Analyzing Artifacts of a Subculture

For this activity you’ll focus on the artifacts that seem central to the subculture you are

studying, and you will try to analyze what those artifacts reflect about the subculture.

Choose three artifacts from the subculture you are studying.

Phone

Booze, cigarettes

Makeup

Explain why you chose the objects you did.

I choose these because they reflect  this group of girls. They are also the stereotype to this group so I think it would be good to touch on these items.

What do you already know about this object? How does that affect your interpretation of its significance in the subculture?

Phones are used to communicate with friends. Makeup is used to make girls look older or better. Booze and cigarettes are a sign of rebellion. Most high school girls have phones, wear makeup, and have used alcohol but these girls do it to the extreme. This is what defines their subculture.

How is it connected to the other artifacts you’ve collected?

All of these are connected because they involve partying, rebellion, and friends.

Think about the values this artifact reflects for this subculture. What are they?

These reflect that these girls value what they look like, who they are with and their social lives a lot. Basically they like to have a good time and don’t care what others thing about.

How is this object used in the subculture? What does that tell you about its significance and the value it has for the group?

I think that the better the phone, the better you look the more parties you go to and the more friends you have in the group the better. They want the new things and to be liked by everyone.

What research might you do on the object's history? uses?

I think I could research the significance of makeup and stereotypes about it and what it says about people.

Phones are very social devices. I could research their impact on people. Maybe for the interview I could ask the girls how many texts the use a month and so forth.

Then, in the space below, finish the following sentence for each of the three artifacts you

have chosen:

The three (or more) most important things this artifact tells me about this

subculture are they are social, they are rebels, they care about what they look like because the other girls in the group do that too, they follow one another and what the media says is ‘in’.

One Last Strike from A Long Way Gone

“He looked at me and I could see in his eyes that he had given up hope. I begged him not to leave us. His lips were about to utter something, but they stopped shaking, and he was gone. …I still held my uncle in my arms, tears running down my face. My entire body had gone numb. I couldn’t move from where I sat. Mohamed and Allie came in and took Uncle away from me and put him on the bed. After a few minutes, I was able to get up. I went behind the house and punched the mango tree until Mohamed took me away from it. I was always losing everything that meant something to me.

            My cousins cried, asking, Who is going to take care of us now? Why did this happen to us in these difficult times?

            Down in the city, the gunmen fired off their guns.”

(Page 208)

                                    

This scene just ripped my heart out. His uncle, his only blood relative left in his life, was taken from him. He has already lost so much!  He is angry that he lost the important things in his life. Just as things were getting better again, the war caught up with him and he lost his uncle. He just can’t seem to get away from tragedy. This made me mad because I felt he deserved the good things that were happening to him after all that he had been through in the last few years.

I found this moment memorable also because he finally reacted to death in a ‘normal’ way since being rehabilitated. He use to except death as easy as breathing as a soldier. Now he is crying, punching things, and worrying. He is grieving for the death.

I have never experienced much loss during my life let alone witness it. I can’t imagine what that felt like. I have had my heartbroken by my dog before but that’s about as close to his experience I can relate. That’s not close. I am not saying I want to relate to him though. That’d be so scary and sad. I don’t know how he is so strong.

Parents from A Long Way Gone

"In particular, I remember a final match that my team, which consisted of Junior and some friends, won. Both my parents were at the game, and at the end, my mother applauded and smiled widely, her face glowing with pride. My father walked up to me and rubbed my head before he held my right hand and raised it up, as he declared me his champion. He did the same to Junior. My mother brought us a cup of water, and as we drank she fanned us with her head cloth. The excitement caused my heart to pound faster and I was sweating profusely. I could taste the salty sweat that ran from my forehead to my lips. Standing there with my family, I felt light, as if I were getting ready to fly. I wanted to hold the moment longer, not only to celebrate our victory, but because the smile on my parents’ faces that evening made me so happy that I felt every nerve in my body had awoken and swayed to the gentlest wind that sailed within me.” Page 210

I choose this because it reminds me of all kids. At a young age we live to impress our moms and dad with the things we do. But even now I, at age 17, try to do that with my parents. Our parents find pride in all we do too. Ishmael is just like any other kid in that manner. He feels so much pride and excitement that he brought joy to his parents. We all know the feeling of happiness that can overwhelm us as a child when our parents tell us “good job!” or “that was amazing!”

I also choose this because he used great descriptions in this paragraph. “I felt light, as if I were getting ready to fly.” and “…swayed to the gentlest wind that sailed within me.” are my favorite lines in the paragraph. They really capture how he is feeling in unique ways.

One particular occasion when I felt this was when I was 12. I had to give my first speech at church. My page long speech took me all night Saturday to write, trying to get it all right. My dad helped me out and gave my pointers, and words of encouragement. When you’re twelve you haven’t had much public speaking training yet so the next day when I was a kid with a mission and simply read my speech, not looking up once and reading straight through my writing. I was so nervous, I felt sick but at least it was over. Afterwards I remember my Mom having the biggest smile on her face “so proud of her baby girl.” I looked for my dad who I found with arms stretched out. He gave me a big hug and said I did an amazing job. I was so happy that day and they kept bragging about me. I felt like a million bucks.

Just A Dream from A Long Way Gone

"We arrived in Mattru Jong late that night. Junior and Talloi explained to our friends what we had seen, while I stayed quiet, still trying to decide whether what I had seen was real. That night, when I finally managed to drift off, I dreamt that I was shot in my side and people ran past me without helping, as they were all running for their lives. I tried to crawl to safety in the bushes, but from out of nowhere there was someone standing on top of me with a gun. I couldn’t make out his face as the sun was against it. That person pointed the gun at the place where I had been shot and pulled the trigger. I woke up and hesitantly touched my side. I became afraid, since I could no longer tell the difference between dream and reality." page 14-15

I choose this passage because I can relate to it somewhat. Also, this passage was very vivid. I could feel his anxiety and stress through his style of writing. Everyone has those dreams where they can’t run fast enough or can’t scream loud enough for people to hear of help. His dream seems more in content with what is going on his life though. It could actually be real. That must be terrifying that he has to live in his nightmares. “…I could no longer tell the difference between dream and reality.” How does he deal with that at the age of 12?

After visiting my Uncle Joe’s ranch one year I kept having this dream:
A bunch of animals are stampeding. Horses, deer, rhinos and every type of animal imaginable are coming straight for me in an open field. I run as fast as I can and try to avoid them in any way. I look to my side and see some brush that I could hide in. But my mind won’t let me turn off into the brush that could offer shelter. My gut yearns to be able to go that way and I just can’t. My mind can’t control my feet and I keep running in the path of the animals. It’s frustrating to the point I want to cry. Then, the moment comes when I can feel the vibration of the animals on my heels. They hooves sound like a thousand booms of thunder going off as they hit the ground. I trip, slamming hard on the ground. I wake up after this moment, feeling anxious and frazzled. I hate not being able to control the dream but at least I knew it was just a dream.

Also, I have had dreams where I’m running through the halls of my school and I hear the bell ring. I wake up because of that and find my alarm going off. It’s weird how that works. This is kind of like him waking up to the gunshot.