We talked a lot today about the natives’ word for the narrator “Def-ghi” and mused about its meanings – even questioning whether it was truly what the narrator was hearing. However, one thing we didn’t mention was the second def-ghi that comes into the picture for a minute or two in the book. Around page 80, the natives bring back their ceremonial group of people to eat (awesome!!) as well as-what we determined to be-a live witness. This new def-ghi reacted to the situation supremely differently than our unnamed narrator.

For starters, the narrator says that this second witness expressed “calculated distain and scornful indifference” (81) towards the natives. As we know, this continues throughout his stay, and he continues to be disdainful of the narrator as well.

Seeing how another def-ghi acted made me think about the behavior of our narrator, as well as the possible metaphorical meaning that this second figure holds. As far as our narrator, it seems that the presence of the second figure was included largely to show how neutral the narrator was in comparison. In some ways, the second def-ghi seems a lot more like how a typical European adult would act in the face of such a situation. Perhaps the second def-ghi was brought in to show how the European way of judging and “othering” native cultures immediately only hinders their own understanding of other people. It is an unhappy way to approach another culture, and eventually it leads to a return to the familiar and no gained knowledge of different cultures. (It also expresses a superiority complex that’s characteristic of Eurocentrism.)

Thinking about how this second def-ghi acted also sheds a little more light on what the potential meanings of the word could be. From his behavior, I am leaning more towards the idea of it specifically being an outsider, rather than just a witness.