Sons For The Return Home

Before I read this book, I always think about that as Chinese living in another country, I find it so hard to fit in. I go through all the conflicts and I know there are many Chinese here are like me, suffering all these pains. It is only from reading this book I understand that there are actually people from other cultures are also experiencing the pains about not fit in. The example would be this Samoan boy and his family, they cannot fit into the NZ society.

In this book, the love between the Samoan boy and the Kiwi girl is very pure, but their different culture background make the pure, easy, happy love become very complicated. When the boy takes the girl to the Samoan church, all the Samoan boys are looking at the girl. And when the boy gets invited to the Kiwi party, all the white people are looking at the boy. I can understand this sort of feeling about standing among people looks very different from you. Last year I studied physiotherapy, I am the only Chinese girl out of the whole 300 students, I felt quite bad because I look so different. Then there is the different customs, to the girl, the eagle is just a bird, but to the boy, the eagle represent ancient god. The boy throw out a temper after the girl killed the eagle. During the book, there are many such unhappy times happening between the boy and the girl, most of them are due to the culture difference. But they love each other deeply, so every time, they will forgive each other and back to their happiness again.

I admire the courage and the persistence of this pair of lovers. Actually I think instead of trying to fit into each other's society, they should just use the time to love each other more, and time will resolve all the barriers. My step father is a kiwi, I don't fit into the NZ culture, but I do love my step father because he provides me so much care and kindness. I used to try to understand his world, but I realise that sometimes when he talks about NZ history, I do not want to listen because I really think it has nothing to do with me. The same, when I talk about more about China, he would seem confused and no interest. I think love is an international theme, which let us find a way through this very complicated world.

Brief two seminar presentation (The daffodils – from a native’s perspective)

Sia Figiel was born in 1967 in Western Samoa. She was the raised in several of its villages, which are the roots of her literary work. As a teenage she came to New Zealand to finish her schooling and has since been acknowledged as Samoa's first contemporary woman writer.

As a Samoan poet and novelist Sia is well known for her performance poetry, and she is a frequent guest at literary festivals. She has written three novels, a book of poetry and a performance poetry CD.

In 1997 Sia's first book, Where We Once Belonged won the Best First Book Award of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. The Pacifica Press then suggested that Where We Once Belonged "attempts to structurally represent one of its central themes which is the dominance of the community identity and the continuity over the identity and growth of the individual."

This less 'traditional' narrative structure is something we have identified with a lot of Sia's work, which has been translated into more than eight languages, including German, French, Dutch and Portuguese.

Sia is currently living in Utah, where she is a language and culture consultant to MANA Academy, which opened in September of this year; however her writer's residences include The University of Hawaii, The University of Technology, Sydney and The University of the South Pacific, among several others.

Sia's poetry speaks of her indigenous origins. The speaker describes hearing about Wordsworth's poem in "form three literature class", where 'she' whom we can only assume is the speakers teacher "made us memorise you" referring to Wordsworth. Although Sia's biography states that she finished her schooling here in New Zealand, within the poem she makes reference to physically staring at "the auke bush next to the mango tree". A line we would unlikely associate being spoken in reference to New Zealand. It's more than evident that Sia's poetry springs from her deep love for her homeland, its culture, its beliefs and its values.

Context

"Apologies Mr
Wordsworth
But I too wandered
Lonely as a cloud"

William Wordsworth begins his 1807 poem Daffodils with the line "I wandered lonely as a could". Within his poem Wordsworth describes himself as a "cloud" that floats over hills, presenting the idea of seclusion. As human form Wordsworth prefers seclusion but the "crowd" of daffodils bewilders his senses. Similar to Wordsworth, Sia Figiel begins her poem with the line "Apologies Mr Wordsworth but I too wandered lonely as a cloud". Like Wordsworth Figiel has chosen to use the word "wandered" as opposed to just "walked around". In its metaphorical use, the term "wandered" symbolises the feeling of purposeless and directionless in general. When the speaker mentions that she "wandered lonely as a cloud" it feels like she is projecting her loneliness onto the clouds. When we think of the clouds, we think of them as being lofty and airy and far above the rest of the world. It seems as though initially the speakers thoughts are this way too.

"Because they
Too
Put a smile
On my face
Whenever
I lie
On my mat
Oft
In pensive mood"

Within the poem the speaker conveys the memory of beautiful things (daffodils) as a comfort after the experience of viewing them has ended. Viewing them in a metaphorical sense because the speaker can only draw on her imagination to reproduce the joy of the event and to remember what she was feeling at the time. Figiel has the reader believing that the pleasure of seeing the daffodils with her "inner eye" is of the same quality and intensity, or better than the real, momentary perception of them, and because of this her initial loneliness is replaced by joy.

Seminar brief 2 (Kinapped by Ruperake Pataia and A book and a pen by Vaine Rasmussen)

We have chosen these two poems for my seminar because I see quite a few of similarities between them, especially in the way authors express their feelings about the Western education that they received when they were young, which changed the way they see the world as well as identified themselves. Even though Ruperake and Vaine came from two different countries (one from Samoa and one from the Cook Islands), the two nations both experienced the Western colonialism and somehow they lost a part of their original cultures and the two authors realized how much they have missed about their own cultures, about what they should have learnt about when they were young. 

In “A book and a pen”, Vaine told the readers his story as he was given “a book and a pen” when he was young and then later on he was given “a piece of paper” and then “another piece of paper”. Interestingly, in “Kidnapped”, Rupetake also called his certificate “a piece of paper/to decorate my walls”. We can see a sense of guilt here as the two authors realize that while they were at the Western educational institutions to learn the Western culture and to get the Western certificates, they were also gradually missing learning their own cultures “..and I grew up at last/ Realising I had missed a lot”. These two men find themselves caught in the middle as they grew up with the Western language, education and culture surrounding them but deep inside, they still try to find the way to come back to their own origins. They know that they have missed a lot, “a pe’e/A legend, a song/ And a language to master”. 

In my seminar, I’m doing the part of “text-to-self”, in which I’ll be presenting my point of view about the two poems and how I relate to the texts. Coming from a country which used to be colonised by French, I have learnt quite a lot about the French colonialism in the history classes when I was at school and I also listened to stories told by old people, who actually experienced their adolescent years under the strong influences of French language and culture. Similar to Ruperake, they also “grew whiter and whiter” as they spoke French, adopted the French way of thinking, went to au theatre (the theatre), etc. but at the same time, Vietnamese culture, language, cuisine, traditional arts become less concerned. Luckily, I was born in the time that my country have gained its own independence and I was brought up in the environment that people only spoke Vietnamese, which made me really proud because I could confidently say that my Vietnamese is excellent. To me, the certificates I have from any Western institutions are not pieces of paper to decorate my walls but they’re the proofs that I’ve been experiencing another educational system, exploring other cultures and it truly opens my world and changes my perspectives. It gives me the opportunities to see myself and to look back to my own culture and see it with a different view. It’s absolutely an amazing thing!

Analysis of chosen seminar narrative (The daffodils - from a native's perspective)

Sia Figiel’s poem The daffodils – from a native’s perspective is essentially a response to William Wordsworth’s 1807 poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” also more commonly known as “Daffodils”. Figiel has chosen to incorporate aspects of Wordsworth’s original poem such as

“But I too wandered

Lonely as

A cloud”

“That floats on high

O’er vales

And hills”

“On your host of golden daffodils beside the lake beneath

The trees fluttering and dancing”

By blending aspects of this ‘old English’ with colloquial language I believe that Figiel is making a contrast between Wordsworth’s world and her world. It’s a world in which Figiel herself can escape into but in a way she seems slightly dubious about this unfamiliar or foreign world. She cannot relate to aspects of it and I think she refers to this and talks a little bit about it within the text, about not really knowing anything about it but through Wordsworth’s writing being able to experience it.

“The one thing

I didn’t have to

Share

Not knowing what

Was fluttering

What

Was dancing

But

Never mind

Whatever they must have been

They must have

Been magical

Enchanting even

Because they

Too

Put a smile

On my face”

We know that Sia Figiel is a writer and that she can escape into this world of writing. She talks about her education and it being so different from her place, from Samoa but at the same time it gives her this escape even though it has not connection her place and it is outside of her cultural boundaries. It expresses a contradiction, a love for the literature and a love for terrible soaps like days of our lives, but at the same time it’s not indigenous to her or to Samoa. She goes into this world of literature and she highlights that it’s sort of foreign to her but then of course she’s brought back to reality.

“Do

You

Know

What

I

Mean

Mr

Words

Worth?

Do

You

Know

What

I

Mean?”

To me by asking Mr Wordsworth these questions it’s almost as though Figiel is trying to communicate back across that void. Mr Wordsworth you have communicated to me, I have connected to your poem about daffodils but all of this other stuff is going on as well so do you get me? She doesn’t understand what it’s like to have daffodils so we can identify that one way relationship between to the coloniser and the colonised. 

My poem/prose: Brown Blood White Skin

Identity: This is a creative response to Navigating Spaces by Grace Taylor.
I explore the idea of cultural confusion that comes with being of two different races and trying to find that comfort of being in between.

Brown Blood Whit Skin

I had never really known how it was that I had come to be,
I thought myself a puzzle, someone had taken four pieces
of four different jigsaws and tried their best to fit them with one another.
'Where I'm from everyone exists within differences, nameless'.

Colonialism, some puzzle pieces were larger then others so they took up all the space
coming from afar to take an entire race.
Marginal-ism, some were so much stronger then the others,
so they pushed everyone else away.
Egotism, some thought themselves smarter so they sat tall,
All coming together in a place that was too small.

I am Samoan, Chinese, American and German.
I am the product of colonialism.
If the history of my island were to have a face,
it would look like mine.
Huge brown eyes standing shallow amongst the white of my skin,
like my insides are trying to get out,
spread themselves smooth over my fare complexion.
'Where I'm from, I am the brownest of the white and the whitest of the brown'.

I fight inside that messy in-between
of being proud and being confused.
Of being home but standing outside.
To embrace the thick air that my Samoan blood revels in,
 or to feel the sting of frost that my European pigments adore.
'Uncertain in my uncertainty, beautiful in my uncomfortable, all for you on display.
Where I'm from, a relatives twelve years in the meeting, the furthest from me, yet the the identity most assigned to me that colonised my other half. Irony smiles'.

I have many nations residing in my single body,
though there is no place for me in any one of them.
There is a solid place for me in all of them.
You can't separate your fingers from your hand,
or your toes from your feet without being disabled in some way.
As you can't separate one culture from the other within you,for  the latter will suffer.
You can't try to belong to only one, if you truly belong to many.
You must embrace them all.
You were born with perfectly formed hands and feet, be thankful.
You born with an interesting blend of flavours, sour spicy salty and sweet.
Be thankful.
'Where I'm from I am always half, but half for me means full. I am a race within a race'.

Where I live now, mirrors who I am inside.
This land is of the world, but the world is also in this land.
A kaleidoscope of colour and countless structures of varying facial features.
Beautiful.
Different tongues spoken, different greetings, different embraces.
But all live together in a long great land.
Whole
God of nations at thy feet, I look into the ground and see my face.
Autearoa, this is where we all come together.
Where all my cultures run through the streets like they run through my veins.
One.
'Where I am from, the language of indigenous licks every ear. And culture is not a tourist attraction, 
it-just-is. Where I'e from breaths the largest population of pacific people away from their home land, yet we can trace bloodlines two generations back... Where I am from is always my future, because I am not one, I am of a people'.

I am Samaon, Chinese, American and German, but I was born in New Zealand.
This is where I come from and where I am from.
'Where I'm from you've gotta know where you're from. Because no-one else will'.

The Bush Kanaka Speaks

Kumalau Tawali

‘The Bush Kanaka Speaks’ is a poem published in 1972 by author Kamalau Tawali, a former graduate of the University of Papua New Guinea and current Director of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.

What is most evident within the text are the power structures. White men essentially forcing their culture onto the indigenous peoples or the bush kanaka, who are resisting these forces with not much success. Particularly in the beginning of the text we can see that the post colonial literature has been given the indigenous perspective. These ‘white men’ are getting themselves stressed out and yelling and screaming at the indigenous men.

“The kiap shouts at us

forcing the veins to stand out in his neck

nearly forcing the excreta out of his bottom”

These lines make it clear that there is some kind of superior or dominant attitude coming from the white people. Even though it seems like this man who is talking within the poem doesn't have a very high opinion of himself, he is still under this control, he is still working under this white kiap. This idea comes up again and again within the literature, the superior/inferior attitude where the kiap is essentially saying that these people are living in primitive and underdeveloped places that are therefore less than.

“He says: you are dirty”

“He says we live in dirty rubbish houses”

“He says: you’ll get sick”

It conveys this message or idea that the white kiap are so much more obsessed with hygiene and sickness and it’s all sort of looking down at another person’s way of living.

“Haven’t I eaten such food all my life,

And I haven’t died yet?

Maybe his stomach is tender like a child’s

born yesterday. I’m sure he couldn't

eat our food without getting sick.” 

Saved

Saved

‘Saved’ is a poem written by Jon Jonassen. He is a writer born on Rarotonga, Cook Islands in 1949 and he is educated in Cook Islands, New Zealand and Hawaii. The poem is written in plainspoken English and includes a lot of sarcastic language and satire. The plot is about the British and New Zealand colonization of the Cook Islands, and the locals’ perspective on it.

            The poem begins with: “God save the Queen, at last the British have come”. This is a satirical reference to the national anthem of Great Britain and to the establishment of Rarotonga, later Cook Islands, as a British protectorate in 1888. The Jack is mentioned and it says it “was flown by Ariki Nui Makea”. It’s probably a play on words, referring to the British flag, which is called the Union Jack. Ariki Nui Makea means the queen of Nui Makea, which was a chiefdom on Rarotonga. That sentence also refers to the fact that a chiefess on Rarotonga encouraged the British to make the island a British protectorate. The reason for this becomes clear in the last sentence of the first paragraph: “in fear of the French”. They were afraid of French expansionism in the area.

            In the second paragraph the satire continues with: “Praise them Kiwi men”. It refers to New Zealand’s annexation of Rarotonga in 1900. The writer also mentions the name change that took place in 1893 to Cook Islands. It is written in a way which implies that the inhabitants of the islands weren’t included in that decision: ”to lump them all together, and call them Cook Islands”. It’s a valid argument since the decision to annex the islands was taken in the New Zealand parliament and not on the Cook Islands. In the last paragraph the writer states his pity for the locals’ position: “sorry for the locals who never had a say”. Thereafter he continues to express how the colonists only used the locals as a bargaining chip.

The poem is an example of post-colonial literature that tries to write back to the center, by putting the feelings and perspective of the locals in the center of the discussion. It tries to explain how the colonization felt for the locals of the Cook Islands. From the locals’ perspective it describes that the colonists made the decisions about their country with total disregard for what they wanted. That is a well-founded argument and I would continue it by claiming that the locals were very much marginalized in their own country. One could argue that the writer agrees by looking at the last sentences, where he sarcastically states that the locals were only “a card on the table, useful when needed”. It is important to point out that this is how the colonist looked at the locals, and probably not how the writer looks at them. On the one hand I doubt that he considers them so passive since that is a typical Eurocentric view. On the other hand it is possible that the writer feels that the locals were helpless to do anything. If that’s the fact it shows how mental colonization works, even after colonialism is over. The belief that one group is considered better and stronger than themselves doesn’t disappear overnight, and could still affect the mindset of the writer.