If you order your custom term paper from our custom writing service you will receive a perfectly written assignment on Potiki. What we need from you is to provide us with your detailed paper instructions for our experienced writers to follow all of your specific writing requirements. Specify your order details, state the exact number of pages required and our custom writing professionals will deliver the best quality Potiki paper right on time.
Out staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in Potiki, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your Potiki paper at affordable prices!
The role of the novelist is to ask questions and explore issues about our society. Discuss this statement with detailed reference to a novel you've studied.
Eve Hermansson
In the New Zealand novel 'Potiki', author Patricia Grace has chosen to pose questions and explore issues in the role of a gentle subversive. She criticises New Zealand society specifically and projects her own opinions without creating conflict. One is almost unaware that she is raising these controvertial topics, such as land ownership and cultural acceptance, because she does so without openly describing any malice or contempt on the part of the Maori against their agressors. She achieves this effect by using a sympathetic storyline from the point of view of a Maori family and displaying their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Their inability or lack of enthusiam to change matters gives us a glimpse into the effects of past occurrances which have left them without hope of justice or equality for the Maori people.
Patricia Grace uses point of view to explore the issues of cultural tension in New Zealand. Many of the characters have chapters which they narrate from their viewpoint. The sole character, a businessman called Mr Dolman, is used as an example of the lack of understanding Pakeha have of Maori tradition. Mr Dolman is almost a stereotype, as nowadays there are much less occurances of discrimination and many people are educated, to some extent, in Maori protocol and tradition. Mr Dolman's actions are rude and materialistic and they sway our opinions into siding with the Maori. He has few morals and he gives no second thought to the removal of the Maori from their sacred land, though it is difficult to determine whether he actually believes they'll be better off in government rented homes, or whether he is lying for his own profit. The point of view of the other characters throughout the novel also affects our point of view as the reader. The struggles the Maori face and have faced in the past become more realistic when they are not told in news reports or political arguments. The benefit of this fictional story is that it gives thoughts and feelings to something many of us know little about or have no experience of. We can see first hand how their lives are altered in terms of shelter, religion, culture and overall survival and understand their deep resistance against being integrated into Pakeha way of life. Had this book been written in the rd person we would not have been able to get as close to the characters, observing the occurances from a neutral point of view. Also, had the novel only been told from the point of 1 person rather than chapters devoted to each we would not have had the ability to see how life is affected for everyone and how each member of the family feels about Maori survival in a Pakaha dominated world.
Cheap Custom Essays on Potiki
One very clever technique that Patricia Grace uses is personification. She uses this to give personality to the land itself, the Maori carvings and other inanimate objects. By using such phrases as 'the wood speaks', Grace helps us to overcome our obsession with the material and focus more on the spiritual. It is true that Pakeha are more ambitious in their aspirations than Maori, but it is also true that they are less satisfied in the results and practically become a 'slave to money'. The traditional Maori way of life is much simpler, relying on the Earth and their own hard work to provide for them. There are few disappointments of unattainable goals and survival is determined by the simplest of things. As is often repeated throughout Potiki 'everything we need is right here'. In this way we are led to perceive our own faults in that many Pakeha are dissatisfied with what their lives already offer them and continually crave more knowledge, power and money. It comes down to the 'third world' argument that many people in less fortunate countries are starving to death and would be priveleged to have lives as plentiful as we do. Using personification gives thought to the land, and brings characters to life in the carvings on ancestors located in the whare. It also helps to create a link between the past and the present.
The concept of time in Potiki is structured in a spiral shape. Past, present and future become one, life is born from death, and interwoven stories go full circle, rounding off at their origins, as does this tale in its entirity. While in Pakeha society we live only for the present and the future, Maori culture relies heavily on legend and tradition passed down from ancestor to ancestor. It is one way in which they maintain their cultural heritage. Respect is given to elders and the deceased, and memories become precious. Potiki itself is, in a way, a modern legend, and within it a number of old legends and stories are referenced as well, such as 'Rona and the Moon'. As Pakeha's we lack an obvious cultural background, our beliefs and traditions have digressed so much over the years. We have no timeless stories nor select tribes that make us a family. In a way we are at a disadvantage because we are from a much wider history and cannot truly determine our position. Maori culture is still so connected to its origins that there is a specific place for it in this world and lives are not governed by achievements. The Maori concentrate on the importance of extended family, caring for health and wellbeing, and preserving their way of life and they way of their ancestors so that they will not be forgotten.
Patricia Grace is a highly skilled writer who has used the above techniques and more to create a novel that makes us think about ourselves and our history. It reveals a hidden layer of the world and guides us in what is important in life and what is not, and at the same time it lets us see ourselves and our shortcomings for what they are, mere customs due to upbringing. We are not blamed or openly criticised for the prejudice faced by the Maori people, as that is now beyond our time, lost to the trivialness of Pakeha history, but we are informed of the occurances in the past and requested not to forget, for the sake of their customs which still holds some regard for the past.
Please note that this sample paper on Potiki is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Potiki, we are here to assist you. Your cheap custom college paper on Potiki will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.
Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!
