THE LEGEND OF THE GUARANI: CAN A TRADITIONAL LEGEND INFLUENCE IN ADOLESCENTS TO KEEP VALUES AND TRADITIONS ALIVE?

Author: Figueroa, Lidia

“In many cultures, storytelling has remained a powerful vehicle for the transmission of values, beliefs and ideas. The stories of these cultures, because they provide essential channels for the communication of ideas, moral values, and observations on the behavior of the human species, have remained alive, meaningful, and relatively strong” Wolkstein (1974)

Since immemorial times, traditional legends were transmitted orally from one generation to another. Through history, that was the method used for tribes and native aboriginal people to sustain not only their culture but also values and traditions alive among the youngest of their community. “The Legend of the Guarani” is one of those traditional legends conceived for the mentioned purposes but for young adults of other times. The whole world has changed and young adults are not the same as they used to be. However, this legend can be considered a good source to teach values and traditions among today´s young people.

For that reason, some parts of the legend in question will be analysed in this paper in order to find out how this traditional legend can help young adults to preserve values, culture and traditions.

“The Legend Of The Guarani” is the story of a young girl named Jary, during the times of Spaniard conquerors. This girl remained in the place where she lived with her old sick father, while the people of the tribe decided to leave the place, as a consequence of a worn out soil that did not give them good harvests anymore. Jary´s   good attitude was rewarded by a shaman that gave her father a green beverage that helped him to recover from his illness so they finally could reunite with the rest of the tribe.

To analyse the legend, we have to understand the purpose and the impact a traditional    legend may cause in the hearers .Gall De Vos (2007) states “ storytelling reserves traditional materials of imparting information and knowledge not only does storytelling connect the present with the past by telling ancient tales in much of they have been told for generations but storytelling also offers young adults a world of traditions  to aid them in their search for stability in unstable time. The preservation and presentation of oral traditions is a legitimate and valued service in and of itself”

Then, we have to pay special attention to the period young adults are going through. Eaglen (1983) defines this period as “that age group who no longer consider themselves children but are not yet considered adults by the adult world”. This view contrasts with the beliefs of the Quechua community because when a boy of the tribe reaches certain age, he undergoes initiation rites with a group of others, apart from the larger group. The rituals are performed under the direction of the shaman. The boy's lower lip is pierced with a piece of wood. He follows a strict diet based on corn for several days. Afterward, he can use adult words and adult ways of talking to people. During the initiation rites, the boy is instructed in appropriate behaviour. This includes working hard, refraining from harming others, being moderate in his habits, not drinking excessively, and never beating his future wife. When a girl reaches certain age, she is kept apart for a time under the care of female relatives. Her mother gives her guidance on her future marriage.

In other words, young adults of the Quechua community enter into adulthood naturally, adults accompany them during the process. Young adults from that community know what will happen to them when they reach to certain age. As all the events are always planned to be that way, there is no surprise. For the Quechua community, adulthood is seen as a normal stage in life and it is welcomed not only for the youngest but also by all the members of the tribe. Opposite to our culture, being a young adult on his way to adulthood is a complex stage Koelling (2004) states, when referring to the mentioned period, “the gap between childhood is vast physically, emotionally, psychologically, spirituality and it´s teens task to bridge it!” This indicates, in our society, young adults go alone all their way to adulthood.

During  this period, young adults “will begin to develop their own sense of moral values and moral codes” Koelling (2004) Values such as work, responsibility, friendship, tolerance and sense of belonging, to name a few, are perceived in the legend. For instance, the first value mentioned can be found in the passage that describes how hard the Guarani worked. This indicates that the whole tribe made from work an everyday ritual to survive. Hard work is one of the values young adults need to be prepared for by the time they enter into adulthood. Work can also give them a sense of independence and maturity    

Responsibility is another value that goes hand by hand with work but in this case, the sense of responsibility is portrayed by the girl´s determination when she decides to stay with her father.

The legend also contains values such as tolerance and respect, tolerance is noticed when the girl accepts her father´s decision of staying in the place, remaining isolated from the rest of the people. Then, the respect to older people is implicit when she accepts that decision.

It is important to mention that young adults have an special view about friendship as Koelling (2004) points out “they will seek additional friendships based on shared interests and worldview”. A good metaphorical description about what friendship is can be noticed, when is explained what does the new beverage to people...”it would be a good company in the sad hours of cruellest solitude.” For young people friendship is reason to live and  a friend is the person they can trust unconditionally.

This legend has also implicit a sense of belonging, other important issue for young people as Seaberg (2003) states “young adults prefer to learn and to seek information within a social context usually prefer to learn and to seek information within a social context” for instance Jary´s it is better for her to be with the rest of the tribe and share everything.

As regards tradition, this word derives from the Latin which means “handing over”. So, tradition can be defined as a set of rituals or beliefs maintained in the present by people of a society o r a community. This can be observed when the whole tribe adopts the habit of drinking the green herb which gives strength and courage. From that time on that habit became a tradition for the community.

Taking everything into consideration it is now possible to say   that “The Legend Of The Guarani” can be a good source to teach values and traditions among young adults. But adults have to bear in mind that these young adults are living in a different time and in a different context.
                                    
REFERENCES
•    Herz, S & Donald, G. (1996) “From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics”. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
•    Koelling, H. (2004) “Make Sense of Teens as Growing People and as Readers”. Libraries Unlimited. Westport, CT.
•    McCallum,Robyn (1999) “Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent  Fiction: The dialogic construction of subjectivity” Nueva York: Garland
•    De Vos, Gail (2003) “Storytelling For Young Adults: A Guide to Tales For Teens”Libraries Unlimited Westport,CT.
•    www.guayaki.com/mate/1984/legends-of-yerba-mate accessed 25/10/13

Understanding Teenagers as Readers: Choosing appropriate reading material in the classroom

“Anda’s Game” as YAL: A Short Analysis Following Small’s Criteria.

by Lidia Figueroa-Valeria Muscato

There is no doubt that “Anda’s Game” (2007), short story written by the Canadian blogger, journalist and science fiction author Cory Doctorow, is consistent with the requirement of a subgenre known as YAL.

This paper will attempt to examine some of the features listed by Robert C. Small Jr. (Hertz & Gallo, 1996), a renowned literary theorist about Young Adult Literature (YAL) and juxtapose them with the ones that are found in the short science fiction story “Anda’s Game”. In this narrative, the preadolescent protagonist Anda spends most of her time playing computer games online.

The first characteristic pointed out by Small, namely the fact that the main characters should be a teenager, can be found in the following excerpt: 

“When Anda was twelve, she met Liza the Organiza, whose avatar was female but had sensible tits and sensible armor and a bloody great sword that she was clearly very good with”.

Holly Koelling (2004) states that the onset of puberty starts between ages 12 to 13. Given these characteristics, the reader may assume that the main character is an adolescent when reading this extract from the story.

According to Small, “dialogue reflects teenage speech, including slang”. This second feature can be identified in the following conversation between Anda and her father:

“Anda, I don’t think it’s healthy for you to spend so much time with your game,” her da said, prodding her bulging podge with a finger. “It’s not healthy.”

“Daaaa!” she said, pushing his finger aside. “I go to PE every stinking day. It’s good enough for the Ministry of Education.”

Anda’s informal language represents teenage speech used by adolescents to communicate with adults, as seen in the “Daaaaaa” and the choice of the word “stinking” for instance.

Another important issue to take into account according to Small is that the teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature and independent. For instance, the next talk between Anda’s and her progenitor shows her as the owner of some of the characteristics mentioned before:

Anda came home from remedial hockey sweaty and exhausted, but not as exhausted as the last time, nor the time before that. She could run the whole length of the pitch twice now without collapsing— when she’d started out, she could barely make it halfway without having to stop and hold her side, kneading her loathsome podge to make it stop aching. Now there was noticeably less podge, and she found that with the ability to run the pitch came the freedom to actually pay attention to the game, to aim her shots, to build up a degree of accuracy that was nearly as satisfying as being really good in-game.

Her dad knocked at the door of her bedroom after she’d showered and changed. “How’s my girl?”

“Revising,” she said, and hefted her math book at him.

“Did you have a fun afternoon on the pitch?”

“You mean ‘did my head get trod on?’“

“Did it?”

“Yes,” she said. “But I did more treading than getting trodden on.” The other girls were really fat, and they didn’t have a lot of team skills. Anda had been to war: she knew how to depend on someone and how to be depended upon.

“That’s my girl.” He pretended to inspect the paint-work around the light switch. “Been on the scales this week?”

She had, of course: the school nutritionist saw to that, a morning humiliation undertaken in full sight of all the other fatties.

“Yes, Dad.”

“And . . . ?”

“I’ve lost a stone,” she said. A little more than a stone, actually. She had been able to fit into last year’s jeans the other day.

As it can be spotted in the extract above, Anda becomes aware of her obesity and the related diabetes and decides to take action and have control over her health. Her change is connected to teenage maturity and independence showing the way she is able to overcome her sickness.

Small also considers that YAL texts are short. As “Anda’s Game” is a short story, this may be a good advantage to get teenagers involved in reading.

Considering what has been exposed, on the age of the protagonist Anda, as well as her lexical choices and her personality traits, “Anda’s Game”, the science fiction story written by Cory Doctorow, can certainly be considered a case of Young Adult Literature (YAL).


REFERENCES

‘Anda’s Game’ by Cory Doctorow: Overcoming Barriers to Entry. http://thecraftproject.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/andas-game-by-cory-doctorow-overcoming-barriers-to-entry/ Accessed 13/06/13.
Doctorow, C. (2008) “Anda’s Game”. From Strahan, J. (Ed.) The Starry Rift: Tales of New Tomorrows: an anthology of original science fiction. Viking, USA.
Herz, S & Donald, G. (1996) From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Koelling, H. (2004) Classic Connections: Turning Teens on to Great Literature. Libraries Unlimited. Westport, CT.
Review: ‘Anda’s Game’ by Cory Doctorow. http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/review-andas-game-by-cory-doctorow. Accessed 13/06/13.
Wikipedia “Cory Doctorow” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow. Accessed 13/06/13.

I WAS A SOLDIER (review)

I WAS A SOLDIER is a lively short story in which its author, the New Zealander Brian E Turner, deals with controversial meaning of war.

The story transfers the reader from his peaceful life to the tragic and dramatic scenery of a battlefield. This context provides a frame to the story to experience, unless for a moment, the feelings soldiers may have in wartime. Moreover, this feelings can act as triggers to discuss or reflex on topics such as duty, empathy, friendship, hope and human miseries.

Brian E Turner, a war veteran himself, develops the story in a masterful way up to the last moment .And the shocking and unexpected ending produces in the readers a bitter disappointment when facing the cruel truth. This situation results incomprehensible for those who don’t know how a war is like.

Although, this story was not written for adolescents it can be very interesting for them because after reading the story, they can take part of a debate and they also can have the opportunity to judge the behaviour of the characters of the story by themselves according to their own principles.

The Quetzal Project (TV show proposal)

Mister Thomas Yankelevich

(WE ARE A GROUP OF STUDENTS OF A TTC AND) We are writing to let you know our proposal about a new television programme that we named The Quetzal Project. In the following lines we will establish the details of the show.

The Quetzal Project is a competition to find twelve young actors and actresses to be part of an adolescent sitcom. This competition will consist of groups of teenagers performing situations that adolescents have to go through on their way to adulthood.  A group of well recognized psychologists will help with the script of the programme. The participants will be judged every week, after their performance , by a jury formed by three teachers of secondary school of both levels (Basic and Superior) and a group of three adolescents as well. This jury will vote each participant according to their performance, giving them points ranging from zero up to one hundred .The participant that accumulates more points is the one who passes to next programme. The competition will last twelve months so, every month the jury will have to choose a winner who will be part of the sitcom.

We consider this programme very suitable for a large range of viewers that expect a TV programme according to their age and needs. In other words, adolescents need to share experiences. So, we believe this is the programme!

Yours faithfully,
Daniela, Valeria, Mariela, Lidia and Gilda

No Crystal slipper for them

Student: Lidia Figueroa
           
Since immemorial times fairytales were told to children in order to teach them about values and appropriated behaviour to build their character and prepare them for life. By the middle of the 20th century film producers made movies from those traditional stories. Walt Disney, the famous producer, was one of them who transmitted the message of those stories through movies. Take as an example the film CINDERELLA many girls, who are now in their fifties, including myself, felt identified with the character and with the story. For this reason, we grew up bearing in mind that all the problems in life had a magic solution. But today, the eternal discourse is little convincing for the generations and the life of CINDERELLA is not a model to be followed by the 21st Century girls.

Girls over fifties, raise your hands if you ever dreamed about a romantic charming prince coming to marry you and to rescue you financially …why not? Do not feel guilty of your materialistic thoughts because you are not alone. I also did! Many girls of our generation grew up having in mind the traditional social commitments which meant to get marry to solve some financial problems, and to have children. That was life for…. or better still, that was the synonym of fulfilment or happiness for the society of the 20th century

But blame all this to the history and to the society in which we had to live, because they alimented our impossible chances of meeting our prince charming in vane. Experience now tells us that there were not enough princes for all the girls of that time not even for the ones of today! By the way, we also know that the closest moment in our life that we looked like a princess was when we had our 15th birthday dress on!

Let’s talk about the poor CINDERELLA.  In the story she is treated badly by her bossy stepmother and she also has to cope with the jealousy of her stepsisters. Her miserable life is full of punishments and authoritarianism. This situation is incomprehensible for these days.

However, she was a passive and conforming girl. Her only way out was her freedom through marriage. But the innocent girl did not know that her way out was also her complete dependency on men.

How fortunate are the girls of the 21st century! Why? Because they know already, with no experience at all, that no prince will come for them to try on their foot a crystal slipper with a guarantee of happiness! Girls, in general, feel free to choose their own way of living because there are breaking away old stereotyped roles related to women such as marriage and motherhood. Is not a coincidence the influence of the feminist movement with its beliefs of women liberation is present in this way of thinking. Young girls are now able to decide how bright or successful is going to be their future having in mind what they really want for their lives. Without any social commitment to follow they give priority to their needs no to the needs of somebody else.

It may sound a bit selfish for the ones from the last century but most girls are enjoying their lives, doing whatever they like without any kind of pressure from their parents, members of the family or from gossipy neighbours. The new generations do not wish to repeat the life of Cinderella. As Cindy Lauer sings in her song …   GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!

The Antenna Controversy

Authors: Lidia Figueroa & Valeria Muscato

When television made its appearance in our homes in the ‘50s, the parents of those times gladly trusted the content of TV shows. Programmes not only entertained but also transmitted the social values that families expected. Nothing was questioned because the stories seen on TV were similar to everybody’s life. But things are changing and the TV programme Teletubbies is a clear example of this because some parents do not trust in its content as they used to. Therefore, Teletubbies’ content is no apt for grown-up conservative minds as it goes against traditional sexual models.

The colourful characters of this programme named Tinky Winky, Laa-Laa, Dipsy and Po made people feel annoyed due to the fact that they do not know what sex they are. None of us know the truth but there is a hidden symbolism in the antenna that each of the characters has on their heads. Laa-Laa, the yellow Teletubby, is a female and she has a curly antenna which symbolizes, according to Berit Kjos who is a respected researcher in educational issues, the evolution of the universe. Po is also a female and her antenna is a circle. Dipsy, the green Teletubby is a male and his antenna is straight, needless to say what body part of men it represents. But the most controversial character is Tinky Winky the purple Teletubby, although he is a male he carries a red purse which is – in general – associated to women. The antenna on his head is the biggest of all, its shape is a triangle pointing down and it has a feminine connotation because it symbolizes a female womb.  According to this explanation, people who may be offended can deduce that Tinky Winky is a homosexual. Furthermore, members of the homosexual community claim that they are represented through the purple colour, because in the 1920s the purple colour indicated an effeminate style. Besides during the years 1950s and 1960s homosexuals were called “lavender”.

In addition, conservative people can also argue the relationship between the characters as they show emotions and feelings openly. These people consider this kind of behaviour confusing for the youngest viewers of the TV programme presuming  the homosexual connotation of the characters.

The TV programme Teletubbies is a mirror that reflects our changing society and children do not care about homosexuality because they are naturally immersed and see things through innocent eyes. However, conservative adults may not accept this new society that leaves behind old stereotyped conceptions.

Grandma Rabbitty´s Visit (review)

Grandma Rabbitty´s Visit
Barry Smith
Dorling Kindersley Limited, 9 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8PS.
(Review by Lidia Figueroa and Valeria Muscato).

Grandma Rabbity´s Visit, by Barry Smith, is an adorable story for toddlers that takes place in a Rabbits’ house in which the little ones of the family are expecting the visit of their Grandma. During the wait, they see many vehicles appear throughout the text.

The story begins an early morning when mother Rabbity receives a phone call from Grandma Rabbity announcing that she is coming to visit the family. As soon as she finishes the call, mother Rabbity tells her sons the news. Immediately, they begin to express an enthusiastic interest and an impatient desire for the visit of their Grandma.

As the story develops, the young Rabbities see many different means of transport through the glass of the big living room window of their house. They really enjoy the view of those vehicles that anticipate their pass with funny sounds.

The author tries to capture the attention of the young hearers from the start. He illustrates the story with coloured pictures. Also, the storywriter uses a simpler language and the repetition of the particular sound each vehicle makes not only entertains young children but it also may allow them to interact with the story by repeating the onomatopoeias.

Grandma Rabbity´s Visit is highly recommended. It will be a great help if you are a parent or a teacher interested in teaching means of transport to young children. Don´t miss the opportunity to read Grandma Rabbity´s Visit.

Som-Som

Open publication - Free publishing - More children

A disappointed ant

One morning little Red Ant was working as usual until she was surprised by a strange smell. At first she thought that someone had set some leaves on fire. Then, she started to have some difficulties for breathing but suddenly she learnt that the owner of the garden where she was working that day had sprayed some poison over a wild rose which was her new place of work. 

Desperately she ran away to the neighbour’s garden. There she met a group of little black ants to whom she told about the tragic episode. But a little black ant told her that the owners of the gardens didn’t like to have their plants eaten by ants. “What’s wrong with that?” said little Red Ant. “It makes room for new people”. “I thought I was helping them to get rid of wild plants”. 

Exquisite cadaver

It was a cold night, the streets were almost empty and unexpectedly I ran into him. It was a long time since I had seen him for the last time.

At first I couldn’t recognize him because he had changed a lot. His hair was shorter and he had wrinkles on his face. He was surprised as well. He told me that I looked the same. He invited me to have a cup of coffee nearby to catch up. We went to a little café on the corner of that block and we talked about our lives. We spent almost two hours talking until we realized it was very late but we looked at each other and decides to ask for another cup of coffee. After all the day was rainy and too cold. Nobody expected such tragic ending early in the evening.The destuctive wind blew everything down on its way and made the following hours and days unbearable for some people. Although the destroyed city is recovering its normal life, the way to my mother’s house was desolated after the tornado. As I was getting closer to the house it was even worse. I was really worried about my mother, but also about Pompi, my loyal dog.

Fortunately, when I arrive home I learnt that the building wasn’t damage. The walls and roof were in their places, but Pompi wasn’t there. As my mother was fine, I started to look for the dog. I walked all day long, but I couldn’t find him. I was desperate and very sad. Darkness didn’t help much and to make things worse it started to pour down. I had almost no hope. It was a cold night, the streets were almost empty and suddenly I ran into him.