Coming of Age in Samoa
Read “The Girl in Conflict” Chapter today
This was probably the most interesting chapter to me because Mead used so many examples from the various girls she studied. Plus, it was the most comparative yet of the chapters.
In this chapter Mead discusses the deviant girls in the society. Those who have both deviated “up wards” and “down wards.”
The girls who deviated “up wards” (she never uses that word for them but she does use the opposite for the other side so for the sake of argument I use it here) were those who were more ambitious, tended to be different only in that they grew up in the more western home of the Pastor. They usually wanted to move away from home and work as a nurse or become a pastor’s wife.
The other side of the deviants the “down wards” were seen by their own society as being deviants. Most of these girls were needy of affection and sought it anywhere they could, often becoming sexual deviants. They had bad attitudes, were either liars, thieves, or both. And commonly couldn’t live in a household very long before getting chased out or moving on their own from being made uncomfortable.
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