Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 377 



the very aimlessness of their behavior from moment to moment only 

 serves to increase one's sense of the uncanny goal-directedness and self- 

 destructiveness of their total action pattern. In brief, the entire nar- 

 rative reflects a markedly regressive and archaic-infantile psychic 

 state. 



The "feyness" of these two deer is, however, not at all unique in 

 Mohave mythology, where mythical heroes and deities go through their 

 appointed motions— with hardly a hint of motivation, or even of a 

 causal sequence of the "because-therefore" type (Kroeber, 1948) — only 

 to be turned into rocks, for no better reason than that the tale must 

 be ended. Nor is this mood of ahnlessness limited to Mohave myth- 

 ology. In analyzing the extraordinary story of the Oatman girls' 

 captivity, Kroeber (1951 a) very perceptively stressed the utter lack of 

 intelligible motivation in the purchase of the Oatman girls, their 

 treatment during their captivity, and their ultimate surrender to 

 American authorities. 



In brief, so perceptive a student of the Mohave as Kroeber felt that 

 the entire affair of the Oatman girls, which involved travel, expense, 

 effort, risk, and long negotiations, was, in the last resort, utterly point- 

 less. It is therefore nearly impossible not to gain the impression that 

 it represents a typical "acte gratuit," as this term is defined by French 

 sociologists ; that it was simply a means of spending time and effort 

 for its own sake,^° in a futile attempt to give meaning to life, even 

 though such gratuitous acts usually end in tragedy. 



Once this point is grasped, the myth of the fey deer, the "gratuitous 

 act" quality of the entire Oatman girls incident and the manner in 

 which Sahaykwisa: (Case 105) managed to engineer her own destruc- 

 tion, while seemingly seeking to escape it, are seen as a single con- 

 tinuum, show^ing the manifestations of "feyness" in all major aspects 

 of Mohave life : in myth, in concrete and historically verifiable group 

 activities, and in the life history of a neurotic, perverted, and suicidal 

 witch. 



In such a cultural setting it is not the presence of vicarious suicide, 

 but rather its absence which would call for both anthropological and 

 psychoanalytic explanations. Its presence, even in nonshamans, is 

 also to be expected and is, in fact, known to occur. Thus, when Mali 

 Wenawen's two sons, who were shamans and braves, either tried to 

 rape her, or did, actually, rape her, she told her relatives what had 

 taken place and begged them to kill her (vicarious suicide). Her 

 relatives refused, however, to do so and comforted her instead, so that, 

 in the end, Mah Wenawen died a natural death (Devereux, 1939 a). 

 For a sick man's request to be shot, so as to end his sufferings, see 

 Cases 44 and 90. 



^ A classical literary treatment of the "acte gratuit" is Andr^ Gide's novel, "Les 

 Caves du Vatican." 



