Deep Play Summary

In "Deep play: notes on a Balinese cockfight," Clifford Geertz, an anthropologist, gives a narrative of a trip he went on with his wife to study the culture of a Balinese village. Quickly the couple found out how outsiders coming into the Balinese village were treated, like they were invisible. Geertz had no idea that fleeing from a cockfight, being taken over by the police, with all the villagers would allow the acceptance, of both him and his wife, into the village. This gave him the opportunity to study the culture of the Balinese in greater detail. Geertz learned that cockfights are more than just a gambling game to the Balinese people. He found out by attending numerous cockfights, he could understand the meaning of the fight to the people. He could understand the relationship between a man and his cock. 

To the Balinese, cockfighting is like any other sport that we enjoy watching, such as baseball, NASCAR, golf, or even poker, with a deeper lying meaning. Geertz found that cockfighting was a way of life for the Balinese people. It was a way a man could show his social status by how he treated his cock, and how he showed it off to his society. Cockfighting involves everyone of the village including women and children, to bring them together. Geertz mentions that although one may find pride and comfort in winning a cockfight, but at the end of the day it will not change where you are seen in society. It is a way to express yourself to the village.