You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This afternoon I would like to move on to the second phase: the transition from puberty to adolescence, which is usually characterized by the beginning of sexual relations. The external manifestation of the passage to puberty is a social one; it is accompanied by an emotional separation from the family. One is no longer a child living in the family but a member of the pubertal group. Going back to the loss of distinction between good and bad, described in Mrs Harris's material, we can say that the pubertal group is really of a tribal type. The two tribes are principally the boys' tribe and the girls' tribe, engaged in a battle of the sexes, making incursions of a tribal nature against each other and returning with trophies which are the pride of the tribe. The dream presented by Mrs Harris in which Malcolm found himself in the ruins of his room while he walked up and down like a Nazi [pp. 95-96] clearly describes the spirit of this tribe. Its sexual aspect is an