Prologue, Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Superstitions play a major role in the daily lives of the Yanomamo people. Infant mortality rates are high; all unexplained deaths are the result of evil spirits, typically sent by someone. To achieve revenge, tribe members send out evil spirits of their own.

The Yanomamo are "thinly scattered," have a complex language, live in villages of forty to three hundred people, and typically dress only in scant attire. Plantains—a cooking banana—are their main dietary staple and they typically work only about three hours each day, usually in gardening, hunting, gathering or making baskets, hammocks, bows and arrows. They avoid rivers, though their northern neighbors, the Ye'kwana, have elaborate canoes. Life for the Yanomamo is dictated by two seasons—wet and dry. In the dry season, tribe members travel for trading or waging war. Violent...