188 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



sion are, so to speak, ascribed to, and projected upon, the dead, so that, 

 by means of a typical paranoid maneuver, the mourner seems to 

 say : "I no longer feel bound to you and only seek to forget you ; it 

 is you who long for me and try to lure me to the land of the dead." ^^ 



The obligation to destroy the property of the dead person, which 

 was previously available to the living for their use, and the casting 

 of specially purchased additional property upon the funeral pyre in a 

 frenzy of destruction — which represents spiteful giving — also reflect 

 the degree of resentment experienced by the survivor (Devereux, 

 1942 a and pt. 7, pp. 431^59) . 



In other words, after being a source of love and support, the de- 

 ceased turns into a source of danger and into a being who is para- 

 sitical on the living. The Mohave even attribute at least to some 

 ghosts a tendency to violate certain basic Mohave ethical patterns 

 and attitudes. Thus, according to one set of belief, twins are acquisi- 

 tive ghosts, who return to earth solely in order to obtain a second set 

 of funeral goods (Devereux, 1941), and whose graspingness is a 

 clear-cut violation of the Mohave code of unselfisliness and non- 

 acquisitiveness. (Devereux, 1939 b.) This point is of considerable 

 importance, since interestedness and grasping avariciousness are 

 among the principal sins of the Mohave value system and are, 

 furthermore, supposedly highly characteristic of the hated white 

 conquerors. Thus, even though the ghost of a Moliave is expressly 

 stated to remain a Mohave,^^ at least some of the behavior attributed 

 to ghosts, is, in principle, radically un-Mohave. In fact, it is just the 

 kind of behavior that they ascribe to the despised whites. 



It is, likewise the ghost rather than the living who, in defiance of 

 Mohave custom, seeks to breach the barrier between the living and 

 the dead, by haunting the living and trying to lure them to the land 

 of ghosts — sometimes by seducing them into incestuous dream-inter- 

 course, which, in itself, is a gross violation of Mohave sexual ethics. 



In brief, the Mohave seem to attribute to the dead the actualization 

 of certain wishes — such as the desire to accumulate surplus property, 

 to engage in incest,^^ and to breach the barrier between the living 

 and the dead — that are severely inhibited by Mohave custom. Tenta- 

 tively speaking, this may mean that, more or less unconsciously, the 

 Mohave define not only their traditional foes, but also the dead, as 

 persons who openly "act out" that which the average Mohave must 

 inhibit and control in himself. The fact that many primitives be- 



^ Homer's "Odyssey" (book XI) describes Achilles' emotional state In the underworld 

 in terms which unmistakably characterize a mourning depression (Devereux, 1956 a). 



" This was ascertained by means of direct questions (pt. 4, pp. 128-150). 



"It was suggested elsewhere (Devereux, 1939 a) that there may be a psychological 

 nexus between avariciousness and Incest. 



