s work is more of a criticism of Europe with its own barbarities. Montaigne begins the work with criticism of the Europeans. At first Montaigne states that the “corrupt taste” of Europeans has “smothered” mother Nature. Montaigne’s greatest criticism is of European methods of war. He marvels at the fact that supposedly civilized nations can implement crueler methods than eating another human being. He points out that it is less barbaric eating a dead man than “tearing [him] on the rack” while he is still alive. He also criticizes European countries' need to fight for the benefit of land inasmuch as each country has enough land for itself. Montaigne essentially states that the Cannibals are “noble savages.” They have their flaws, but in many ways they are much more advanced than the advanced civilizations of Europe. In this society there are traditions of daily life, religion, and war. This nation of Cannibals has developed and maintained itself on its own set of laws and values.

Posted by Offred