I finished Coming of Age in Samoa today. Like I guessed at earlier I actually did end up liking it more towards the end. Probably the last 4 chapters were the best, the last two being the most interesting, at least to me. Mead finally starts using more stories from the girls she observed (like in her deviants “Girl in Conflict” chapter) and comparative analysis between the society of the Samoans and America (as can be seen in her last two chapters).
It was really interesting to read her comparisons of the societies. Basically, Mead makes it clear that the Samoans lack deep feeling and emotions; and are guided by an idea of moderation (never loving too much – to do that is foolish). Americans on the other hand are mainly emotions and are driven to excel, compared to the Samoans who are encouraged to stay in the middle of the pack.
Mead goes further and asks why American Adolescents have so many more neuroses than Samoan adolescents and she pretty much chalks it up to the more homogenized home life, openness of life, and the lack of choices.
Mead also asks what we could do to change our society to solve these neuroses. Her biggest thing is that:
“the child of the future must have an open mind…. The children must be taught how to think, not what to think…. They must be taught tolerance…”
No comments:
Post a Comment