Summary
This chapter describes a Samoan girl and the relationships she forms with people at different ages. When the girl is about six to seven years of age, girls make friends from outside of her family which includes kids from close by neighborhoods. However, no strong friendships are formed. Some girls tend to stay closer to the family members like aunts and grandmothers while some girls stay with their group of friends or chase the group of older females.
As the girl ages, other factors like family blood ties and family rank come into play. This restricts the interactions of the girls to some extent. When the girl reaches the age of sixteen-seventeen their group of friends is limited in size of 2-3 girls. Relationships and similar sex interests plays an important role in forming these small groups.
The author also talks about the relationships that the boys form as they age. When the boys are young, they form similar relations like the girls do, but when they grown older they form larger groups which teaches them important values like co-operation and teamwork. Also, there exists a special relationship between two boys who are best friends, its called Soa.
Discussion
So far, I have been noticing striking similarities in the highly developed eastern and western cultures and the Samoan culture. However, I noticed that there are significant differences in the day girls form relationships in the Samoan community and in the more developed parts of the world. However, it was interesting to read the detailed descriptions of their social interactions and relationships that the author provides.
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