Comprachicos: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Latest revision as of 13:14, 6 October 2024

Comprachicos are groups in European folklore who were said to physically cripple and deform children to work as beggars or living curiosities. The most common methods said to be used in this practice included stunting children's growth by physical restraint, muzzling their faces to deform them, slitting their eyes, dislocating their joints, and causing their bones to malform.^[1] The term, a compound Spanish neologism meaning "child-buyers", was coined by Victor Hugo in The Man Who Laughs, an 1869 novel which triggered moral panics over supposed "cripple factories" across Europe.^[2] The words comprapequeños, cheylas and zaghles are also used.^[3] The resulting dwarfed and deformed adults made their living as mountebanks and freak show performers or were sold into bondage as pages, jesters, or court dwarfs.

Historical references

One of the common creations of the comprachicos was supposed to be artificial dwarfs, formed "by anointing babies' spines with the grease of bats, moles and dormice" and using drugs such as "dwarf elder, knotgrass^[a], and daisy juice". The conception was known to Shakespeare, as Beatrice K. Otto pointed out, quoting A Midsummer Night's Dream:^[4]

Get you gone, dwarf;
You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;

Other means of creating this result were conjectured to include physical stunting by breaking or dislocating bones, and forcible constraint, whereby growth was inhibited for a long enough period to create permanent deformation. Because of the demand for dwarfs and other novelties in the courts of kings at this time, this could have been a profitable occupation.^{[citation needed]}

Hugo

Victor Hugo's novel The Man Who Laughs is the story of a young aristocrat kidnapped and disfigured by his captors to display a permanent malicious grin. At the opening of the book, Hugo provides a description of the Comprachicos:

The Comprachicos worked on man as the Chinese work on trees.^[b] A sort of fantastic stunted thing left their hands; it was ridiculous and wonderful. They could touch up a little being with such skill that its father could not have recognized it. Sometimes they left the spine straight and remade the face. Children destined for tumblers had their joints dislocated in a masterly manner; thus gymnasts were made. Not only did the Comprachicos take away his face from the child; they also took away his memory. At least, they took away all they could of it; the child had no consciousness of the mutilation to which he had been subjected. Of burnings by sulphur and incisions by the iron he remembered nothing. The Comprachicos deadened the little patient by means of a stupefying powder which was thought to be magical and which suppressed all pain.^[1]

According to John Boynton Kaiser, "Victor Hugo has given us a pretty faithful picture of many characteristic details of social England of the 17th century; but the word Comprachicos is used to describe a people whose characteristics are an unhistorical conglomeration of much that was once actual but then obsolete in the history of human society."^[3]

Modern references

The term comprachico is very uncommonly used in modern English except in reference or allusion to the antiquated folklore,^{[citation needed]} but similar stories do exist in the English-speaking world. For instance, a tale circulating since at least the 1980s tells of a Japanese bride who disappears during her honeymoon in Europe; years later her husband discovers she has been abducted, mutilated, and forced to work in a freak show.^[5] The shock documentary Mondo Cane (1962) shows apparently actual criminals arrested for crippling children to be used as beggars. The novel Q & A (2005) and its film adaptation Slumdog Millionaire (2008) portrays a gang that blinds children to create beggars, something that is a known occurrence in some parts of India and China.^[6]^[7]

"Comprachico" has been adopted as a morbid or pejorative term used for individuals and entities who manipulate the minds and attitudes of children in a way that will permanently distort their beliefs or worldview.^[8] Twentieth-century philosopher Ayn Rand referred to educators of the time as "the Comprachicos of the mind" in her article "The Comprachicos". Her criticism was targeted especially toward educational progressivists, but also grade-school and high-school educators who, in her view, used psychologically harmful methods of education.^[9]^[10]

James Ellroy refers to them and Victor Hugo's novel in The Black Dahlia, where the concept is a major motivation for the murder of Elizabeth Short.

References

^ Either Polygonum or Paspalum distichum
^ An outdated understanding of the Japanese art of Bonsai trees

^ ^a ^b Hugo, Victor. The Man Who Laughs. A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Ce. ISBN 978-2-07-041871-8.
^ Paijmans, Theo. “The Monster Makers.” Fortean Times, no. 334, Dec. 2015, pp. 30–31. EBSCOhost via Wikipedia Library.
^ ^a ^b Kaiser, John Boynton (July 1913). "The Comprachicos". Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. 4 (2). Northwestern University: 247–264. doi:10.2307/1133105. JSTOR 1133105. The word Comprachicos was coined by Hugo; so much is established
^ Otto, Beatrice K. (2001) [2001-04-01]. "Facets of the Fool". Fools are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around the World. University of Chicago Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-226-64091-4. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
^ Mikkelson, Barbara (12 November 2006). "The Shanghai'd Bride". Snopes.com. Retrieved 6 March 2007.
^ Luo, Chris (19 March 2014). "Criminal gangs 'crippling children and forcing them to work as beggars'". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
^ "Bihar Youth Blinded, Forced Into Begging Escapes Gang's Clutches". Times of India. 5 November 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
^ Asmolov, Alexander. “The Twenty-First Century.” Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, vol. 48, no. 4, July 2010, pp. 76–88. EBSCOhost via Wikipedia Library, https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-0405480407.
^ Rand, Ayn: "The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution", pp. 41–95. Signet/NAL/Penguin, 1975
^ Ayn Rand and her thoughts on Rational Education Archived 2013-01-17 at the Wayback Machine Michael S. Berliner, Ph.D.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Short description|Belief in criminals that deform growing children}}
 {{More citations needed|date=April 2008}}
-[[File:L'Homme qui rit - Les comprachicos, par Daniel Vierge.jpg|thumb|Comprachicos, illustrated by [[Daniel Vierge]]]]
+[[File:L'Homme qui rit - Les comprachicos, par Daniel Vierge.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Comprachicos, illustrated by [[Daniel Vierge]]]]
-'''Comprachicos''' are supposed groups in [[European folklore]] who were said to change the physical appearance of human beings by manipulating growing children through deliberate [[mutilation]]. The most common methods said to be used in this practice included stunting children's growth by [[physical restraint]], [[Muzzle (device)|muzzling]] their faces to deform them, slitting their eyes, dislocating their joints, and [[Artificial cranial deformation|causing their bones to malform]].<ref name="Hugo">{{cite book|last= Hugo|first= Victor|title= The Man Who Laughs|url=|accessdate= |publisher= A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Ce|isbn= 978-2-07-041871-8|chapter=|page=|year=|orig-year= April 1869 }}</ref> The term is a compound [[Spanish language|Spanish]] [[neologism]] meaning "child-buyers", which was coined by [[Victor Hugo]] in his novel ''[[The Man Who Laughs]]''. The words '''comprapequeños''' and '''cheylas''' are also used.<ref name="Kaiser">{{cite journal| last = Kaiser | first = John Boynton |date= July 1913 | title = The Comprachicos | journal = Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology | volume = 4 | issue = 2| pages = 247–264| publisher = [[Northwestern University]] | doi = 10.2307/1133105 | bibcode =| jstor = 1133105| quote = The word Comprachicos was coined by Hugo; so much is established }}</ref>  The resulting dwarfed and deformed adults made their living as [[Charlatan|mountebanks]] or were sold to lords and ladies to be used as pages or [[Jester|court fools]] or [[court dwarf]]s.
+'''Comprachicos''' are groups in [[European folklore]] who were said to physically cripple and deform children to work as beggars or living curiosities. The most common methods said to be used in this practice included stunting children's growth by [[physical restraint]], [[Muzzle (device)|muzzling]] their faces to deform them, slitting their eyes, dislocating their joints, and causing their bones to malform.<ref name="Hugo">{{cite book|last= Hugo|first= Victor|title= The Man Who Laughs|url=|accessdate= |publisher= A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Ce|isbn= 978-2-07-041871-8|chapter=|page=|year=|orig-year= April 1869 }}</ref> The term, a compound [[Spanish language|Spanish]] [[neologism]] meaning "child-buyers", was coined by [[Victor Hugo]] in ''[[The Man Who Laughs]]'', an 1869 novel which triggered moral panics over supposed "cripple factories" across Europe.<ref name=Fortean>Paijmans, Theo. “The Monster Makers.” ''[[Fortean Times]]'', no. 334, Dec. 2015, pp. 30–31. EBSCOhost via Wikipedia Library.</ref> The words '''''comprapequeños''''', '''''cheylas''''' and '''''zaghles''''' are also used.<ref name="Kaiser">{{cite journal| last = Kaiser | first = John Boynton |date= July 1913 | title = The Comprachicos | journal = Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology | volume = 4 | issue = 2| pages = 247–264| publisher = [[Northwestern University]] | doi = 10.2307/1133105 | bibcode =| jstor = 1133105| quote = The word Comprachicos was coined by Hugo; so much is established }}</ref>  The resulting dwarfed and deformed adults made their living as [[charlatan|mountebanks]] and [[freak show]] performers or were sold into bondage as pages, [[jester]]s, or [[court dwarf]]s.
 ==Historical references==
+One of the common creations of the comprachicos was supposed to be artificial dwarfs, formed "by anointing babies' spines with the grease of bats, moles and [[dormice]]" and using drugs such as "[[sambucus ebulus|dwarf elder]], knotgrass{{efn|Either ''[[Polygonum]]'' or  ''[[Paspalum distichum]]''}}, and [[bellis perennis|daisy]] juice". The conception was known to [[Shakespeare]], as Beatrice K. Otto pointed out, quoting ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'':<ref>{{cite book
-[[Victor Hugo]]'s novel ''[[The Man Who Laughs]]'' is the story of a young aristocrat kidnapped and disfigured by his captors to display a permanent malicious grin. At the opening of the book, Hugo provides a description of the Comprachicos:
-<blockquote>The Comprachicos worked on man as the [[Bonsai|Chinese work on trees]]. A sort of fantastic stunted thing left their hands; it was ridiculous and wonderful. They could touch up a little being with such skill that its father could not have recognized it. Sometimes they left the spine straight and remade the face. Children destined for [[wiktionary:tumbler#English|tumblers]] had their joints dislocated in a masterly manner; thus gymnasts were made. Not only did the Comprachicos take away his face from the child; they also took away his memory. At least, they took away all they could of it; the child had no consciousness of the mutilation to which he had been subjected. Of burnings by sulphur and incisions by the iron he remembered nothing. The Comprachicos deadened the little patient by means of a [[Anesthetic|stupefying powder]] which was thought to be magical and which suppressed all pain.<ref name="Hugo" /></blockquote>
-According to John Boynton Kaiser, "Victor Hugo has given us a pretty faithful picture of many characteristic details of social England of the 17th century; but the word Comprachicos is used to describe a people whose characteristics are an unhistorical conglomeration of much that was once actual but then obsolete in the history of human society."<ref name="Kaiser" />
-One of the common creations of the Comprachicos was supposed to be artificial dwarfs, formed "by anointing babies' spines with the grease of bats, moles and [[dormice]]" and using drugs such as "[[Sambucus ebulus|dwarf elder]], [[knotgrass]], and daisy juice". The conception was known to [[Shakespeare]], as Beatrice K. Otto pointed out, quoting ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'':<ref>{{cite book
 |last= Otto
 |first= Beatrice K.
@@ Line 23: / Line 17: @@
 |year= 2001
 |orig-year= 2001-04-01
+}}</ref>
-}}</ref><blockquote>Get you gone, dwarf;<br>You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;</blockquote>
+<blockquote>Get you gone, dwarf;<br>You [[Wikt:minimus#English|minimus]], of hindering knot-grass made;</blockquote>
 Other means of creating this result were conjectured to include physical stunting by breaking or dislocating bones, and forcible constraint, whereby growth was inhibited for a long enough period to create permanent deformation. {{Citation needed span|text=Because of the demand for dwarfs and other novelties in the courts of kings at this time, this could have been a profitable occupation.|date=January 2023|reason=claim of economic inventive; implies a dwarf market and a dwarf industry}}
+==Hugo==
+[[Victor Hugo]]'s novel ''[[The Man Who Laughs]]'' is the story of a young aristocrat kidnapped and disfigured by his captors to display a permanent malicious grin. At the opening of the book, Hugo provides a description of the Comprachicos:
+<blockquote>The Comprachicos worked on man as the Chinese work on trees.{{efn|An outdated understanding of the Japanese art of [[Bonsai]] trees}} A sort of fantastic stunted thing left their hands; it was ridiculous and wonderful. They could touch up a little being with such skill that its father could not have recognized it. Sometimes they left the spine straight and remade the face. Children destined for [[wiktionary:tumbler#English|tumblers]] had their joints dislocated in a masterly manner; thus gymnasts were made. Not only did the Comprachicos take away his face from the child; they also took away his memory. At least, they took away all they could of it; the child had no consciousness of the mutilation to which he had been subjected. Of burnings by sulphur and incisions by the iron he remembered nothing. The Comprachicos deadened the little patient by means of a [[Anesthetic|stupefying powder]] which was thought to be magical and which suppressed all pain.<ref name="Hugo" /></blockquote>
+According to John Boynton Kaiser, "Victor Hugo has given us a pretty faithful picture of many characteristic details of social England of the 17th century; but the word Comprachicos is used to describe a people whose characteristics are an unhistorical conglomeration of much that was once actual but then obsolete in the history of human society."<ref name="Kaiser" />
 ==Modern references==
-The term ''comprachico'' is very uncommonly used in modern English except in reference or allusion to the antiquated folklore,{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}} but similar stories do exist in the English speaking world. For instance, a tale circulating since at least the 1980s tells of a [[Japan]]ese bride who disappears during her honeymoon in [[Europe]]; years later her husband discovers she has been abducted, mutilated, and forced to work in a freak show.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/weddings/horrors/shanghai.asp |title=The Shanghai'd Bride |last=Mikkelson |first=Barbara |date=12 November 2006 |website=Snopes.com |access-date=6 March 2007}}</ref> The shock documentary ''Mondo Cane'' (1962) shows apparently actual criminals arrested for crippling children to be used as beggars.  The novel ''[[Q & A (novel)|Q & A]]'' (2005) and its film adaptation ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'' (2008) portrays a gang that blinds children to create beggars.
+The term ''comprachico'' is very uncommonly used in modern English except in reference or allusion to the antiquated folklore,{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}} but similar stories do exist in the English-speaking world. For instance, a tale circulating since at least the 1980s tells of a [[Japan]]ese bride who disappears during her honeymoon in [[Europe]]; years later her husband discovers she has been abducted, mutilated, and forced to work in a freak show.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/weddings/horrors/shanghai.asp |title=The Shanghai'd Bride |last=Mikkelson |first=Barbara |date=12 November 2006 |website=Snopes.com |access-date=6 March 2007}}</ref> The shock documentary ''Mondo Cane'' (1962) shows apparently actual criminals arrested for crippling children to be used as beggars.  The novel ''[[Q & A (novel)|Q & A]]'' (2005) and its film adaptation ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'' (2008) portrays a gang that blinds children to create beggars, something that is a known occurrence in some parts of India and China.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Luo |first1=Chris |title=Criminal gangs 'crippling children and forcing them to work as beggars' |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1452514/investigative-report-highlights-plight-dongguans-disabled-beggar |access-date=6 May 2024 |agency=[[South China Morning Post]] |date=19 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bihar Youth Blinded, Forced Into Begging Escapes Gang's Clutches |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/blinded-by-delhis-beggar-mafia-daily-wager-escapes-to-up/articleshow/95309852.cms |access-date=6 May 2024 |agency=[[Times of India]] |date=5 November 2022}}</ref>
-"Comprachico" has been adopted as a pejorative term used for individuals and entities who manipulate the minds and attitudes of children in a way that will permanently distort their beliefs or worldview. Twentieth-century philosopher [[Ayn Rand]] referred to educators of the time as "the Comprachicos of the mind" in her article "The Comprachicos". Her criticism was targeted especially toward [[Educational progressivism|educational progressivists]], but also grade-school and high-school educators who, in her view, used psychologically harmful methods of education.<ref>Rand, Ayn: "The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution", pp. 41–95. Signet/NAL/Penguin, 1975</ref><ref>[http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr005=vqt6kzx6s2.app7a&page=NewsArticle&id=6151&news_iv_ctrl=1069 Ayn Rand and her thoughts on Rational Education] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117030726/http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr005=vqt6kzx6s2.app7a&page=NewsArticle&id=6151&news_iv_ctrl=1069 |date=2013-01-17 }} Michael S. Berliner, Ph.D.</ref>
+"Comprachico" has been adopted as a morbid or pejorative term used for individuals and entities who manipulate the minds and attitudes of children in a way that will permanently distort their beliefs or worldview.<ref name=RussianEd>Asmolov, Alexander. “The Twenty-First Century.” ''Journal of Russian & East European Psychology'', vol. 48, no. 4, July 2010, pp. 76–88. ''EBSCOhost'' via Wikipedia Library, https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-0405480407.</ref> Twentieth-century philosopher [[Ayn Rand]] referred to educators of the time as "the Comprachicos of the mind" in her article "The Comprachicos". Her criticism was targeted especially toward [[Educational progressivism|educational progressivists]], but also grade-school and high-school educators who, in her view, used psychologically harmful methods of education.<ref>Rand, Ayn: "The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution", pp. 41–95. Signet/NAL/Penguin, 1975</ref><ref>[http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr005=vqt6kzx6s2.app7a&page=NewsArticle&id=6151&news_iv_ctrl=1069 Ayn Rand and her thoughts on Rational Education] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117030726/http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr005=vqt6kzx6s2.app7a&page=NewsArticle&id=6151&news_iv_ctrl=1069 |date=2013-01-17 }} Michael S. Berliner, Ph.D.</ref>
-[[James Ellroy]] refers to them and Victor Hugo's novel in ''[[The Black Dahlia (novel)|The Black Dahlia]]'', where the concept is a major motivation for the murder of Elizabeth Short.
+[[James Ellroy]] refers to them and Victor Hugo's novel in ''[[The Black Dahlia (novel)|The Black Dahlia]]'', where the concept is a major motivation for the [[murder of Elizabeth Short]].
 ==See also==
@@ Line 40: / Line 42: @@
 * [[Castrato]]
 * [[Kyphosis]]
-* [[Satanic panic]]
+* [[Rats of Shah Dola]]
 ==References==
+{{Notelist}}
 {{Reflist}}
+==Further reading==
+* Marc Hartzman. ''American Sideshow''.
 {{The Man Who Laughs}}
@@ Line 50: / Line 56: @@
 [[Category:Folklore]]
 [[Category:Child abuse in fiction]]
+[[Category:Spanish words and phrases]]

v t e The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo (1869)
Films	Das grinsende Gesicht (1921) The Man Who Laughs (1928) The Man Who Laughs (1966) The Man Who Laughs (2012)
Other media	"The Laughing Man" (short story) The Grinning Man (musical) The Man Who Laughs (opera)
Related	Comprachicos The Joker The Black Dahlia