Potiki - Professor Paloma Fresno PDF

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Professor Paloma Fresno...

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POTIKI, PATRICIA GRACE 

Postcolonial novel, Maori literature.

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Polyphonic novel  novel narrated by different characters (1st and 3rd person). Common resource to show the different perspectives, contesting the single story. How the different characters react to the different events and how different the characters are. 

Age differences

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Different generation

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Gender differences

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Children of different ages

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People with special needs (physical and mental issues).

PART ONE 

General presentation of the main characters, the place…

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The chapters are organised with the names of the characters. Most of them are narrated by Roimata and Toko.

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Patricia Grace’s idea at first was to write a short story, not a whole novel. The prologue is the real short story. The novel develops independently form the prologue.

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In this community everyone is important and everyone has a different role within it. All of them have a story to tell and role to play. All of them also have a job.

Family tree: Tamihana Family (genealogy, community)  very Maori way of introducing oneself 1) Roimata: mother, she introduces herself by telling where she comes from, who her family is… -

Roimata starts introducing herself and her family. She starts explaining how her kids were born, her childhood experiences. She starts with that in the chapter 1 and continues in chapter 3.

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Roimata, who had moved away, returns to the village and she realises that Hemi and Mary’s mother has died (funeral). Both Hemi and Mary are very important for her, they were close friends in their childhood. Roimata has loved Hemi since she was 5 years old.

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She decides to return to the village because she wants to recover her roots. She feels lost, alone (she does not have family) and dislocated.

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She is presented, at the beginning, as rootless and disconnected and this is why she needs Hemi to help her to keep going as he represents the contrary, someone who is rooted to the land.

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On chapter 3 (pg. 31): Roimata describes herself as sky dweller (contrary to Hemi) and she compares herself to Rona (a woman who went to take water at night. As she could not see 1

well, she fell and she blames the moon not to make enough light…). What Grace is doing is explaining how Roimata has been depraved of her connections with the land. -

Maori myth of creation: Papatuanuku (earth mother) + Rangunui (sky father)  reversal of the story of the book (Roimata as sky father and Hemi as earth mother). o Sky Father and Earth Mother are closely embraced to each other, between them there was no light. o When their children were born, they did not have enough space to live because their parents were very close together. In order to have more space and light, one of them, lied on the floor and pushed the earth from the sky. The mother and the father were separated by their children. o In the novel, there is a reunion between Roimata and Hemi, not a separation. o Grace likes to play with the cycle of life.

2) Hemi (Maori version of James): Roimata’s husband -

Chapter 10: Hemi left school to work the land when his father died. His education was on the land. You get to know the land, you cultivate the land but this knowledge is for everyone, for the community.

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When the novel opens, he has lost his job and he wants to use his knowledge. To keep his family going, he needs to work the land.

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He is rooted and connected to the land.

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Hemi represents the contrary to Roimata.

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Chapter 10 (pg. 65): how his generation were educated, their culture was not important, their language should be forgotten, but the younger generations were educated in a completely different way, the culture was important.

3) Mary: Hemi’s sister and Toko’s birth mother. -

She is in charge of taking care of the meeting house (wharenui) and cleaning the figures. The meeting house is a communal space and it is central to the novel.

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Inside the meeting house, there are figures which represent all the ancestors. Mary gives names to the figures.

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In chapter 4, Roimata tells how Toko is born. Nobody had realised that Mary was pregnant. Toko’s father was a man who only spent the summer there (a type of bush man) and he took advantage of Mary. Mary is also like a child.

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Billy: someone who goes from village to village.

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She has a different perspective of reality.

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End of chapter 2: she has a loving relation with the figures. She calls one of the figures “loving-man”. Connection with a prologue (how the craver creates life through the figures).

4) Toko: Mary’s son -

Born from Joseph and Mary and he becomes as a “Jesus” figure (Christian references). 2

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Motherhood is presented in a different way during the novel. There are different characters who act like mothers to Toko. o The grandmother is the one who names him. o Mary, his biological mother. o Roimata, his second mother. o Manu is like a protector to him.

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Toko’s disability derives from the way he was born.

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He is related to Maui  he is a demi-god and trickster (someone who can change forms in order to preform his different tricks). Maui is a figure who contributes to help humans in many ways. Deeds that Maui performs for humans. He is very strong but also very cheeky.

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All the stories that Toko retells are closely related to Maui.

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The first story, is the story of his birth (Chapter 6).

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Age divisions are important (Toko as the adult and Mary as the child).

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He has a special way of perceiving things, he represents the ancestors with his knowledge of myths.

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Since the placenta was not buried, this was a kind of problem (people could not get into the sea until they found the placenta).

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“I know all my stories” is a key phrase in the story as he can retell the old myths.

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Combination of different myths.

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Biculturalism (the two heritages are present) and hybridity (more general term; English and Maori language). Grace, the author, grew up in a bicultural background and this is portrayed in Toko.

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Toko is in charge of telling his own stories (myths and legends). Through this stories Grace is vindicating the power of myths, the power of the history of the place… She is combining all this stories through Toko telling his stories. Every story that he explains, has already being explained by Roimata (Toko’s birth  connected to Maui who was also abandoned when he was born).

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Chapter 8: everybody has told about the event but he tells his version. He manages to capture the huge fish. Before going fishing, Toko already known that he would catch that fish (foresight predictions). This particular story is also connected to Maui. Grace uses Toko to announce what is about to happen  PROLEPSIS (moving forward in the story, we know what is about to happen), “The stories are changing” (they exist in a new context, myths and stories which have been influenced by a contemporary context).

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Chapter 9: Toko explains what they did with the fish. Toko goes to see his grandmother and she explains where his names comes from. She names him after her brother (named after an ancestor, also named after the event that happened in the tribe  people died due to a foreign illness). “Little father” (age). Toko represents life, he contributes to feed the 3

community and he survived when he was born. “Multiplication of eels”  he also contributes to the community to grow (reference to the Bible, also close to Maui). How the stories that Toko tells are connected to the past but also to the future. -

Cycle, regeneration, death/ life  spiral.

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The rest of the stories connect to the arrival of the Pakeha (water story, fire story, story of stars, death).

5) Manu: Hemi and Roimata’s son -

He has a very strong connection with Toko, they complement each other and they need each other

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He is a younger version of his father  strong connection with the land.

6) James: Hemi and Roimata’s son 7) Tangimoana: Hemi and Roimata’s daughter -

She represents the female figures of the different movements that happened in the second part of the book.

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Female warriors.

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She is not as connected to the land as her brother Manu.

*These three younger characters represent the younger generations and the different attitudes towards the environment. All of them go to school. 8) Granny Tamihana: she represents the older generations, the older stories.

Chapter 11 (pg. 70)  Toko announces what is happening in the next part of the novel. He perceives that someone is coming and they will destroy their land (example of prolepsis). Chapter 12: Toko narrates this chapter. Connection with the characters, the stories narrated within the community. It is important because it announces the events that will take place in part 2. -

Reuben and his grandfather Rupena (Maori version of Reuben).

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During WWI, the government wanted to take Maori land which belonged to the Te Ope tribe for war purposes which were temporary. After the war, they destroy the houses and they build a kind a recreation park. Rupena starts claiming the land by sending letters to the government but he is ignored (related to the occupation of land which had been converted into a gold court, real event). Rupena wanted to build a meeting house because this building is part of who they are. After this, more people starts to support them.

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At the very end of the chapter (“Our mother Roimata…”), Toko explains how Roimata included the stories of her children in her books for the community. o Key role of education  Roimata becomes a sort of teacher for the children. Most Grace’s books include the topic of education since Maori were excluded from it. 4

Manu is frightened of going to school, he says the at school they do not have stories for him (what he learns at school is nit useful for him because it does not relate to what he knows). 

Chapter 5 (pg. 39)  each child (character) is different and each of them need a story.  James: story of geography (creating a distance with the world they live in; the way he understands it is different).  Tangimoana: history but the Maori community has their own stories, myths…  Hemi: stories of his work.  Mary: stories of the meeting house.  Granny Tamihana: stories of the past. She represents the older generations and their suffering.  Everyone has a different story to tell with different topics and different perspectives  there is no one way to tell the story.

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Chapter (pg.41)  Roimata decides to build a school at home for Manu (little bird) with all the stories. Roimata as a teacher, she does not exclude school stories and she incorporates them with their own stories. She combines traditions. (“and although the stories…”). This metaphor of the school, becomes a metaphor of the novel itself which combines all this.  Pag. 104 (“we could not afford…”): because they cannot afford books, they decide to make their own.  “The land and the sea…”  they did not need the books, they only need the house because is where all the stories are. All those places mentioned, are connected with the stories which are alive and connected to the characters.  “All we need is here”  they are a self-sustained community, they have anything they need within their community. They do not need anything coming from the outside, they can survive with what they have.

PART TWO Arrival of the Dollarman. Chapter 13  Dollarman represents the developers. It is a chapter narrated in the 3rd person with an omniscient narrator in the form of a dialogue. -

They want to build amenities. 5

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They offer the community to leave and they would be offered with new houses.

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Dialogue: what is in brackets represents thoughts of the Maori people, the only one talking is Dollarman. He refers to the land as a Block, so his view of the land is completely different. There is a clash between views and he does not care about the meaning of the land for the Maori community.

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He also blame them for looking back.

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Dichotomies.

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Page 93 “We’ve helped…”  perception of the Maori towards the situation. Summary of the history of the community, they helped to build the country and who they are (bicultural nation, but they are not recognized).

Chapter 14  Toko version of the encounter. Chapter 15  the developers start working the land and they provoke explosions to build the road since they needed a flat land. -

The community decided to turn their backs to what they were doing. This is a problem for some people of the community.

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Tangimoana is very angry towards the attitude of the community. She does not agree with the passivity of the community (Grace wants to show how not all Maori are the same). She acts in a more active way. This represents the attitude of the younger generation (active) in contrast to the older generations (passive).

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Within the community itself, there are different points of view.

Chapter 16  the first story is a connection with the story of creation. From this moment, things begin to change. Chapter 17  Toko has been telling us stories (about his birth, about the fish). In this chapter, he narrates the story of water. -

“The stories changed”  Toko o How the stories change due to the arrival of the developers o Story of water  they channel the water so that when it rains a lot, it would destroy the village, most specifically the cemetery. o Story of colors  fire (chapter 20) o Story of the stars  his death (chapter 29) o Maui wants to give fire as a gift to humans and the one who has fire is his ancestor Mahuika (an old woman). She keeps the fire under her nails, so Maui asks for fire and she gives her one of her nails but the fire never reached mankind. This keeps happening over and over again until she only has one nail. Due to her anger, she 6

threw her last nail and sets the world on fire. Maui asks the gods for rain and it rains so much that everything is flooded. o In the novel we have a reversal, first the flood (water) and then, fire. The developers changed the land so much that the water destroys the village. o Toko tries to connect what was is happening with the myth, but there is nothing to be punished. o Placing this from the myth to a contemporary context, but Toko is not capable to make this connection. o Spiral  change - regeneration (stories mentioned and modified). -

Throughout the rest of the chapter, Toko explains how the developers have modified the land.

Chapter 19: narrated by Roimata. As usual, she repeats what Toko has explains but she gives detail after the events. They clean up the mess, they try to reorganise their lives. There is people in the area that start working there as they lost their job. -

Page 131: everything important that happens takes place in the meeting house. They decide that Mtiu and Timoti are useful for them as a type of spies. Investigations. The Te Ope come and help.

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Page 133 (last paragraph): the result of the investigation is not very useful. They decide to keep going. This is what makes Tangimoana very angry, because she feels like they need to fight.

Chapter 20: story of fire. This story comes after the story of the water (reversal of the myth). The meeting house was burned down and destroyed. Toko narrates, at the beginning, how every adult reacted to the fire. -

Page 136 (“The firemen…”): the house is being destroyed. At first, Toko describes the house as a person. This houses take years to build. The roof of the house represents the sky and the floor represents the earth. The house itself represents a human body. Every column represents the ribs of the body. When you enter the house, you enter the house of the ancestor. Then, Toko mentions the tragic stories, the happy stories and histories.

Chapter 21: Mary has this special connection with the only figure that survives the fire (the Loving Man). -

Page 141: they buried the wood. Connection with the burial of the guts of the fish that Toko caught. When you shape wood, the carvings are buried as well. o Death and regeneration  death brings new things.

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Page 143: they start rebuilding the house. He does not only talk about the carving but also the weaving. They needed o recover this skills to rebuild the house. The Granny is in charge 7

of telling people where to find the materials. They recovered some patters (which had a meaning, stories) but they also made new ones (with the meaning of the new stories). The house has stories, the old ones and the new ones. -

This is the whole point of the novel. Reworkings of the myths which incorporate new situations.

Chapter 23: Roimata explains how this have happened (how the house was burned, the flood…). -

Page 152: how, thanks to the figure, they are able to build the new house.

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Last paragraph: they keep going.

Prologue 

James represents the younger generations who have learned the skills of carving.

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Metanarrative: through carving, Grace reflects the process of writing.

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The author uses different voices to narrate what is happening.

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Carving and weaving  metaliterary reflections on how to produce a story through the Maori perspective and from different perspectives of different characters.

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Many references to the stories.

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The story of the carver connects with what happens in the story. 

Craver 1 (master carver)  he is given a child who helps him with the carvings. He also explains the boy who to carve. “Do not carve anyone in the living memory”, you only carve ancestors.

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Page 10  the poupou of the burned how served to build the new one. He is free to carve what he wants and he decides to carve the master but it leaves it uncomplete. This part of the carving reflects a part of the story which has not happened yet.

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Page 11 (“This is the story…”)  connection between artistic creation and procreation, as if the carver is producing life by shaping the figures (carver = mother and father of the figures).

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The carver breaks the main rule because he carves some who is still alive and he blows the figure. After that, the master carver dies.

Chapter 24: Toko explains what the new house looks like. He also explains how the carvings reflect the help of the people of Te Ope. -

Page 154 (“This poupou…”): every member traces his or her origins to the ancestor.

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Death as a spiral  most carvings contain a spiral (central metaphor in the novel). 8

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Double spira...