Four Winnebago myths: A structural sketch – Claude Levi Strauss

Strauss begins by acknowledging Paul Radin that of which he considers to be on of the

greatest anthropologist of our time. He states that Paul Radin gives what Strauss refers to as
the “French flair” where that particular individual has the gift of singling out those facts,
observations as well as documents which have a lot of meaning and is sometimes undisclosed
at first but is likely to become evident at a later stage. Therefore, Strauss is basically implying
that the work of Radin is so insightful and rich in quality that it has the ability to influence
many individuals and at the same time last for a very long time. In addition Radin had
published four myths under the title: The culture of the Winnebago as described by
themselves.

Strauss therefore thought he would pay tribute to Radin by giving greater insight to these
myths. Therefore the first myth speaks of two members of a community who sacrifice
themselves for the sake of the community as well as the ones that had come before them.
Furthermore, due to them taking such a drastic step in an unselfish manner they were allowed
to return to life and go back to living their lives. In addition to this it is then suggested that
that every individual within the community has a specific amount of years that they have on
earth therefore if one dies prematurely half of their life has been unused therefore it will be
returned to that individual in halves. Furthermore, due to that fact that they had in fact
sacrificed their lives for the sake of the community they are viewed as heroes and due to this
act the community then benefits in the sense that their life span is expanded and will be
increased in the generations to come.

In addition the second myth speaks of a husband that sacrifices his life for his wife rather
than the community as stated in the first myth. Therefore by this man dying for his wife both
him and her benefit from this act because she is the one he had sacrificed his life for. The
third myth then speaks of the members of the medicine right where after death they
experience several test when they enter spirit land. These test they overcome eventually and
are allowed to reincarnate and due to the fact that they had died doing something good they
benefit due to them dying alone. Finally the fourth myth is one that involves a chief’s
daughter who falls in love with an orphan and eventually dies of a broken heart and is
brought back to life. However before such was made possible the orphan had to go through
some tests here on earth as opposed to the test that are done in spirit land.
These tests take place in the place where the girl had died. Furthermore, this firstly differs
from the three previous myths and can lead one to thinking that it was an arranged society
where things were arranged in a certain way. In addition this article looks at the different
myths in a different way compared to how Radin did. Firstly Strauss states that his train of
thought it in line with Radin and he did not wish to oppose his ideas however he had stated
that he chose to view the myths in a logical way whereas Radin chose to look at it in a
historical way.

Furthermore, Strauss had decided to look at the myths without the historical aspects and took
it at face value. Therefore he proceeded to make some interested points he stated that some
anthropologist believed that such myths influenced the culture of that particular group
whereas Strauss was actually interested in how culture had influenced the myths. Therefore,
leads to another interesting fact where in which he states that the correspondence of the myth
and culture should not always be seen as a mirror image of each other due to the fact that it
can also appear as transformation.

Basically in this article Strauss demonstrates to us that even though historical factors are good
looking at things within the current context is also of much importance. As we know myths
are developed in order to make sense of something and often myths aren’t necessarily and
often altered in a way that makes one believed what the actual author thinks. The point is
these myths show how structures change over time the first myth reveals how the two men
died for the sake of the community which happened a lot when one takes a look back at
history such as the world wars and so forth. The second myth reveals to us the shift where the
man has found a wife and proceeds to sacrifice his life for her due to the fact that, that is
where his heart lies.

Furthermore, the third myth shows how this person dies alone and reincarnates and benefits
alone. Finally the fourth myth shows how a woman dies and a man does the saving the fourth
myth in my opinion is very important it reveals to us the shift particularly with regards to
gender roles in society. In addition, this woman was a chief’s daughter which automatically
had placed her in an authorative position where as she fell in love with an orphan who and
they assumingly lived in a matrilineal society. Finally the article demonstrates that structures
are forever changing and so are individuals and even though history is important there should
also be focus on the now.