The Coming of Age - Book Report/Review Example

The Coming of Age The method for understanding and discussing the subject of old age, that the author addresses in the preface to ‘The coming of age’ is use of what she has believed and seem over time. The society keeps changing and so does time. The author shows how much human character and capacity contribute to our knowledge. The well-being of young people depends on social arrangements and the information they learn from the society from the time they are born. The author has viewed the adolescence plight such as rebellion, agitation, conflict, and disturbance. There are biological explanations by theorists and psychologists that influence adolescents. Chapter one In chapter one, the problem adolescents have is presented and the author argues that the effects of civilization are testable through study of different culture. She calls it primitive peoples that she justifies by the fact that the primitive societies are possible to attain since they have simple language and simple history. The primitive society is not yet complex thus their way of life is easy. The author provides the ideology of cultural determinism and that of biological determinism. In the primitive society, the girl’s lives are mostly similar to each other’s lives unlike those of complex societies. The primitive society is viewed as homogenized and simple. Mead, the author suggests that the political organization does not have any effect or influence on the girls. She continues to argue that the study of one culture can help in solving of problems as the knowledge of one culture can enable us to scrutinize other cultures. This chapter helps the author in introducing what is mainly analyzed in other chapters of the book (DeBeauvoir 20). Chapter 2 In chapter two, the author portrays the society’s everyday activities inclusive of the social environment, the indoor and outdoor jobs. In this chapter, the discussion depicts social life in Samoan as different from the account of other societies. Despite the political hierarchy existence, the author describes Samoan’s social environment as a peaceful one. The general opinion of the Samoa’s society is one that creates a special interest on any individual. It displays the actual experiences of actual life and laying down the theories of anthropology. No matter how controversial it may seem the customs, ceremonies, and transactions live through for many generations and contribute a lot to the behavior of those within the society. Anthropology highly contributes to understanding the culture of a society. This chapter helps the author in analyzing the activities carried out in the society and the effects of the activities on individuals of the society (DeBeauvoir 30). Chapter 3 In chapter three, the author describes the different types of education that girls and boys receive from birth. This does not only happen in one society but also in our society. The girls are brought up being educated differently from the boys. The author depicts the Samoan boys to be in more difficulties than the girls since they go through a lot of pressure to achieve skills and become responsible. The boys are pressured to become matai and they have to work hard to achieve this title. The girls in Samoan are brought up to learn responsibilities like tending the baby until they are adolescents. The girls are expected to learn things such as weaving and other proficiencies before getting married. The children education portrays age hierarchy where the old individuals are the ones who command the young individuals. The boys from a young age are tolerated yet the girls tend to be pushed aside. This signifies the little opportunities allowed for girls to engage in adventure. The type of education the girls get seems to be less comprehensive and this is the reason why in the need the boys have more wealth and status than the girls do. Admonitions from the old ones to the young ones are now not separable when conversations are being carried out. We also see the author explain on how the elder children take the role of the old people by educating the younger ones. In the society, there are rules that need to be observed by the young ones when they are relating to the elders. For example, they are not supposed to address the adults when standing. This shows the amount of respect that is given to the adults or the old individuals in the society. Mead also points out age hierarchy and gives a principle of age. The political hierarchy in the Fono is required to have certain behaviors and characteristics starting from how they walk to how they are addressed and individuals they associate with. The behavior and characteristics is what conveys and signifies their status within the society. This chapter helps the author in analyzing the different types of education given to boys and girls as they grow up from birth and the shape education gives them in the future (DeBeauvoir 36). Chapter 4 In chapter four, she explains on how age in households is ranked. In The (DeBeauvoir) household, there are inexhaustible relatives that can be relied upon by the children and strict sex morality is maintained between the sisters and brothers. The author explores on taupo who is a princess to show the power she has and how she exploits the other girls and boys. In Samoa, there are strict taboos on goodwill and sisterhood even if it is by adoption or marriage. There are sanctions involved if the taboos are broken. The rank of the village does not have any effect on the young children yet people are obsessed with the ranking system, which is dominant. This chapter helps the author in analyzing the effects of household taboos and rules (DeBeauvoir 40). Part 2 There are representations of old age that I find in my immediate cultural environment. The use of cultural objects in entertainment is a representation of old age. Most of the objects being used for entertainment are a modernization of what was being used in old age. There may be slight changes but the originality of the objects remains to be from old age. In my immediate culture, these objects hold a lot of meaning in the society and they can never be let go. The old age did this same thing with their entertainment objects. Every object depicts some message and how it is used also speaks volumes of the message being portrayed. In today’s world, there is a rising concern on the aging populations because of the transitions that are taking place. The use of myths may have been passed by time. However, there is still wide use of myths in today’s culture and this is a representative of old age. Myths used today may not be similar to the myths told in the old age but they still have a lot of significance. For example in my immediate culture there is use of myths to prevent people from misbehaving since they are afraid the myths may be true. Themes also have some representations of old age. Since the old age, themes have been used to represent different things and ideas. In today’s immediate culture, use of themes in portraying ideas is widely used and has turned out to be as effective as it was in the old age. The themes are used in different occasions and places to indicate various ideas. Studies show that most of the elements from old age are compatible with the immediate culture. Trying to change the representations of old, age has turned out to be a difficult task that may eventually never be met. Most of the representations are compatible with the immediate culture and this is why it is easy to use them despite the changes being experienced. Most of the representations of old age are a representation of stereotypes. Social stereotypes that are related to age are in most times internalized. The elderly often display negative feelings towards the younger group. Age stereotypes are acquired many decades before one becomes old. Arguments have been put forward that the definitions evolve from age stereotypes that are internalized from childhood. If self-perceptions of ageing are positive then the will to live is great. The perceptions highly mediate the self-perceptions between death and survival. Social stereotypes are defined as a mental image of a simplified category. There are detrimental effects of stereotypes in an individual’s lives especially on their cognitive performance. The representations of old age create stereotypes that are instilled from an early age until old age. The representations create self-perceptions in individuals and from the self-perceptions the stereotypes are generated. There is evidence that shows that stereotypes can be caused by representations of old age even with the absence of old age. The representations are attached with various perceptions that make individuals believe the created stereotypes. Stereotypes can be seen as mental image that are of a simplified category and are shared by a large category of individuals. Individual and social functions of the old age highly contribute to creation of stereotypes. The social functions of the stereotypes show the need to preserve the existing ideologies to justify the social actions. Some representations of old age break with stereotypes. Study shows that when stereotypes concerning specific stereotypes are developed then the representations are at stake and may eventually die. Studies that are carried out on ageing reflect the real age situations that the representations of old age have. The stereotypes can assume discrimination, favoritism, maximizing differences, similarities, and consequences that should not be in existence for being in a certain age group. Cultural stereotypes are the main causes of breaking representations of old age. As the age evolves, the culture tends to change as well and the new stereotypes that come up may end up breaking the old representations. The representations of the old gain negative view from the young group with development of stereotypes. When the representations are viewed negatively then they are at a high risk of breaking. People are different in the way they feel, think, and behave and researchers have identified that all these are affected by development of stereotypes on representatives of old age. The personal experiences get different when stereotypes exist and the aspects of learning everyday get affected. However, despite the differences on stereotypes the negative and positive stereotypes are all capable of breaking the representatives of old age. The perceptions of old age will eventually crumble the representatives because opinions and attitudes are developed. The stereotypes encourage beliefs that the representatives are not natural and they should not be continued. The image of the old people is damaged, the young generation starts distancing from the representations of old age, and they do not want any association with them. Works Cited DeBeauvoir, Simon. The Coming of Age. New York: Norton, 1996. Read More