A particular paragraph in chapter 31 left me with a lot to
think about. In the middle of page 203 Sophie makes a comment about how it is
"...up to me to make sure that my daughter never slept with
ghosts"(203). This was of such high interest to me because this isn't
exactly a thought process seen by the other females in her family. Although
none of the women in their culture liked being tested as young girls they still
continued to test their own daughters. When Sophie asked her mother and her
grandmother why such a test has been carried down through the generations she
always gets left with the same answers; it is something that they have always
done and continue to do with their own daughters. If testing is a ritual that
all of the girls despise of so much it is hard to understand why then it
continues to happen. Furthermore, it seems really nice that Sophie does not
want to put her daughter through the same test that she had to go through but
what makes Sophie think that she won't test her daughter? When Sophie's mother
was being tested as a young girl she may have thought the same things about
when she had a daughter of her own (she may have thought she would never test
her daughter). Even though Sophie thinks she won't test her daughter now what
makes her think that she won't change her mind when her daughter hits puberty?
This topic really highlights the power of culture. It takes bold people to break that line of passing down a culture. It challenges me to rethink cultural aspects in America, things we do because it is what we learned and are expect to do without thinking about weather most Americans truly believe in them or because its what they were taught.
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