Coming Of Age In Somoa Essay, Research Paper
Margaret Mead?s ?Coming of Age in Samoa?, which was actually her
doctoral
dissertation, was compiled in a period of six months starting in 1925.
Through it, people
were given a look at a society not affected by the problems of 20th century
industrial
America. She illustrated a picture of a society where love was available for
the asking and
crime was dealt with by exchanging a few mats. This book helps one to realize
the large
role played by social environment.
One of Mead?s biggest challenges was probably the fact that her fieldwork
was
done entirely in the Samoan language. In Samoa, few, if any natives spoke
English.
To get information, Mead spent her time talking to approximately 25 Samoan
women.
However, she spent much of her focus on two young Samoan women, Fa?apua?a
Fa?amu
and Fofoa. It is said that one Samoan woman?s life is very much like the
next. At the
time of her visit to Samoa, Mead, a graduate student was only 23 years old.
She was
barely older than the girls she interviewed and lovingly called her ?merry
companions?.
The vision recieved while reading ?Coming of Age in Samoa? is that it is
a place of
nearly stress free living. The children pass through adolescence without the
many
pressures put upon teenagers in an industrial America:
…adolescence represented no period of crisis or stress,
but was instead an orderly developing of a set of slowly
maturing interests and activities (95).
According to Mead, families are large, taboos and restrictions are few, and
disagreements
are settled by the giving of mats. The stresses encountered by American
teenagers are
unknown to their Samoan counterparts. Mead refers to premarital sex as the
?pastime par
excellence? for Samoan youth. She writes that Samoa is a virtual paradise
of free love, as
the young people from 14 years of age until they are married have nothing on
their minds
except sex. Of Samoan girls Mead says:
She thrusts virtuosity away from her as she thrusts away
from her every other sort of responsibility with the invariable
comment, ?Laitit a?u? (?I am but young?). All of her interest
is expanded on clandestine sex adventures (33).
She explains that growing up can be free, easy and uncomplicated. Romantic
love in
Samoa is not bound with ideas of monogamy, exclusiveness, jealousy and
fidelity as it is in
America.
Evidently, due to the lack of privacy in the homes, young lovers are forced
to meet
in the trees. Even married people have trouble finding privacy:
But the lack of privacy within the houses where a mosquito
netting marks off purely formal walls about the married
couples and the custom of young lovers to use the palm
groves for the rendezvous (84).
As far as the act of sex, much pressure is put on the man to perform:
The Samoan puts the burden of amatory success upon the
man and believes that woman need more initiating, more time
for maturing of sexual feeling. A man who fails to satisfy a
woman is looked upon as clumsy, inept blunderer….(91)
The day in Samoa begins at dawn, and you can hear the shouts of young men.
Most of
the time, the people go to sleep around midnight and after that you only hear
the whispers
of lovers.
Mead tells of how birthdays are not of importance, but the day of birth is,
especially with highly ranked babies. On this day there is a great feast and
property is
given away. The first baby must always be born in the village of the mother.
For months
before the birth, the family of the father brings food while the family of
the mother makes
clothes. At the birth, the fathers mother or sister must be present to take
care of the
newborn. There is no privacy and the woman is not allowed to cry out in pain.
It is not
uncommon for 20 to 30 people to be present at the birth, and to stay all
night if necessary.
Once the cord is cut by the midwife the feast begins. If the baby is a girl,
the cord is
buried under a mulberry tree to ensure that she will be good at household
tasks. If the
child is a boy it is thrown into the sea so that he will be a skilled
fisherman, or planted
under a plant to make him a good farmer. Unless a woman gets pregnant again,
she will
nurse her child until it is two or three years old.
Once the baby starts growing into a toddler, there are many strict rules they
are
expected to follow. The first is that they must only learn to crawl and sit
within the house.
Once they can stand, they are never to stand while addressing an adult. All
children must
know to stay out of the sun, and to never tangle the strands of a weaver. It
is also not
acceptable for a child, no matter how young, to scatter the cut up coconut
which is spread
out to dry. The last rule that she speaks of is that
sure that their
loin clothes are attached at all times. The girls principle task while
growing up is to learn
to weave. In fact, a girls chances of marriage are badly damaged if the
village hears that
she is lazy in domestic tasks.
The Samoan village is made up of 30 to 40 households and the master is called
the
matai. Any older relative has a right to demand personal service or to
criticize the
conduct and interfere with the affairs of a younger relative. The most
important
relationship within a Samoan household is that between brother and sister.
This does not
even necessarily mean by blood. This relationship is of the most importance
in influencing
the lives of young people. The word aiga is used to cover all relationships
by blood,
marriage and adoption. The family cooking is taken are of by both sexes, but
the majority
of the work falls upon the boys and young men. The agricultural work is done
by the
women. This includes the weeding, transplanting, gathering, transportation of
the food
and the gathering of mulberry wands. Mead also speaks about the social
network in
Samoa, especially in reference to the chiefs role. While speaking to a chief
he explains:
I have been a chief only four years and look my hair is grey…I
must always act as if I were old. I must walk gravely and with
measured step. I may not dance except upon most solemn
occasions, neither may I play games with the young men…
Thirty-one people live in my household. For them I must plan,
I must find them food and clothing, settle their disputes, arrange
their marriages…It is hard to be so young and yet to be a chief
(Mead 36).
Boys in Samoa are circumcised in pairs and make the arrangements to do so
themselves. They do this by seeking out an older man who has a reputation for
skill. The
boys in the pair are considered to be very close, and it is even all right
for them to have
casual sexual relationships. Boys do not start to go after girls until two or
three years
after puberty, and when they do they have their friends speak to her.
When they get older, the women are dependent on their husbands for social
status.
The village princess is not actually what we could consider a princess. She
takes on the
job of the village servant. She waits on strangers, spreads their beds and
makes kava. Her
marriage, however, is a village event, planned by talking chiefs and their
wives. In Samoa
there are not the taboos about women that are present in other cultures. The
only taboos
that they have about women is that she cannot touch the fishing canoes or
fishing tackle.
If she were too it would allegedly ruin the fishing. When a man dies, it is
the job of his
maternal aunt or his sister to prepare the body by rubbing it with oil. Than
she sits there
by the dead body to fan away the flies it may attract. A man who commits
adultery with a
chief wife is beaten and banished a possibly even drowned. The wife of the
chief will only
be cast out.
A similar tradition is that is the taupo, who is the village ceremonial
hostess, was
found not to be a virgin she is beaten by her female relatives. This beating
includes
disfiguring and even fatally injuring her. It is actual considered illegal
for her to have sex
before marriage. At her wedding in front everyone her virginity is to be
taken by the
talking chief. This custom is slowly dying out, but was in full force at the
time of Mead?s
visit.
An important part of Mead?s dissertation was her study of the casual sex
relations.
After a girl is eight or nine years old she has learned not to approach a
group of older
boys. However, when it comes to younger boys, they are taught to antagonize
them. The
boys are considered ?older? after they have been circumcised. When a girl
is looking for
her first lover, she looks to an older man, most often a widower or a
divorcee. There are
two types of sexual relations other than marriage that are recognized by
Samoans. These
include love affairs between unmarried young people, and also adultery.
Although
virginity is not expected in girls, Mead claims that it defiantly adds to
their attractiveness.
Essentially, having sex with a virgin is much more of a feat for a man than
sex with a girl
who is not. Marriage in Samoa is regarded as a social and economic
arrangement in which
relative wealth, rank and the skill of both husband and wife must be
considered.
In conclusion, Margaret Mead?s dissertation on Samoa is still interesting
after 75
years. The customs of Samoans, especially those regarding sex are very
interesting to
people of other cultures. This society rests most of their regard on love and
happiness and
seem to have been successful in achieving that.