“Ruth, dear, I may be horribly unjust in all this”: ES to RB, Nov. 22, 1925, LC, S-15.
“Margaret has given me more than any woman has given me”: ES to RB, Dec. 5, 1925, LC, S-15.
“Only life and years can teach Margaret. Certainly not I”: ES to RB, Dec. 21, 1925, LC, S-15.
Margaret felt ill and asked Mrs. Holt to take her temperature: MM to RB, Nov. 26, 1925, LC, S-3.
“you’re so full of complaints. I’m beginning to wonder if you’re not a hypochondriac”: Ibid.
“I got into a terrific mood—which fortunately I spared you”: Ibid.
“very comfortable it would be to die”: Ibid.
As a girl Margaret had always demanded that her family make a fuss over her birthday: Howard, 49.
“in my three months down here I don’t think I’ve made a single friend except the Samoans in Vaitogi”: MM to RB, Nov. 26, 1925, LC, S-3.
Margaret felt more appreciated by the villagers in Vaitogi than by the whites in the naval enclave: Freeman, 98.
Margaret’s relationship with the Holts deteriorated into a “lovely fiasco”: Ibid.
“Go a little slow on the racket, Miss Mead”: Ibid.
“He’s a frightful prude, the psychology of his simper was simple enough”: Ibid.
As a result of her altercation with the Holts, Edward Holt wouldn’t let Margaret use her cable code until she registered it: MM to RB, Dec. 15, 1925, LC, S-3.
“Oh Ruth, I am so damnably lonely”: Ibid.
“And it’s the eve of my birthday”: Ibid.
For a discussion of why Margaret felt obligated to give the NRC what they wanted: Freeman, 45.
Edward thought Margaret placed too much importance on external accomplishment: ES to RB, Nov. 22, 1925, LC, S-15.
On December 24, 1925, Margaret received a cable informing her that she had been appointed assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History: Freeman, 106.
Margaret was thrilled to have the job, which paid a salary of $2,000 per year and ended her insecurity about her future: Ibid.
Margaret wrote to Ruth to say she was “counting and weighing the minutes of the days” that were left in Samoa: ES to RB, Dec. 12, 1925, LC, S-15.
CHAPTER 23: A BONFIRE ON THE BEACH
“You see I’ve never stopped loving anyone whom I really loved greatly”: MM to RB, Jan. 28, 1926, LC, S-3.
Margaret’s New Year’s Day began with her working on her report for the NRC: Ibid.
For a discussion of the role of the Protestant Church and the London Missionary Society in Samoa: Freeman, 111.
Margaret felt pressure to begin her report for the NRC but she hadn’t interviewed any informants and didn’t have enough information to begin: MM to RB, March 4, 1926, LC, S-3.
A storm was building and Margaret decided against leaving the dispensary: MM bulletin, Jan. 12, 1926, LC, R-15.
Edward Holt and Sparks were in the yard, gauging the strength of the coming storm: Ibid.
For a description of the intensifying hurricane: Ibid.
Using “butter that hadn’t seen ice for weeks,” Margaret made the hard sauce for the fruitcake: Ibid.
“Pieces of tin banged on the roof and the palm over the engine shed lashed its tin roof in a perfect fury of chastisement”: Ibid.
Margaret noticed that Mr. Holt was chewing on a matchstick, a sure sign that he was worried: Ibid.
The buildings were kneeling down in “a long thatched line”: Ibid.
For a description of the force of the wind: Ibid.
The calm lasted less than a minute: Ibid.
“And then the other edge of the storm, charging straight over the sea from Ofu”: Ibid.
Edward Holt gave the order for everyone to take shelter inside the water tank: Ibid.
For a description of how Margaret and the others climbed into the water tank: Ibid.
The village had been completely decimated: Ibid.
The navy sent in William Edel, the hurricane relief administrator: Howard, 84–85.
Margaret complained “Informants were not to be had for love or money”: Freeman, 114.
Margaret wrote to Dr. Boas to say that she was sending a preliminary report to the NRC that covered a period of fieldwork “too short to justify even tentative conclusions”: Ibid., 113–14.
Margaret asked Boas for advice on how to organize her material: MM to FB, Jan. 5, 1926. Quoted in Freeman, 114.
“It is very sad that anyone as willing to take advice as I am should be so far beyond the reach of it”: MM to FB, Jan. 16, 1926.
“There was no way of knowing what lay ahead in the many months”: Mead, Letters from the Field, 6–8.
“This letter is about clothes”: MM to EM, Jan. 24, 1926, LC, R-6.
“I’ve no mind to land in Sydney in the middle of winter in dotted Swiss”: MM to EM, April 30, 1926, LC, R-6.
“I would like Mrs. Stengel to get me a smart silk traveling suit or dress”: MM to EM, Jan. 24, 1926, LC, R-6.
“I would like it to be either black or dark blue or dark green (not brown)”: Ibid.
“Crêpe de chine would be nice and it’s not too expensive”: Ibid.
“a pongee blouse … or a tricolette one”: Ibid.
Margaret instructed Luther to find them an apartment for the next year: Ibid.
For more about Margaret’s concern about her wardrobe for the ship: MM to EM, Dec. 24, 1925, LC, A-2.
Edward wrote to Margaret to tell her that he’d fallen in love with another woman: ES to RB, Jan. 23, 1926, LC, S-15.
“hysterical enough to conjure up any demon”: MM to RB, Jan. 28, 1926, LC, S-3.
“No doubt I’m being unjust,” he wrote, “But I seem to feel little necessity to do otherwise”: ES to RB, Jan. 23, 1926, LC, S-15.
Margaret burned all of Edward’s letters in a bonfire on the beach: Darnell, 187; Howard, 87.
Margaret reawakened Edward’s “capacity to love,” which he thought had died: ES to RB, Jan. 23, 1926, LC, S-15.
“When circumstances and the clash of our temperaments”: Ibid.
Margaret wrote to Edward telling him that she hoped he would be happy and to let her know that he was: ES to RB, March 11, 1926, LC, T-3.
CHAPTER 24: A PRACTICAL JOKE
“Doing straight ethnology is just fun”: MM to RB, March 4, 1926, LC, S-3.
For Ruth’s reaction to the news about Jean: RB to MM, March 7, 1926, LC, S-4.
“You say you can describe Jean in considerable detail”: ES to RB, Jan. 23, 1926, LC, S-15.
“Jean is very pretty, often beautiful”: ES to RB, March 11, 1925, LC, T-3.
“Jean has great psychological insight”: ES to RB, April 15, 1925, LC, T-3.
“I have no true plans, Ruth—only dreams”: ES to RB, Jan. 23, 1926, LC, S-15.
“Perhaps I have been terribly precipitate and brutal”: ES to RB, Feb. 4, 1926, LC, S-15.
Ruth chose an Italian steamer for her return trip back from Italy with Margaret: MM to EM, April 8, 1926, LC, R-6.
“I almost weep at the thought”: RB to MM, Feb. 28, LC, S-4.
“Mrs. Holt is the sort of old fashioned feminist”: MM to EM, Feb. 17, 1926, LC, R-6.
The crew of the USS Tanager “jibed at Mr. Holt for having his porch covered with ‘Samoan kids’”: Ibid.
“escape from that tiny island and the society of the tiny white colony on it”: Margaret quoted in Freeman, 134.
Margaret was finding it difficult to make any progress on her report: Mead, Letters from the Field, 59.
When Margaret and the scientists from Honolulu’s Bishop Museum arrived at Fitiuta, they were greeted by the chief, who brought out ceremonial offerings of food: Freeman, 55–56.
For a description of Margaret as she danced for everyone: Freeman, 124.
Margaret “played Sweepy (Casino) to the tune of several ukuleles”: Mead, Letters from the Field, 56.
“Fitiuta is a gold mine and I have the whole village at my feet”: MM to RB, March 4, 1926, LC, S-3.
“I haven’t merely watched these procedures, I’ve been them!”: Freeman, 129.
Fa’apua’a seemed “swathed in a cloak of dignity”: Ibid., 123.
For a description of Napo’s role during the ceremonies: Ibid., 125.
Napo asserted that in Samoa, couples had intercourse “several times in one night, sometimes as many as fifteen”: Ibid.
“Doing straight ethnology is just fun and so easy once the people love you”: MM to RB, March 4, 1926, LC, S-3.
“Getting the material was in a way what worried me most”: Ibid.
“But by lucky chance I’ve succeeded”: Ibid.
Margaret wrote to Ruth that finally she had a “sense of command” over her “problem”: Ibid.
“Approximate age, rank, and schooling in government and pastor’s school”: Freeman, 120.
Fa’apua’a and Fofoa accompanied Margaret on her trip: Ibid., 136.
For a description of the boat trip to Ofu: Ibid., 135.
For a description of why Margaret referred to Fa’apua’a and Fofoa as her “merry companions”: Freeman, 136
“The girls were”: Freeman, 136.
Fa’apua’a asked Margaret if there was one of the men that she favored: Freeman, 147.
Margaret and the Samoan girls journeyed over land to the tiny village of Sili, on the adjoining island of Olosega: MM bulletin, March 26, 1926, LC, R-15.
“It was a long walk skirting the sea”: Freeman, 138.
Margaret worked up the courage to ask the girls questions about their sexual behavior: Freeman, Fateful Hoaxing, 3.
Margaret wondered if what Fa’apua’a and Fofoa were saying was the truth: Ibid., 140–41.
Margaret had gone to Samoa with a preconception that sensual enjoyment was a feature of life in the South Seas: Ibid., 140–61.
Boas was an avowed cultural determinist and hoped that Margaret would return with information that confirmed his theory that culture played a more important part than biology in shaping an individual’s behavior: Ibid., 25–27.
“I haven’t an ailment in the world except my arms and my eyes”: MM to RB, March 11, 1926, LC, S-3.
“Once again my fear that you would decide however much”: Ibid.
“Sexual life begins with puberty in most cases”: MM to FB, March 14, 1926, in Freeman, 230.
“The neuroses accompanying sex in American civilization”: Ibid.
“I feel absolutely safe in generalizing from the material I have”: Ibid.
Margaret wrote that her success in Samoa was due to the fact that she lost her identity while immersed in the culture: Freeman, 141.
CHAPTER 25: STRANGER FROM ANOTHER PLANET
“Talking the old jargon is bringing it all back”: MM to RB, May 27, 1926, LC, S-3.
“Waves poured over the top deck and passengers went down like nine pins”: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 156–58.
“I’ve had the most marvelous luck with every detail!”: MM to EM, May 19, 1926, LC, R-6.
Margaret made up for the cost of the first-class cabin by economizing in other ways: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 157.
For a description of the return passage on the SS Chitral: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 156.
For a description of Margaret’s first impressions of Reo Fortune: Ibid., 157; and Howard, interview with Barter Fortune, Special Collections, Columbia University.
The cigarettes Margaret had with her were the special cork-tipped, tin-packed Pall Malls that she’d asked her mother to send: MM to EM, Jan. 7, 1926, LC, R-6.
“I’m not smoking a lot, but when I do I like these”: Ibid.
For a description of Reo’s childhood: Howard, 92.
“The industrial story of New Zealand can be summed up”: Howard interview with Barter Fortune, Special Collections, Columbia University.
For the origins of Reo’s name: Howard, 92.
For background on Reo’s father: Ibid.
“Father was not one of those rich sheep farmers”: Howard interview with Barter Fortune, Special Collections, Columbia University.
Reo attended Victoria University College in Wellington “under exceedingly frugal circumstances”: Howard, 92.
“If Father thought I admired anyone who was a radical”: Howard, 92
“Poetry, radicalism and psychology”: MM to RB, May 27, 1926, LC, S-3.
“The shock of having anybody to talk to now is terrific”: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 158.
For a discussion of Reo’s work on dreams: Ibid., 157.
For a discussion of Reo’s accomplishments: Ibid., 158.
Reo would be attending Cambridge University: Howard, 92.
Reo wanted to attend Cambridge because W. H. R. Rivers had taught here: Ibid.
Margaret would have liked to study under Rivers because of his work as an ethnologist in Papua New Guinea: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 158.
Reo was interested in Rivers because he had made a connection between physiology and psychology, which he had applied to a study of shell shock during the Great War: Howard, 92.
“I met a lone English woman from Kenya and India”: RF to MM, Oct. 7, 1926, LC, R-4.
For a discussion of the travails of young ladies traveling alone: Ibid.
“She was looking for an escort back to her cabin”: Ibid.
“She showed me the address, a good one, she assured me”: Ibid.
Without changing any of Freud’s precepts, Rivers had identified fear, instead of the libido, as the driving force in man: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 158; Howard, 93.
Margaret said that she was enormously intrigued by a man who knew more than she did: MM to RB, Sept 3, 1828, in Caffery and Francis, 143.
“It was like meeting a stranger from another planet”: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 158.
The Chitral’s chief steward noticed that Margaret and Reo were so engrossed in conversation that the others at the table were “simply an impediment”: Ibid., 157.
“I’m having a nice trip only very stormy”: MM to EM, May 31, 1926, LC, R-6.
“Talking the old jargon is bringing it all back”: MM to RB, May 27, 1926, LC, S-3.
“… All the energies most of my contemporaries”: MM to MRM, May 20, 1926, LC, R-6.
The Lascars were forbidden to appear above deck on the Chitral: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 160–61.
It was Margaret’s idea to go to the costume ball as Lascars: Howard, 95.
“This month you’ll be in Europe”: RB to MM, June 1, 1926, LC, S-5.
Stanley was scheduled to deliver a scientific paper in Stockholm and then would be returning to New York: Ibid.
“I’ve just come through the wrecked and decorated campus”: RB to MM, June 1, 1926, LC, S-5.
The chief steward got the Lascar uniforms from the oilers: Mead, Blackberry Winter, 160–61.
Margaret said that in regard to her relationship with Reo, she was the aggressor: MM to RB, Sept. 3, 1928, in Caffrey and Francis, 143.
Margaret and Reo were seated at the captain’s table, along with an old British naval officer: Ibid.
“It’s an intolerable insult to the captain”: Ibid.
For Margaret’s apology to the captain for appearing in blackface: Dream folder, LC, July 1926 to December 1926.
The other passengers on the ship though that Margaret and Reo were having an affair: Ibid., 185.
For a description of what was said between Margaret and Reo when they went out to talk on the bow of the ship: Ibid., 160–62.
For a description of what happened when Reo’s brother Barter was born: Blackberry Winter, 161–62.
For Reo’s confession about Eileen Pope, his first love: Ibid., 160–62.
For the description of Eileen Pope’s father: Ibid., 162.
“Luther was not in Margaret’s dreams”: Dream folder, LC, July 1926 to December 1926.
CHAPTER 26: THE ARENA HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT BLOOD
“I’ll not leave you unless I find someone I love more.”: Cressman, 132.
Luther’s mission was
to secure the “nicest rooms in Marseilles”: Howard, 97.
Luther’s love of berets: Ibid.
For a description of what happened when the Chitral docked in Marseilles: Cressman, 175–76.
Luther spotted a young man who turned out to be Reo, onboard the ship: Ibid., 176.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize the ship had stopped”: Margaret quoted in ibid.
For a description of what happened when Margaret and Luther were inside the hotel room in Marseilles: Howard, 97.
“I met someone on board ship I love that way…”: Cressman, 176.
For Luther’s reaction to hearing that Margaret had fallen in love with Reo: Cressman, 176.
For what Margaret told Luther about Reo and his accomplishments: Ibid.
“We talked and talked and talked”: Margaret quoted in Ibid., 177.
For a description of how Luther composed himself after learning about Reo: Cressman, 177.
“I love you, and my love wants only your greatest happiness”: Howard, 97.
“let’s go to lunch. I think we both need it and will feel much better then”: Cressman, 177.
Margaret believed that dreams were a window into the unconscious mind: Lapsley, 156–57.
Margaret developed the habit of writing down her dreams: Ibid.
“We are at a railway station waiting for Ruth”: Margaret quoted in ibid., 157.
“I didn’t write on the boat”: MM to RB, June 28, 1926, LC, S-3.
“Are you prepared to play nurse to a cranky invalid?”: Margaret quoted in Lapsley, 156.
Margaret and Luther had planned to meet Louise Rosenblatt for a sightseeing tour of France: Howard, 97.
The mood between the three friends was full of tension: Cressman, 176–77.
For a description of the time Margaret and Luther spent together in Nîmes: Ibid., 177.
Margaret told Luther that she had no plans to see Reo while they were in Europe: Ibid.
Margaret had different theories why Reo hadn’t tried to make love to her: Howard, 50, 99.
“I go up and stretch myself in my deck chair and close my eyes”: RB to MM, June 26, 1926, LC, S-5.
“Oh sweetness, I want you now”: Ibid.
For a description of Luther’s knowledge of ancient engineering and the Roman gladiators: Cressman, 155.
“Oh if only you were somewhere nearby”: MM to RB, July 3, 1926, LC, S-3.
Ruth knew something was wrong with Margaret, but she thought that Margaret had overextended herself: RB to MM, July 10, 1926, LC, S-5.
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