Marina Amartino Language and Written Expression IV ISFD Nº 30
How the Sun Came To Be: a Traditional Aboriginal Legend as a Mirror of Teenage Reality
How would you describe adolescents? Perhaps the words confrontational, openly challenging, defiant, rebellious ring a bell to you and can help you with such despcription. Most commonly, these characteristics are a source of preoccupation for adults, such as parents and teachers, who deal with adolescents all the time. However, we, as adults, should also look on the bright side of things. When the rebellious and defiant aspects of adolescence are represented in literature, they can also have its “bright side”. This is the case of the Australian aboriginal legend How the Sun Came To Be, which can help adolescents realise that literature can reflect some of the problems present in their own teenage reality, and as a result, help them come closer to books. How the Sun Came To Be presents the story of an aboriginal young girl who escapes from her tribe and never again comes back to her home because her parents do not allow her to marry the man she is in love with. Although people from her tribe persecute her and try to bring her back by force, she does not reverse her decision of abandoning her place. By doing this, she rebels against her own family and her own tribe, defying any kind of authority figure from the society that surrounds her. This defiance of authority present in the main character, which is a typical feature of adolescence, can help teenagers feel identified with her and, consequently, help them become more interested in literature. According to Dr. Andrew Garner (2010), member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the natural brain development may cause some of teen’s defiance, since the parts of the brain that regulate the ability to look ahead and see the consequences of behavior do not reach maturity until late adolescence or young adulthood. But the part of the brain that regulates emotion and reflexive responses develops fully during early adolescence. Some scientists believe this mismatch in brain development may be the cause of teens’ impulsive behaviour. In How the Sun Came To Be this type of behaviour is described through the actions of the main character: The young woman was hungry, thirsty and tired but she would not give up and return to her people. Then she saw that a group of men from her tribe were coming to take her back by force. She ran even further into the most barren part of the land
This passage also shows that the girl does not care about the consequences of what she is doing; she just wants to run away from her people and follow her own ideals instead of adjusting herself to the norms of her tribe. Not even the aggressive attitude of the group of men who come to take her back “by force” can deter her; she is resolved to escape.
Marina Amartino Language and Written Expression IV ISFD Nº 30 Adolescence is a period characterised by certain degree of rejection to authority and this is seen by psychologists as developmentally appropriate. According to Winnicott (cited by Vega et al., 2009), this stage of rebellion is the opposite of a mere “passive adaptation” to the adult forms, and as such, is not only normal during teen years, but also indicative of a healthy development of teens’ personality. How the Sun Came To Be portrays the confrontational attitude of young people through the young girl’s stance. This can help adolescents to feel identified with her determination and disobedience, and in that way help them develop an awareness of how literature can reflect their attitudes and problems. As Koelling (2004) proposes, intellectually, teens are able to link what they read to their own personal experiences and they become interested in books that tie in with their life stage. This is why How the Sun Came To Be can be a first step for adolescents to get closer to literature.
Another characteristic of adolescents is their stringent need for personal emancipation from the adults that make up their environment. The protagonist of the story can be taken as a clear example of this trait. Indeed, once away from her family, and even missing her people, she goes on with her decision of living by herself, determined to follow her own principles: When she awoke she found plenty of food and water and lit a camp fire. She was all alone but not afraid and grateful that she was at last warm and safe. She was as determined as ever to live alone forever rather than return to her tribe...
This can also serve as a mirror for teenagers, who seem to experience a similar need for independence as the main character of the story does. As a result, teenagers can feel engaged in reading the legend. Teenage years are the usual time for getting independence as a mature person. In the case of the legend, when the aboriginal girl abandons her tribe to start a new life on her own, she assumes full responsibility for herself, reaching freedom from the restrictions adults impose on her. It follows that this necessity for independence and personal emancipation from adults and especially from parents, also takes place in the real world of adolescents: “The growth of a person entails the achievement of certain degree of autonomy, particularly referred to the detachment from parents” (Duek n.d). Of course this detachment does not constitute a simple task, neither for the main character of the legend, nor for adolescents themselves. Sigmund Freud characterizes this task as one of the most painful. He also points out that it is the children’s task to detach themselves from their parents, since this will help them to be released from the dependencies that position them as children and, consequently, as dependant from adults. All things considered, it is possible to say that literature can faithfully mirror adolescent’s reality, and that this reflection can be a source of captivation for teenagers. The more meaningful the connections they can establish between the stories they read and their own life, the less impassable the barriers they can find to reading. There exists a huge variety of literary works that can be representative of teenagers’ reality and How The Sun Came To Be is an
Marina Amartino Language and Written Expression IV ISFD Nº 30 illustrative example of it. That is why the aforesaid legend can help teens make a step that will lead them to find literary matches for themselves and, consequently, lead them to come closer to literature in general.
References:
Duek, D. (n.d) Introducción a la epistemología de lo adolescente. Extracted from Ketterman, S. (2010) Defiant Behaviour in Teens. http://www.livestrong.com/article/174186-defiant-behavior-in-teens/ Accesed 28/ 10/2012
Koelling, H. (2004). Classic Connections: Turning Teens on to Great Literature.Westport CT, Libraries unlimited. Vega et al (2009). Escritos psicoanalíticos sobre adolescencia. Buenos Aires, Eudeba.