Reflection Paper6

I think the rites of passage are important because they signify such an important part in life and once you go through with them you are a new person. Just like how a teenager becomes an adult they too are transformed into a whole new person with different feelings and perspectives on things. They know that they are no longer children and that they have successfully become mature adults. “Sitting Quietly” is a good example of overcoming that childish hurdle and blossoming into the world of adulthood. The boys enter the forest as frightened little adolescent boys and fight their way past the terrors of the forest to reach safety. I think that when they are fighting the things that scare them it is another way of saying that they are fighting away their childish and immature selves to become brave and fearless adults. In “Facing Mt Kenya” I think it’s a more graphic way of a girl becoming an adult woman. Not only do boys have to go through the rites of passage girls are also privileged to have their own ritual so they may also shed their childish bodies and transform into beautiful and mature women. With the Sambia I think they kind of set an example. They set an example because even though there is homosexual activity no one is looked down upon them or becomes judgmental like we in the United States are. To the Sambia that kind of behavior is completely natural to them so they are not bothered or repulsed by it. In a way I think it is like saying that they have to overcome that “difficulty” or “awkwardness.” The rites of passage are basically a different form of high school graduation; they only get to become an adult after they have passed the required tests and have proven themselves to be true adults. The young boys and girls finally get to break away from their childish statuses and can be known as men and women rather than adolescent boys and girls. The rites of passage are tests to examine whether or not he or she is ready to take the final leap from child to adult just like how middle and high school do that same thing but in a slightly different way. They both have requirements that need to be met or passed in order to be considered mature or fully developed.