Notes on the Balinese Cockfight

One thing that I really enjoyed about this essay was how Clifford Geertz and his wife were sort of accepted into the Balinese village. When the police came to break up the cockfights, the locals all fled and in seeing so Geertz and his wife also attempt to escape the police, instead of stay and show their government papers. Maybe the real reason that Geertz and his wife ran was because everyone else was running and it was instinct. Maybe they just were being cowards, but in running away with the people, I feel that made a connection with the people, almost showing that they to were human and similar in a way to the Balinese villagers. I also really liked the way that he was able to show so much of the Balinese culture and personality with the one subject of cockfighting. I got a feel for the way that these people interact with each other and their belifs just by the way that they conduct the fights. I found it interesting the ways that the cockfighters cared for the birds like it was almost a part of them. From what I understood the cockfights did not create the sociaty within the village but more help the fighters and all who participated in the fights understand more about themselves and the sociaty in wich they live.