The Whale Rider By Witi Ihimaera

The Open Boat, written by Stephen Crane is discusses the journey of four survivors that were involved in a ship wreck. The oiler, the cook, the captain, and the correspondent are the survivors that make onto a dingey and struggle to survive the roaring waves of the ocean. They happen to come across land after being stranded in the ocean for two days and start to feel a sense of hope that they would be rescued anytime soon. They began feeling down as they realize nobody was going to rescue them and make an attempt to reach shore. The story discusses an external conflict of man vs nature to help state clearly the central idea. The central idea of the story conveys man’s success against nature when ones’ abilities are combined together to increase the chances of survival. The use of 3rd person limited omniscience and character analysis helps to explain how the journey of the men’s survival to get out of the ocean and reach shore is able to succeed while Stephen Crane uses symbolism to demonstrate the unity created amongst the survivors.

Niki Caro’s film, Whale Rider, beautifully captures the small village of Whangara, which is located in the northeast of New Zealand’s North Island. The film portrays a Maori tribe that tells the story of a long-held tradition. This film is rich in symbolism, which is easy for any viewer to understand. Whale Rider does a wonderful job of capturing the attention of the audience because of the intense and close relationships between the characters, the way Caro conveys the movie’s message, and the features the movie offers.

In the film 'Whale Rider', by Niki Caro which follows the journey of a young girl named Paikea Apirana and her struggle for acceptance as a leader of her Māori iwi, and especially her grandfather. An important character in this film is Pai herself. This character has significant importance as she is used to portray numerous important ideas and themes throughout the film. Pai helps me to understand and appreciate that women can also be leaders that are equal to men if they have the right attributes. The director Niki Caro uses numerous different film techniques to convey this idea, such as; the camera shots and camera angles when Pai is giving her speech to Koro, the use of camera angles and props in relation to the dialogue when Pai if fixing the motorboat engine, and the use of props when Pai is teaching herself to use the Taiaha.

African Americans have been discriminated and were not treated fairly from the beginning of the American colonies up to the 1960s. Their history included about 250 years of slavery followed by another 100 years of discrimination. However, many people state that throughout the 1800s, the whaling industry helped African Americans thrive as a race. In addition, they were treated as equals and could gain glory and wealth from it. In most cases, this is not true because negroes for three main reasons. Almost all African people did not receive high positions on their crew ships. Also, they experienced segregation on ships and were treated not equally. Finally, they were taken for their cheap and hard labor in a dangerous, unrewarding industry. Using internet sources and the novel, In The Heart of The Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick, African Americans in the whaling industry had low status within crews and faced harsh working conditions as well as discrimination and racism.

“Ship Breaker”a novel by Paolo Bacigalupi has a futuristic twist that is known to be a science fiction replica of our world. Although my first thoughts of the novel where of a ship that ended up in the middle of an ocean of sand, due to global warming, turned into a fascinating story that gives the reader an unthinkable twist towards humanity and its pity for selfishness. Juxtaposed by multiple life changing disasters (such as melted ice caps and the loss of every costal islands) Nailer, Nita, and Tool will soon come to see the reality of greed and loyalty. Everything starts once a young teen named Nailer who was a ship breaker that salvages parts for money saves a young teen named Nita (a rich and well educated teen who comes from a powerful family). Nita enters Nailers life once a heavy storm takes place where she was cursing. At this point Nailer and his crew were walking along the ocean when they suddenly stumbled upon lucky girl (a.k.a Nita) wrecked ship. Throughout the story Nailer, Nita, and Tool face difficult situations where their beliefs change. They demonstrate that greed is more important than loyalty.

While growing up Michael Dorris never encountered a Native American literary character that he could relate too, and being of Modoc Tribe of California descent, this was something that was very important to him. After graduating from Georgetown University, and earning a Master’s Degree at Yale, Dorris began to create these characters and ideas that he had longed for himself during childhood. He married his literary partner, Louise Erdrich, who was also of Native American descent. They had three children together, plus the three that Dorris had adopted, all of which were born on Native American reservations. All three of his adopted children suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. During a twenty year period before Dorris’ death, he published fourteen books and over one hundred articles. In 1987 he published his first novel “A Yellow Raft in Blue Water.”

Chapter ten flashes forward to McCandless death, and it was published in the New York Time and Anchorage Daily News. The media wrote of how foolish and ignorant McCandless was for going into the wilderness so unprepared. Once the death is being investigated by the police the police begin to question Sam, McCandless’s half-brother. To identify him he shows them a picture with long hair and a beard. This made me question who was the man in the picture, was it really McCandless? He wasn’t reported as having long hair, ever. As the half-brother informs his parents of McCandless death the parents respond in devastation. I find it weird that the police contacted his half-brother first and not the parents. Oddly enough I find myself agreeing with the media more than I do with the author. I cannot seem to grasp the thought of going into the wilderness, and not being overly prepared. While I understand that it is a brave action, it is also foolish and somewhat stupid on his part. I also find him to be very selfish. In chapter eleven the author starts to interview McCandless parents, and starts to question the family’s dynamics. The father is very similar to McCandless in the aspect that he is very intense and highly intelligent. Chapter twelve is a continued exploration of McCandless’s character. The author wants to know what made McCandless, McCandless. He finds that he took a road trip to the desert the summer before his freshman year of college, and nearly died of dehydration. I

​Throughout time, many literature works of art have shown the common theme of man with the mindset that he is the superior being in control. Around the 1830s, literature took a turn from the romantic view of the world to a more natural take of the universe. One of the better portrayals of this naturalistic view is Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat” in which the short story exhibits the lives of four men cast out at sea after their steamer, the Commodore, sank and they were then forced to take refuge in a life boat. This story follows the men through the focalizing viewpoint of the correspondent and descriptively as well as effectively portrays his psychologically changing viewpoints of the ocean and their take on nature as a whole. This short story is a classic representation of naturalism with the extensive use of literary tools such as personification, metaphors, and similes to convey the message that nature is indifferent to mankind and exhibits the steady-changing viewpoint of the correspondent as the story progresses.

Someone’s destiny may be known from the moment he or she is born; however, how that person will reach his or her’s destiny is unknown. The way someone can achieve their dream can be vastly different or very similar to another. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya follows Antonio Marez’s coming of age. He experiences loss of innocence, curiosity, and is torn about what his destiny is: be a Luna, a person of the earth, or a Marez, a person of the llano who is free. Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera is a film that tells the story of Paikea Apirana, a girl who is interested in becoming leader of her clan, but is rejected by her grandfather due to her being a girl. Paikea manages to prove herself to be the true leader through to her risks and hardships.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey is a first person, fiction book about a girl trying to survive during an alien attack. The book switches from Cassie’s point of view to Zombie’s throughout the story, but always remains in first person. The main character of the book is Cassie Sullivan. In the beginning of the book Cassie explains the first, second, and third waves of the Other’s attack. She also explains that the silencers, who are aliens that look exactly like humans, have come to shoot, and annihilate the rest of the human race. The humans who are left consider this the fourth wave. The conflict of the book begins when Cassie’s little brother was taken by the Others, her father was killed, and she was left alone to find her brother. Because the Other’s look like humans Cassie is constantly facing the struggle of who to trust, especially when she is wounded, and Evan finds her.

In life there are always and always will be similarities and differences that’s what makes us unique and diverse. However what differences and similarities separate us as individuals.. In the series Maximum Ride by James Patterson, it touches on the differences that we have as human beings. Maximum ride and her flock are very different from society.Each of them has a set of wings and since they are different they feel like they don't belong in the world. In the book Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, the society that they have there is separated by uglies,pretties, and specials. Each very different from the other.They believe that if you are over 16 and your are a pretty than you are really beautiful and if you're an ugly than you are an outcast.

The film Whale Rider is based around a family living on the East Coast of New Zealand, in Whangara. The film revolves around two characters, Koro and his granddaughter Paikea. Koro is the chief in his village and he is growing old meaning soon he will have to pass down his title. Staying true to his history of passing down his

The film “Whale Rider” is an example of gender discrimination. It is a story about a girl, Paikea, who wants to be the new leader of her tribe. Paikea Apirana is the female protagonist of the film. She is an 11 year old girl, who was born into the Whangara patriarchal tribe. But Maori tradition states that only a male can carry the knowledge and be the leader of the tribe. Because of this, her grandfather, Koro the current leader, does not allow her to join in the leader training. She never gives up. And finally, she becomes the first female leader of the Maori tribe.

Throughout “Whale Rider” Paikea is expected to listen to what her grandpa tells her to do and say. Personally, Paikea feels conflicted and under pressure to stick to her grandpas rules, as she wants to go her own way. Her grandpa finds it hard to see Paikea as her own person and can’t accept modernity, which he is not used to. He also stops her from learning the ways of a Maori chief, which is something she still tries to do in secret with the help of the rest of her family. Koro sometimes fails to see what Paikea can do, as he feels very strongly about old traditions, but other times he sees what she can do and fails to appreciate it. Paikea just wants to be loved and accepted by her grandfather and her strong sense of leadership and determination to get that from him leaves her as a role model to others to be brave and to never stop until they get what they want.

The story of Whale Rider takes place in a Maori village in New Zealand. The main character is a 12 year old girl name Paikea “Pai” Apirana and her ambition to become the next Chief of her village. Along with following on Pai’s story, the movie showed a great number of local Maori religion and culture. Some of the things I will explore is the Maori religion, gender roles, and a personal reflection on what was learned through the movie.