Pounamu Essay

The book ‘Pounamu Pounamu’ written by Witi Ihimaera is based upon the Maori community in Waituhi and the important role that they take on, of making sure that their land and identity are protected. Three important short stories that stand out to me in this book are, ‘A Game of Cards’, Fire on Greenstone and ‘In Search of Emerald City’. The short story ‘A Game of Cards showed an important message that death doesn’t have to be an unpleasant event. At the point when Nani Miro is dying, she discharges herself from the chain of pain; she does the things that she was happy in and cherishes doing the most before passing on. She additionally got the time to spent the last days of her existence with her family. The message of this story is essential

The power of unconditional love is predominantly shown by the affection of Nani Tama towards his deceased spouse. The love between Nani Tama and Nani Miro grew stronger as Tama acquires more memories about Miro’s lifestyle everyday when mourning her. The grandson said, “Then his old lips would quiver with emotion, and sometimes he would ramble on about the old time gone, and about his wife, my Nani Miro.” This quote shows us that Tama really misses Miro and is thinking about her every time. Tama’s affection towards Miro is everlasting and will never be destroyed under any circumstances such as death, natural disaster or fire. A few nights later, Tama became insane and sad. One of the villagers that lived in the homestead and took care of Tama, burnt down the homestead while sleeping with a cigar. The guy was safe, but this event impacted a lot of emotions on Tama because the homestead was one of the main precious thing that Miro brought the Maori community together. “But Nani Tama… had gone crazy, looking at the flames and crying: Miro! Miro!” This quote shows us that Nani Tama is devastated at the burnt down of the homestead and is crying out for Miro because he feels hopeless that he lost everything. Conversely, Tama then realized that he will never be alone because Miro will always be there to comfort him. At this time, Tama uses his memories of Miro when she was alive to

Witi based this story on a Maori family moving from their root to the big city in search of a life that is financially stable annually. Matiu at the beginning of the story shows thrill and anticipation on their moving to Wellington. Matiu said, “Boy! This is exciting! E noho ra farm! E noho ra house! Hey I forgot to say goodbye to Emere!” This quote let us know that Matiu can’t wait to start his journey and she ensure that he have managed to say adieu to everyone he loved in Waituhi. Moreover Matiu met his best friend Hemi to say his goodbyes. Hemi presented Matiu a hinaki head the most valuable and treasurable hinaki that Matiu had ever seen. At this point, deeply inside Matiu feels subdued, dejected, and sorrowful because his life will be different when he's away from Hemi. Matiu said, “We grow silent. We talk some more but it was hard.” This quote shows us that Matiu will miss Hemi alot because of the fun time that they had together. Moreover it was time to go, Matiu have started her quest on seeking the emerald city; but one thing that hold her back, is everything. Matiu thought that by leaving to the big city will improve his life better than what is it now, but what he found out later was that his life will not improve because his life is left behind. Matiu said, “Now I am leaving them and I’m sad… I thought going