Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa

Introduction: This chapter mainly discusses what the book is going to be about, an anthropologist, Margaret Mead who is going to study adolescents. Adolescents are people between childhood and adulthood, who are often plagued with difficulties and conflicts. Mead decides to do her ethnography in Samoa, primarily on Samoan adolescent girls. She chooses Samoa because they are a much simpler culture than European and Western cultures. In these simpler countries, law, religion, and history are not as difficult as European and Western countries. Throughout her research, she will answer the following questions; "Are the disturbances which vex our adolescents due to the nature of adolescents itself or to the civilization?" and "Under different conditions does adolescents present a different picture?"

A Day in Samoa: Mead describes a usual day for the villages she is staying in. The villagers rise at dawn and the men leave to go work inland while the women start to make breakfast and weave. The younger children go to play out by the beach, while some swim in the water. Around noon, the woman and children take a break from work and play to spend with their families or take a nap. Afterwards, the older children go out and fish on the beach and the women start to make the community dinner. Once the men return, dinner is served. After dinner, everyone goes to sleep in their large family houses.

The Education of a Samoan Child: She discusses the education of the children, starting with the youngest. Children from birth to age 5 or 6 are taken care of by slightly older children, instead of their parents. They are taught simple rules like how to stay out of food, to stay off of mats being made, and how to not annoy their parents. Girls ages 6 to 11 watch the younger children from dawn to dusk. They also do chores for the elders such as cleaning and cooking simple food. Once the girls are older, around age 14, they no longer have to watch the young children. They now are taught to weave a variety of baskets and how to cook and find food. If they are considered lazy, the boys will not want to marry them. This is the age they have the most freedom. The boys ages 6 to 11are taught how to fish and how to canoe. Once they are older, they are sent to an area of the village full of other boys and elder men with no title. Here, are taught to weave baskets and how to give gifts to their sweethearts. They may be chosen to become one of the important elders, if they are skilled enough.

The Samoan Household: This chapter discusses the hierarchy of the families. The families often live with relatives and live in houses with large numbers of people. Hierarchy depends on the matai and who is related to them. A matai is an important man who is considered a leader of the village. Many things go into hierarchy in the villages. Bloodlines, relationships, legitimacy, and how pretty they are all considered with ranking. Most children are grouped into ages, unless they have a special title. Newly married couples can choose which family they want to live with, and these two families form a bonded kinship after the marriage. One the girls and boys reach the ages of 10 or 11, they are no longer allowed to communicate to each other. They are not allowed to play, work, or even touch the other sex.

The Girl and Her Age Group: Mead describes the different age groups that exist in the villages. When the children are younger; they have play groups that are separated by sex. The young girls play together and the young boys play together. As the girls get older, around 10 or 11, they start to only associate with family members. Since they live in houses with their extended family, there is usually someone else to play with. If there are no other children around their age to play with, they do not play with anyone, as they are starting to do daily chores for their families anyways. As they reach in their teens, they only are friends with the boys whom they are attracted to, and their family. The boys lead a different life in friendship. They have the same group of friends in their late teens as they did when they were younger. They do not have to do as many chores as the teenage girls, so they have more friends. They need other boys to work though, so naturally, they work with their friends. When they hit puberty, they are circumcised, and the boys who are circumcised together become soa, or very good friends who last until marriage.

The Girl in the Community: There are two groups, called aumaga and aualuma. Aumaga is an organization of young men. They are centered around the fono, a house where the drink kava is served and where important things are done. They are very important to their villages. They learn special speeches, work together, and assist the chiefs. Aualuma is an organization of young woman. They are centered around the taupo, which is a princess of the village. They are not as important as the aumaga, but they are still help the chief's wives, and are hostesses for the village. Woman and men in Samoa have very different roles. The women are only allowed to do certain things, based on her rank. And the same go for men. Women are not allowed to do much of anything when they are menstruating. They believe they are contaminated during this time. Women are only important when they are either a taupo or when their husbands are important.

Formal Sex Relations: Until the age of puberty or circumcision, boys and girls are not allowed to associate with each other. When that time has come, they are allowed to do whatever they please. Many younger boys and girls pick older mates, often because they are easier talking to and more experienced. Between the unmarried there are three types of relationships; the clandestine encounter, the published elopement, and the ceremonious courtship. The clandestine encounter is when two lovers meet outside, under coconut trees at night to have sexual relations together. A published elopement is when two lovers quickly decide to wed, and not much planning is made. Ceremonious courtship is when a boy tries to win the heart of a girl through his soa. The soa helps them talk to the girl he is attracted to because he is not allowed to talk to a girl till dark. Rape is also very prevalent in the villages, they are called moetotolo. These happen in the middle of the night when a boy sneaks into a girl's room. This often happens when a boy is either