Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 441 



of asexual love no Mohave would call excessive, which may explain 

 why no one ridiculed her unsuccessful attempt to kill herself. Psycho- 

 logically, the most revealing case is that of Syuly (Case 109), who did 

 seem to have loved her husband with more than average intensity, 

 which may explain why she managed to burn herself more severely 

 than any other would-be funeral suicide. The unusual intensity of 

 her wifely devotion may also explain why, of all attempted funeral 

 suicides, her case was considered to be the least comprehensible and 

 the most ridiculous. 



Actually, it is not even necessary to assume the presence of an ab- 

 normally strong emotional involvement with the deceased to under- 

 stand the impulse actuating attempted funeral suicides, especially 

 since it is known that such attempts are always frustrated. The fact 

 is that, like everyone else, the Mohave Indians tend to become dis- 

 turbed by the loss of someone close to them, and this emotional upset 

 is further intensified by the culturally determined practice of the wake 

 or "cry," during which — despite the ideal of steadfast resignation — 

 extreme emotionality is actually encouraged, as well as by the frantic 

 destruction of property during the cremation (Hall, 1903) . It is true, 

 of course, that, due to the instability of Mohave marriages, many a 

 Mohave child learns, quite early in life, to move from home to home 

 and to expect changes in the personnel of his immediate family, so that 

 he realizes quite early that whereas the attitude of his human emotional 

 environment is constant, the personnel of this environment is not con- 

 stant (Devereux, 1939 b) . "While this may accustom the Mohave to the 

 disappearance of persons from his intimate environment and may per- 

 suade him that the lost love object will soon be replaced by an equiva- 

 lent one, the emotional intensity of the funeral rites intensifies, if not 

 his actual sense of loss, then at least his tendency to display his grief. 

 Hence, except for Anyanyema :m (Case 111), the persons who tried to 

 commit funeral suicide were probably hysterically exhibitionistic, 

 rather than truly depressed and suicidal.*^ 



The formal, traditional and even ritualistic element in funeral sui- 

 cides — as distinct from a genuine grief and sense of loss — is further 

 underscored by the fact that every single recorded case of attempted 

 funeral suicide took place in connection with the death of a member of 

 the immediate family or of a spouse, i.e., of persons who had definite 

 primary social obligations toward the survivor. No Mohave appears 

 to have attempted to commit funeral suicide at the pyre of a brother, 

 distant cousin, affinal relative, sweetheart, or friend, since such persons 

 have no important^ primary and formal obligations toward the 



« Compare the -widespread custom of scarification and self -mutilation at funerals, or the 

 rending of clothes, all of which, while promoting the abreaction of genuine grief, also serve 

 exhibitionistic and self-dramatizing impulses, and, in some instances, help to protect the 

 survivors against the dead, who become Incensed when not mourned adequately. 



