Michael Tweed - The Forest People

I talk about The Forest People a lot because it is honestly one of the few books I’ve read and enjoyed. I find it funny and helpful that it relates to this class so well. One of the things I observed in the book was the difference in the forest and the village life for the pygmies. The pygmies would travel to a “negro village” through the forest and stay there for a little while. This was my introduction to living in the wilderness, so I was surprised to see that they were also well adapted to the village life. They would do work, and trade for certain things, as well as adapt to their customs while they were there. They even used some of the villager’s customs as their own, like circumcision as a rite of passage. What was funny was how they lived like this in the village, yet they secretly thought the village life and people were inferior to forest life. It was as if they were just taking advantage of the villagers for extra food and shelter and then just leaving when they were done. I envy how the pygmies’ whole lives are spent in the wilderness; how my mind will probably never be that free.