Introduction
An adolescent is defined as someone who is in an intermediary period between babyhood to maturity. During this period, the individual experiences biological, social, and psychological changes. The period normally starts from ten years for girls and twelve years for boys. It then extends to the late teenage years. Different cultural societies at different periods have recognized this important transition period. In the African culture, for example, the young men underwent initiation that was marked by circumcision. They also joined age sets after which they could fight for their communities as warriors. After this, they could marry and eat certain foods that were initially prohibited to the younger generation. (Steinberg 86).
Essay Body
To understand adolescents better, it is important to look at various images at different periods and see what they communicated about adolescents.
In this image, the culture can be described as one that has integrated both modern and ancient African culture. This can be seen from the modern architecture in the background and the dressing mode of the characters. The young lady seems to be communicating with the man through various gestures. The lady appears confident by maintaining eye contact and appropriate body position. The lady may be intimate with the man as a husband or someone that she has been engaged to. This shows that ladies in adolescence were expected to be married in this culture. (Hellman) The lady’s clothing, adornment, and mannerism may show that the lady has undergone certain informal education on how to behave. The clothing and adornment may be a way of communicating that the lady has been initiated, married, or conveying any other useful information.
The menstruating lady called Gynaikes entered the new stage with a new form of dressing. Longer and more modest clothing was preferred as can be seen above. This was to protect the menstruating lady. Amulets were worn as charms for protection and depending on where obtained, could be used as contraceptives. Menstruating ladies were expected always to maintain some form of containment as can be seen from the lady’s posture. Some physical features of an adolescent can be seen like rounded hips and developed breasts. (Brown-Peace)The lady seems to be taking fruits to someone, probably the husband hence young ladies were expected to be married in this culture and acted more like servants.
From the image above, we can learn that young men including adolescents in general played an important role in physical and mentally challenging activities. We can also see that apprenticeship was an important form of learning in this society as a young child has accompanied the men in their duty. The fact that several young men are performing a duty may indicate the presence of age sets in this society. One young man seems to have placed his hand protectively on the child indicating the likelihood that young men were expected to protect society. (White Egypt Galley 4)
Conclusion
From the three images, we can say that adolescents have always been recognized and taken care of by society from ancient days. It was a very important stage where they underwent training and rituals to ensure that they reflected society’s aspirations. Whereas ladies were trained to be good wives, men were taught other duties like protecting society during times of war. A general clear picture of this can be deduced as seen from ancient Egyptian culture to the enduring and civilizing ancient Greek culture and the recent accommodating African culture.
Works Cited
Brown-Peace, army.’’Dress, Gender and the Menstrual Culture of Ancient Greece’’. n.d.Web.
‘’White Egypt Galley 4’’.Online image.6th image. n.d. Web.
Hellman, Lillian. ‘’Cynical-C Blog’’.Christ potrayed. n.d. Web.
Steinberg, L. Advances in Adolescent Behavior and Development. 71-97, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1989. Print.