The Whale Rider

Three months after Rehua dies, Porourangi brings her and Kahu back to the village for the funeral. Despite Nanny Flowers’ insistence that Kahu be raised with them, Porourangi and Koro Apirana decide she is to stay with her mother’s side. Kahu is taken away a week later, yet Nanny Flowers remains composed. She whispers to the child that this island will always be the home she returns to because her birth cord is buried here. Rawiri contemplates, “Then I marveled at her wisdom and Rehua’s in naming the child in our genealogy and the joining of her to our lands” (20). Rawiri begins to recount his people’s genealogy, otherwise known as Te Tai Rawhiti, “the people of the East Coast” (20). Far away is Hawaiki, the ancestral homeland and where the Ancients and Gods reside. Kahutia Te Rangi, who traveled on the back of a whale, was a high chief in Hawaiki. In between is a vast ocean called the Great Ocean of Kiwa. The first Ancients had come from the East by following the morning sun. In those days, man had power over land and sea creatures. Upon finding land, they realized it had not been blessed to become fruitful.

Rawiri recounts how Kahutia Te Rangi, astride a whale, carried with him the life-giving forces that would enable man to live in communion with the world. To commemorate his voyage, Kahutia Te Rangi was given another name, Paikea. A mountain, Hikurangi, catches Paikea’s eye right as the star, Poututerangi is rising above it. This scene reminds him of his birthplace, and thus the island was named Whangara Mai Tawhiti. Four generations after Paikea, Porourangi was born, the ancestor Rawiri’s older brother is named after. Centuries later, the chieftainship was passed to Koro Apirana and would soon fall on Porourangi. Then, Porourangi had a daughter named Kahu.

Rawiri was 16 when Kahu was born, and now at the age of 24, he still hasn’t forgotten Kahu. Sometimes he hears her voice telling him to remember her. One holiday, Porourangi receives permission to have Kahu visit. Upon seeing Koro Apirana, Kahu is obsessed. She loves her grandfather more than anything, yet he does not love her in return. Rawiri’s father has already begun searching other families for an eldest son.

Kahu begins to distinguish herself during her stays in Whangara. One day the men of the tribe meet to discuss and learn about Maori culture. To preserve the sanctity of Maori culture, only men are allowed at these sacred meetings. Koro Apirana tells the other men about the lessons he learned at their age, which consisted of more robust challenges. In the middle of a story, where a priest commanded Koro Apirana to bite his big toe, he suddenly feels something under the table. There, with Koro Apirana’s big toe in her toothless mouth, is Kahu.

The next time Kahu visits, she is two years old. Porourangi brings with a woman named Ana. Kahu, without any hesitation, asks for her grandfather. Having overheard Nanny Flowers’ endearing name for Koro Apirana, calling him Paka, Kahu runs to her grandfather, yelling, “Oh, Paka! My Paka!” (24). The public shame angers Koro Apirana deeply. He had been returning from a meeting concerning the establishment of Kohanga Reo, or language nests, where children could learn the Maori language.

Rawiri tells the story of how whales came to be in the ocean. Originally placed in lakes with sharks, two of the gods, Takaaho and Te Pu-whakahara, asked that the whales be placed in the ocean. Their request was approved, and whales would come to help humans lost at sea. Rawiri thinks, “From the very beginning the whale was grateful for this release and this is why the whale family, the Wehenhga-kauiki, became known as the helpers of men lost at sea” (25). Whales and sharks continued to help man until man broke the sacred law and turned on the beasts.

Rawiri comes home from his Maori lesson to find Kahu crying in Nanny Flowers’ arms. Nanny Flowers protests that women should be allowed into the meetings and that Koro Apirana had no right to yell at Kahu. So that Nanny Flowers could start another fight with Koro Apirana about his exclusion of women, she tasks Rawiri with babysitting Kahu. Rawiri already has plans to see a movie, so he brings Kahu along. The movie documents whales in the Arctic. At the end, a whale is seen wounded and dying. The sounds of the injured whale wake Kahu and upon seeing the graphic image, she begins to cry. By the time they arrive home, Nanny Flowers and Koro Apirana have finished their argument. She then scolds Rawiri for bringing her granddaughter out on the town without telling her. She scoops up Kahu and takes her away. While lying awake in bed, Rawiri remembers something about Kahu and attempts, but fails, to wake his father. Rawiri recalls how, while watching whales at the beach, Kahu made “eerie sounds in her throat” (27). The orcas suddenly dove at the sound of Kahu’s voice.

The following summer Kahu is three years old, and Koro Apirana has already found three sons from royal bloodlines. His morale is better during this time, as he is beginning to find ways to exclude Kahu from his ancestral lineage.

During the summer, the boys get a shearing contract. One day, Rawiri decides he will take Kahu with him. Kahu becomes a kind of mascot for him and the boys. Nanny Flowers eventually hears of Kahu accompanying the boys and accuses them of making her do all the work. She forbids Rawiri from taking Kahu to his work and instead teaches her how to work in the vegetable garden. In the meantime, Maori culture and language lessons continue. Nanny Flowers still objects to women’s exclusion, and Kahu still attempts to sneak in. Yet, there is one class that Kahu can never sneak into no matter how hard she tries. Koro Apirana takes the boys out on a small fishing boat and gives them lessons on the sacred art of fishing. He instructs them where and when to fish, which depends on where each tribe’s guardian’s domain resides. He concedes that man has not always kept his pact with Tangaroa. In the days of commercialism, many fall into temptation and fish for more than they need. He tells them to “listen how empty our sea has become” (30). In the meeting house, Koro Apirana tells the boys his transgressions against whales.

He recalls the time he visited his uncle, who was a whaler. He accompanied his uncle on one of his expeditions, not knowing what to expect. That was the first time Koro Apirana ever saw a whale close up. He states, “There must have been sixty of them at least. I have never forgotten, ever. They had prestige. They were so powerful” (30). Then harpoons flung through the air, piercing and fatally wounding the whales. As Koro Apirana describes a whale bleeding to death, Kahu overhears and cannot hold in her tears. She yells at her grandfather, “No, Paka, no!” (31). Koro Apirana throws her out of the meeting room, and the sea thunders. The next morning Rawiri checks on Kahu, only to find her sitting by the sea making whale noises. Around Kahu, he “saw three silver shapes leaping into the dawn” (31).