University of Puerto Rico in Cayey

Department of English

Professor: Jose A. Santos

Essay of The Crucial Passage

Jose Francisco Rodriguez Ayala

804-10-7077

The Crucial Passage

Summary:

The story is about, a tribe that as part of their culture they establish that all the children’s need to pass through a series of testing like a part of initiation to become a man. This story presents two ten-year-old boys that are together waiting for the next age-set. In that transition they will learn many things about life; they will growth more mental and psychological. The directions of the destiny of the boys will be determinate by the tribe, one of them Paolo will make a journey of seven days to the Big City, in that journey he will be accompanied by his friend Jose. The story of Paolo and the Shavante’s is capturated by the PBS in a documentary called “Millennium”, which is directed by the anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis which is committed to film six hours of interaction between tribal and modern culture. In the city Paolo will be learn the loneliness of a big city, who he is, what he's here for, and how he can be of service as a man to both his loved ones and his humanity. In the adulthood-training or "initiation" he needs to read a sacred book written by the tribe’s one God. He is taught this skill by a primary male elder and a secondary set of male elders, in a period of one to two years. At the finish of his training, he is put front a public in which he need to prove his intellectual prowess and singing. Once the process of the initiation is complete, he receives gifts by many members of the family. He will become a man when he proves himself in a trade and demonstrate the leadership that he had learn. The elders will impose more goals to the youths in order to test them. Finally, we can imagine a society in which machines and overwhelmed caregivers do most of the work of parenting. In this culture the parents make the children pass trough many different tests , but the fathers are absent in this process. In this culture the boy becomes more dependent of his peers, but they are pretending to be adults, even if they are not and this is a problem. Finally when he is more old age he discover the fact that he is not a man.

Analysis

1. PRIOS
   
   • Purpose - The purpose of the essay is to show the parents that the process that a child pass through adultness is crucial and they need to be present, they need to guide them and they need to help us. The essay show us the differences that different societies have about that process, but in the shavante’s for example the elders are present and all the tribe but in the “imaginative society” you can see how the father are absent. Also the purpose is to show to the adult people that live in modern civilizations that the technology are affecting the way that we live, and specifically in that essay show us how the technology can replace some human aspect of us like parents, in the case of the essay in the “imaginative society” you have the machines and overwhelmed caregivers taking care of the boys, but today the television feed many kids of the modern societies.
   • Reader-This essay is dedicated to the fathers of the American Society and a secondary reader could be to that people that have many technologies in their houses.
   • Ideas- “A boy is taught to read a sacred book, a book written by the tribe's one God. He is taught this skill in a concerted way by one primary male elder and a secondary set of male elders, including his own father, over a period of one to two years.” Here we can see the support of the members of the tribe in the process of Paolo.

“Imagine now a culture in which machines and one or maybe two overwhelmed caregivers do most of their work of parenting.” “…but that Father is strangely absent in body, so his voice sounds disembodied.” In that two cites we can see of the machines take care of the child’s of the modern society and in the final cite we can see how the father are absent.
• Rhetorical Mode-The author present his text as narration, exposition and compare and contrast. Is narration and exposition because the author narrates us a story about Paolo and his tribe, Jews and the American society. Is exposition in the sense that he expose us a problem in the passage of the child to the adultness. And is compare and contrast because he compare the civilizations and contrast their different ways of the passage to the adultness..
• Style - The style is objective because he based his reading in studies that scientific, social workers, physiologist, etc. make about the passage of the child’s. In other hand is subjective because he introduce his influence in the finals paragraph of the reading, specifically in the part that he talk about the technology in the imaginative society that represent the American society.

2. About the author
   
   • Michael Gurian is a social philosopher and American author. He was the founder of the Gurian Institute, trains Which Professionals Who Deal with the Developmental Aspects of childhood. Explore the child's development. It refers to the biological, psychological and emotional responses that occur in humans from birth until the end of adolescence, the individual moves from dependency, increasing autonomy. This supports my hypothesis that the essay is based on experience with the stages of children and their foundation.
   
   
   
   

3. About the title
   
   • The Crussial Passage
   
   1. How does the title relate to the text? Is it an Effective title? Why or why not?

Is a effective tittle because is very relationated with the purpose of the text because the process of a child to the adultness is a crussial passage that we need to guide them and support them in the right way, the future of us like a person is determinated in that period is for that reason that we need to be careful.

2. Before you read the text, what did the title lead you to expect or what impression did it give you?

The first impression that I have of the tittle of the text that will be talk about a difficult situation or something bad for someone or something.

3. After you read the text, did your way of thinking about the title change? If so, how?

I don’t change anything about the tittle, I think that is perfect for the text.

4. Imagine you're the author, and you want to change the title? What would it be, and why?

If I will change the tittle I will put The shadow of our passages because the many of the fathers of the modern society and specifically our society are completely absent in this passage of the child’s.

EVALUATION

1. What is the relevance of this text for the Intended audience and for society? In other words, why is this important text? Explain.

This text is important for us because we can appreciate the difference between two civilizations that are years far away from each other. We can see how the tribes are together and each of the elders guide them in the process to be adult, in other hand in our civilization we depend of the machines at the point that a television breed us. I think that the lecture shows us how we make the crucial passage to the adultness, but that is the point that is crucial and we need to be careful in the process because our actions will define our future.

2. Counterarguments what could be presented to the author's premises and ideas? Explain. (You do not have to agree with Necessarily Those counterarguments.) Refutation What Could the author gives to those counterarguments?

A counterargument could be that each civilization has their own rules, and in that sense they will guide the children to the adultness in their own ways.

The author can say that this is a lie that regardless of the type of society the transition to adulthood should be critical and therefore must be guided in the right way.

GAPS AND SILENCE

A gap could be what happen with Jose in the story because the author mention Jose in the first paragraps but then he not make more mention of Jose, and don’t tell us nothing about her. Also the transition of Paolo and Jose in the big city could be a silence because if he present us what happen with her lives in the big city we can know what happen with them and if something in them had change in the process and also we can understand how is the process to them. Another silence is the description of the “imaginative society” because he describe us the shavante’s and the jews but don’t tell us much about the “imaginative society”.

INTERTEXTUALITY

I really don’t see any movie or text that is related with the reading but I could say that this reading remind me about what is happening with our society.