Blog 16: Blackberry Winter / Margaret Mead

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 Jordan Miles 

Blog 16: Blackberry Winter / Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead writes a personal coming-of-age story in Blackberry Winter. She was a student at Barnard, focusing on Anthropology. She writes a lot about how Americans can learn many lessons from Polynesians regarding handling the many problems that adolescence consists of.  She discusses societal issues about topics like women's rights, race, and different cultures. I think that the quote she ends with helps conclude her main passions and focus of the work that she does. She explains, "On all my later field trips when I was working on cultures about which nothing was known, I had the more satisfactory task of learning the culture first and only afterward working on the special problem. In Samoa that was not necessary, and this is one reason why I was able to carry out my work on the life of the adolescent girl in nine months." (568).  She demonstrates the love and care she has for different cultures and ways of life in this quote. She enjoys learning and exploring our differences, which is truly interesting. She emphasized how our cultures can play a role in shaping different personalities and the reason behind people's behaviors and actions. I would consider Margaret Mead a feminist in her works and she researches and uncovers so much about females and brings light to many gender roles.  Her story is very unique and different from the other accounts we have explored so far. One difference is how she is extremely driven and authoritative in her writing. This quote also depicts the confidence she has throughout her writing. 

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