Accomplishing Your Rite of Passage

Accomplishing Your Rite of Passage Do you think it’s more important to prove something to yourself or to others? In the stories, “through the Tunnel” and “Brothers are the Same,” Jerry and Temas went through their rites of passage. Jerry’s rite of passage was swimming through an underwater tunnel while Temas’ rite of passage was to fight a lion. Jerry chose to go through the tunnel himself because he wanted to prove he could do it. Temas fought the lion because he wanted to show his tribe that he was a man.
Jerry accomplished his rite of passage by himself, unlike Temas who achieved his goal surrounded by his tribe. In the story, “Through the Tunnel,” Jerry chose his rite of passage after he saw the older boys swimming through the tunnel and wanted to prove that he was as cool as them. After the older boys left the rocky bay, Jerry was determined to prove to himself that he would swim through the tunnel. He spent the next few days practicing to hold his breath as long as he could. He had gotten horrible nose bleeds but he kept on trying; he never gave up.
On the last day of his vacation, he had made it all the way through the tunnel, counting his time spent under water, to help him with his breathing. Near the end, he almost ran out of breath, he kept on moving. One he made it out, achieving his goal; he learned that it was more important to prove something to you than to someone else. When he went through the tunnel, he was by himself and no one had watched him. He didn’t want to do it again just to prove to someone else that he could do it; he knew personally that he could.

Going through a dangerous tunnel like that wasn’t worth proving to someone else that he could do it. In the story, “Brothers are the Same,” Temas accomplished his rite of passage surrounded by his tribe. Temas’ tribe has already determined his rite of passage when he reaches a certain age to prove his manhood, which is to defeat a lion. He tried to prove himself to everyone in the Masai tribe including the girl he likes, named Kileghen. Temas was scared of failure and scared of his friends laughing at him.
When it comes time for Temas to fight the lion, he is circled by his tribe trying to prove his passage to manhood. At first, he couldn’t even get the lion’s attention; the lion had walked toward another member of his tribe Casaro. When Casaro was about to raised his shield to fight the beast, Medoto, a member of his tribe who also likes Kileghen, had flung a stone directly at the lion. Now the lion goes after Temas thinking he is the one who had thrown the rock. At that moment, all of his fear was gone. He had thrown his spear at the lion but had only hit the lion’s shoulder, which wasn’t enough to take it down.
When the lion had bit Temas and Dragged him away, Temas still didn’t give up; he was determined to kill the lion. While the lion dragged Temas, He stabbed the lion and conquered the beast. His whole Tribe has a big celebration for his braveness and his success at becoming a man. Jerry had tried to achieve his goal to prove something to himself, while Temas had accomplished his goal to prove himself to his whole tribe. Jerry was happy for himself as Temas’ tribe was glad at Temas’ success. Jerry and Temas showed others that you can accomplish anything whether or not you’re proving it to yourself or others.