Andrea’s Coming of Age For the thousands of years that humans have been living on earth, a vast majority of that time, we have been hunter-gathers. In the traditional Native American culture, the men went out and hunted for food while the women stayed home and cooked, took care of the family, and made clothes. It was the woman’s role in society to take care of the family and make sure the house was running smoothly. In contrast, it was the male’s sole job to protect and feed their family. They did this by hunting for their food. In this culture, for a boy to become a man, they had to complete a rite of passage. This could have been completed in many different ways, but the most common was by achieving their first kill all by themselves. “Doe Season” by David Kaplin exemplifies its theme of rite of passage through the main character, Andy. Her actions and reactions to different situations and …show more content…
Throughout the story, Andy wants to be treated like a grown up as well as respected by the males in the story. When Andy is day dreaming about the ocean, her mom is swimming and playing around, but her dad will not go far in the water. Her mom asks her to come in, but Andy does not want to. At this point in the story, Andy does not believe she is ready for it. Andy feels that she can still do the things that the guys are doing. Towards the end of the story, Andy realizes that she is ready for this next step in her life when Andy decides, “She will no longer be called that” (Kaplin 12) She will be called Andrea. Andrea has come to the realization that her role in this society is not to be the strong hunter. Andy tries to hide and dodge womanhood by doing everything with her father, but at the end of the story, she embraces her womanhood and changes her name to Andrea. Andrea has “transformed” from the girl we meet in the beginning of the story into a more mature girl at the end of the