Examples Of Rite Of Passage

Those who develop from childhood to adulthood have gone through a rite of passage. Temas in “Brothers Are the Same” and Jerry in “Through the Tunnel”, went through rites of passage. These rite of passage tests were similar through their courage, different in whether it was official or unofficial, and alike in results of test, which guides them through childhood into adulthood. In the two short stories Temas and Jerry both show courage through a rite of passage. One way Temas and Jerry showed courage is through their use of limited resources. Temas was given a long spear, short sword, and a rawhide shield to protect himself from a lion. Due to limited resources, Temas showed courage because he utilized his weapons to fight a lion. Similarly,
Temas’s test was assigned by the elders of the Masai tribe and was assigned to fight a lion, which all sixteen year old boys had to do in order to be accepted into the tribe and develop into adulthood. The whole town was aware of the test that occurred. Temas’s test was official because the elders assigned it in order to see if Temas can be accepted into the tribe and the whole town was aware of the test. On the other hand, Jerry’s test was assigned by himself and was unofficial. Jerry’s was the one who assigned his test and only he was aware of it. For these reasons, Jerry’s test is unofficial because he wanted to complete the test for himself and kept it limited to his mind. Temas and Jerry both took a test to transition from childhood to adulthood, but were influenced for a different reason. As well as different people assigning these test, the reasons behind it made it official and unofficial. In order for Temas to be accepted into the tribe, he had to pass his test. The reason behind this was when he turned sixteen it was his chance to prove he is ready for adulthood. Temas’s test was official because he had to prove he was capable of joining the tribe and turning into an adult, which were his main reasons to fight the lion. Meanwhile, Jerry had his own reasons for his test.
Temas and Jerry both show similarities through courage. For their test, the both have little to protect themselves. Temas is only given a rawhide shield, long spear, and a short sword while Jerry only had goggles, ability to swim, and capability of holding his breath for more than two minutes. Temas and Jerry showed courage because with the shortage of weapons, they were still able to complete their test. However their test differed from whether it was official or unofficial. Temas’s test was assigned by the elders of the tribe and the whole town knew about the fight while Jerry’s test was unofficial since he assigned the test to himself and kept it limited to only him. Temas’s test was official because it was required by the tribe and the town would watch the fight happen, but Jerry’s test was unofficial because he wanted to go through the tunnel himself and did not tell anyone else. Besides different types of test, Temas and Jerry had similar results of their test. Temas and Jerry were both successful. Temas defeated the lion and was accepted into his tribe completing his rite of passage, going into adulthood and Jerry gained his independence by going through the tunnel by himself. Temas was successful because he was accepted into the tribe by overcoming his rite of passage of defeating the lion and becoming an adult and Jerry was successful because he did what