It also is the most prevalent aspect of adulthood that will occur in your life, making it crucial for development. This is an obstacle faced by everyone, everywhere in the world, except for the few recluse humans who have never seen another person. It can be afflicted by culture, but always remains the same at the core and that is to be polite, and understand beyond yourself. These two things are what drive almost every interaction and determine if you have or have not left childhood behind. For example, in Marigolds, Lizabeth doesn't see past her selfish needs and acts foolishly to avoid her problems. This is what categorizes someone's maturity. Once she “understands beyond herself” and is “polite” in the way that she deals with dilemmas, she becomes an adult and with that, becomes much more capable of developing other adult traits, specifically the ability to comprehend someone's emotional attachments. “That was the moment when childhood faded and womanhood began. That violent, crazy act was the last act of childhood. For as I gazed at the immobile face with the sad, weary eyes, I gazed upon a kind of reality hidden to childhood.” (Collier, Marigolds) In Marigolds, this is known as losing innocence, or ignorance, and gaining compassion. “The years have put words to the things that I knew in that moment, and as I look back upon it, I know that that moment marked …show more content…
One particularly brutal one takes place in the Brazilian Amazon. There is an indigenous tribe in that area called the Sateré-Mawé that makes boys go through what is called bullet ant initiation in order to be considered a man. Boys 13 years of age stick their hands in gloves filled with bullet ants, a species of ant with an excruciating sting, and have to keep their hands in for a ten, whole minutes. They do this over many times and until they don't cry out, as showing the pain signifies weakness. “In preparation for the initiation rite, the elders of the tribe collect the ants from the jungle. These ants are drugged and placed stinger- first into special gloves woven from leaves. As the drug wears off, the ants become increasingly agitated and are raring to sting. This is when the boy puts on the gloves and lets the bullet ants work their magic.” I personally don't agree with this, however I do think that to grow up you need to know how to control yourself and this definitely would be a way of doing