The hierarchical structure of the society is illustrated and maintained through a series of life cycle rituals that revolve around major life altering events, including birth, marriage and death. Although these events occur on an individual level, the social structure of the society requires that they focus not on the individual but on the society as a whole, particularly on the relationship between the groups that the individual belongs to, not on the individual himself. The focus of these rituals is on the interdependency of groups and the role that the individual must play as a member of these groups, not on the individual as a person. However, the rituals also impress upon the individual the sense that he is being cared for by the entire group. This is often repressive.
Many people feel constrained by the role they are required to perform in.
The ways in which a particular group of people, young to middle aged women, has found personal fulfillment while playing their role, is discussed through a series of life history interviews in this chapter. This chapter also focuses on one particular life cycle ritual, the bulubulu , to demonstrate the ways in which these rituals focus on groups, and not individuals. The focus of the final chapter is religion, and the way in which the structure of the Methodist church parallels that of the larger society. Because the church structure so closely follows that of the society as a whole, it is difficult for those who have problems with the larger society to accept the Methodist church. This is illustrated through the testimony of two individuals, one who has found fulfillment and autonomy by leaving the Methodist church, the other who has accepted the Methodist church into his life by rising through its hierarchy to find a higher level of communalism in it.