Exemplification Essay: The Rites Of Passage

A rite of passage is important in every culture and is present in every person’s life. It is the phases that a person goes through in their life: birth, puberty, adulthood. A rite of passage is an opportunity to grow and expand as a person to find one’s true self. However, there are some individuals that do not go through a rite of passage, resulting in unhappiness and disharmony. These individuals grow older but do not grow up. Without help, teenagers struggling to find their role in the world may seek to self initiate themselves. “Boys everywhere have a need for rituals marking their passage to manhood. If society does not provide them they will inevitably invent their own.” (Joseph Campbell). Gangs are a way that struggling teenagers find their rites of passages, and are able to grow in the stages of life and in the stages of one role or social position to another. However, a gang Rites of Passage or initiation ritual is often brutally violent or involves criminal acts. The culture of a gang is that of a subculture with a tribal organizational structure. Gangs have their own values, language, beliefs, and artifacts. Gangs have their own way to communicate with each other. Graffiti is a way to communicate within and between gangs. Certain words are also an indicator of which gang the members belong to. Tattoo symbols give clues into the …show more content…
One assumption is that youth gangs are violent, drug dealers. Many gangs do business in the drug trafficking, but youth gangs rarely ever manage or control those kinds of operations. The violence is usually over turf protection or expansion, or gang rivalries. Another assumption is that youths are peer-pressured to join a gang. Quite the contrary. Joining a gang is an appealing social activity to some youth. However, the main reasons to join a gang for youth would be the protection that comes with joining (National Institute of