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1) Author - Alan Duff
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Alan Duff is on of New Zealand's biggest selling novelist. His books are published in 15 countries. He also writes a weekly opinion column in 9 newspapers. Alan Duff has also been successful with two screenplays ("Once Were Warriors" in 1994 and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?" in 1999). His published writings include: "Out of the Mist & Steam" (Memoirs, 1999), "Both Sides of the Moon" (Novel, 1998), "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?" (Novel, 1996), "Maori: The Crisis & The Challenge" (Non-fiction, 1993), "Once Were Warriors" (Novel, 1990), and many more. The author lives in Havelock North, New Zealand.
2) Setting - Pine Block
The story takes place in the Maori slum of Pine Block in Two Lakes, New Zealand. Pine Block consists of "a mile-long picture of the same thing; all the same, just two-storey, side-by-side misery boxes" (p. 7). The houses are all identical, all imprisoning. The children who life there are "ill-directioned, neglected" (p. 7). The Maoris of Pine Block are "boozing away their lives and the booze making things all distorted and warped and violent" (p. 8). In Pine Block, there are neither gardens nor trees or plant arrangments. Furthermore, hardly anybody speaks the Maori language there.
3) Main Characters and Sociogram
Beth Heke (née Ransfield):
. still loves her husband, the "black, fist-happy bastard" (p.7)
. 34 years old
. very strong person, has her opinion, she's a fighter, she tries not to let self-pity creep in
. Maori descent (about half with white blood on both sides of her parentage)
. wishes to have her own house
. likes to drink herself in the beginning, but after Grace's dead she stops drinking because she understands the danger of the booze (that it is ruining their lives)
. developes into a very helpful and socially involved person
. wants to spread the old Maori knowledge in Pine Block (warriorhood, singing the songs, the Maori language, haka dancing,.)
. finds her strength she needs to throw Jake out in the history of her people - the Maoris
. self-help ideas make her happier, she organises weelkly Saturday get-togethers for Pine Blockers and a Maori chief
Jake Heke
. Beth's husband, 36 years old
. very fist-happy when drunk, beats up his wife Beth
. near a full-blood Maori
. is called Jake "The Muss" Heke because he is to be said the toughest man in Two Lakes ("muss" for "muscles")
. he is one of the long-term unemployed of Two Lakes
. descends from slaves (lowest class in Maori hierarchy) and was a hatred outsider as a child (he was being picked on, beated up and bullied)
. loses his temper easily
. likes sport
. his whole life moves around the drinking, he spends most of his time at the local pub (bets on racing horses, fightings, drinking)
. believes that every man needs love from his wife, his mates and his kids, but is unable to show feelings
Nig Heke
. Beth's and Jake's eldest son
. Beth's favourite
. 17 years old
. handsome
. wants to become a member of the Brown Fists and spends all his time hanging out with other Brown Fist prospects, fighting and building up his reputation
. loves his sister Grace
. plays tough but feels sorry for the victims of the Brown Fists
. when inside the gang, the "dream'd turned to a nightmare" (p.159), he feels helpless, lost and sad when doing the robberies
. gets to know Tania, another member of the Brown Fists, and falls in love with her
. murdered by the chef of the Brown Fists because he had beated up members of another gang
Grace Heke
. 13 years old
. loves her brothers and sisters, protects them when fightings take place in their living room
. wants to disassociate herself from the other Maoris
. she feels she is a good girl with good thoughts
. hates being black, finds herself ugly, is jealous of rich Pakeha girls
. wants to realize her potential and live a better life
. her one and only friend is called Toot, who does glue and smokes dope and lives in a car wreck
. commits suicide after being raped
Boogie (Mark) Heke
. 14 years old
. getting into more and more trouble at school
. very sensitiv, hates fighting and violence
. no one likes him, except the girls
. he is considered to have failed the test of pending manhood and is seen as a wimp
. he has got all the trouble at school because half the time he is scared of being picked on, or he is being led by other kids and he's too afraid to say no (stealing from shops, playing truant)
Other characters:
. Beth's and Jake's other children: Abe (15), Polly (10), Huata (7)
. the richest family in that area: Trambert family (Pakehas)
. Mr. Bennett: child welfare officer
. Mavis: singer at the local pub, friend of the family Heke
. Jake's drinking mates: Dooly and Bully
4) Plot Summary
Mother and wife Beth Heke has distanced from her Maori tribe because she has been married to Jake for 18 years. Jake is a violent man who beats his wife frequently when drunk, and yet obviously loves both her and his family. Also the children have to face many problems: the oldest son, Nig, is about to become member of the the hardest, toughest and most violent street gang in Pine Block, the Black Fist. Boogie, the third oldest son, is in trouble with the police all the time.
One night, when Beth and Jake are having another drinking party, Jake beats up his wife Beth because she has said something "wrong". The next morning Beth is not able to manage to go to the courthouse with her son Boogie. He has to be there because of his shop-lifting and negative behaviour at school. Grace accompanies him for moral support. Because Beth doesn't appear, the child welfare officer decides to send Boogie to a Boy's home in order to find discipline and direction. When Beth wakes up that day, she immediately starts drinking because of her hurt from the beating.
A few weeks later, there was another drinking party. Grace follows the sound of a piano and wanders through the streets. She spies on the rich Trambert family because she wants to be just like their little girl - being white, playing the piano, having a loving, clean family. When Grace comes home again and goes to bed, suddenly a drunk man enters the room and rapes her. Grace doesn't dare to scream, feels physical pain and hurt. After the rape, she wanders throught the streets again and walks to her best friend Toot, asking him for some glue or dope.
After being beated up so brutally, Beth stops drinking. She saves some money so that the family can rent a car to visit Boogie, but Jake wants to drink some beer at the pub first. He stays there till the evening. The kids begin to feel hate for their father.
For Grace life is becoming so awful that she desperately commits suicide. Beth organises a "proper" Maori funeral for her. Jake does not appear at the funeral, nor does Nig. Beth finds strength in the history of Maoris while looking at the men dancing the war dances - a picture of absolute warriorhood. For Beth, life changes completely. The cops give her a letter Grace had written saying she was raped and that she thought the rapist was her father. Beth eventually throws Jake out and tells him to never come back again. Jake is uncertain if he really raped his daughter or not because he was drunk all the time.
Meanwhile, Nig has become member of the Brown Fists and he doesn't even appear at Grace's funeral altough the thought of it keeps nagging away in his mind. He feels sorry for the gang victims.
For Beth, life changes completely. She starts helping the kids of the streets and cares for the neglected kids. She gets financial support from her home village, and the people from the library give her a pile of "Teach Yourself" books, which she reads to the kids. She converts her sitting room to a sort of classroom and promises herself to give the kids their rightful warrior inheritance (pride in yourself, heart pride). Beth requests the Maori chief of her home village to bring the knowledge of the Maori history to the Pine Blockers. Suddenly, people start to understand themselves and change their lives for the better.
Jake - now homeless - gets to know a street kid and they become friends.
For Nig, still at the Brown Fists', the dream has turned into a nightmare. He gets to know a girl, Tania, has feelings for her. One day, Nig has to fight with their enemy gang members. He is being stabbed and eventually dies.
At his funeral, many people sing the Maori chants Beth and the Maori chief taught them. Even Jake appears and cries for the first time publicly.
5) Problems of Maoris shown in the book
"Once were Warriors" is a portrayal of Maoris in New Zealand's society of the 1990s. The following problems are shown in the book:
. Alcoholism: "Beer and Maori culture. It's our lifeblood. We live for our beer" (p.41), drinking plays a big part in most of the lives of the Pine Block Maoris, this beer, it has you beat up your wives, your children, turn against each other. Yet you dare to call yourselves Maori" (p.181)
. (Domestic) Violence: Jake beats up his wife, rape, gang wars, fights, murders
. The Lost Tribe: term to describe the Pine Blockers because they are Maoris and yet don't know their language, history, culture etc.
. Unemployment: Maoris are more likely to be unemployed than the Pakehas because they have no skills and the jobs they might get are paid so badly that they may as well be on the dole
. Homelessness: Beth throws Jake out and he has to survive in the streets
. Cultural Displacement: symbolised by the attempts of Jake and Nig Heke to assimilate their warrior ancestry in the modern world
6) What did I learn about the Maoris by reading the book?
. Maori shyness: The Maori are shy people who don't want to be center of interest
. Schools: Children only learn English history at school
. Music: very important to Maori people
. Warriorhood: The Maoris were once powerful, noble warriors. Nig, for instance, is a displaced warrior. While Maori warriors of the past fought with honour, these Brown Fist modern day warriors have no such code of ethics. Instead they threaten their neighbourhood with violence, even going so far as to kick a woman in the face. After becoming a Brown Fist, Nig has his face tattooed like his Maori warrior ancestors. He gets his tattoo done with a tattoo gun, rather than in the traditional Maori method of chiselling it on. Nig has a dream one night in which he asks men with detailed face tattoos if they are his Maori ancestors. They answer: "No. We are not of your cowardly blood, for we know you are knowing fear. We are warriors."(p. 188).
In this passage, the author reveals the difference between the Maori warriors of the past and the recent Maori gangs. The deeply etched tattoos were chiselled in, often taking several weeks or even months to do, symbolising the deep honour, responsibility and work that went into becoming a warrior. The Brown Fists and other gangs were "lightly marked," both literally and figuratively. The tattoos took less time, pain, and investment to have done.
Through the character development of Jake, Beth and Nig Heke, the author provides insight into Maori culture and the struggles that modern Maoris face in their attempts to integrate their proud warrior past and the post-colonial present. Through the characterisations of the male protagonists, Jake and Nig Heke, Duff conveys the problems that contemporary Maoris face in reconciling the old with the new. Through his description of Beth Heke, he suggests that hope for their future lies in the ability to recover the strengths of their once proud past and merge it successfully into the modern world.
7) Differences between the book and the film
Alan Duff's novel is the basis of the film "Once were warriors", directed by Lee Tamahori, starring Rena Owens as Beth Heke. There are some differences between the book and the film:
. In the film, the Heke family only has five children: Nig, Boogie, Grace, Polly and Huata
. In the film, Grace is raped by one of Jake's drinking mates (in the book, it is unclear who really raped her)
. In the film, there are not so many Brown Fist scenes. Nig does not get to know Tania and is not murdered. He changes for the better and appears at Grace's funeral in the end.
. In the film, Jake does not sleep rough.
. The last chapters, where Beth organises the self-help gatherings, don't happen in the film.
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