Homelands Analysis - Wendt


A concrete definition of home, as we have come to realize from this class, may not exist. The understanding is much more conceptual and personal than physical and visible. “Home” is more of a phenomenon that occurs both naturally and/or through augmentation than a found “thing”.
   It is not so much a homeland that Wendt is concerned with rather the concept of comfortability itself, an item we see the boy struggle with throughout Part One. As people of the sea, sea travel is not only an integral plotline, but also a way of life for these people. The concept of “home” for the Samoan is not a land they are looking for but one they have left and an identity they have taken with them. But like any memory or idea, it can fade. The boy even recalls very little of Samoa and to his girlfriend confides that he is not sure if he even wants to return home.
            When trying to communicate the concept of a Samoan’s connection to a built, physical homeland, Wendt employs a very interesting metaphor to distill the actual item from the felt sensation. The dump, as it were, was an undesirable piece of land, full of rotting garbage and unclean creatures, there was nothing inherently welcoming about the area. But to the young brothers, it was a land of opportunity. The dump was made “out of the discarded, useless ends of the city, the boys constructed castles, houses, and roads: a miniature city which belonged totally to them” (Wendt, 25). I suppose that one man’s waste is another man’s treasure, but using materials deemed useless by others, albeit, Westerners, to create a “homeland” unique to the boys harkens back to the idea of a culture and people being discarded, and having to make their own space out of the ashes. Though Wendt does not go into detail, one can imagine what their “city” looks like, and, to an outsider, it would indeed resemble a pile of trash, not a “fabulous city” (Wendt, 29). 
            Wendt experimented with the idea of a non-intrinsic homeland, which has little to no natural value, but once injected with application and determination could be rendered into something useful. The fact that the boys were keen enough, and perhaps young enough to find worth in the dump helps negotiate the Samoan understating of New Zealand, which to them is a utility. The Samoans living in New Zealand take advantage of the job market and the valuable lifestyle but are aware of their usage of the space and intended on leaving. Though Wendt also explores the idea of homeland identity, and the boy’s questioning of his own position as a Samoan in New Zealand, the Samoan zeitgeist seems to be wanting to journey “home” to Samoa. Much emphasis, it is important to note, is put on the journey back to Samoa, not the arrival.
A Samoan’s “home” as here exemplified by Wendt, is fluid and changing. Attachment to a particular surrounding, despite its investiture is not a hallmark of the culture. Even after spending much time developing their city, the boys “destroyed their city… only to reconstruct it in a different pattern the following week” (Wendt, 25). This open relationship with the idea of a “home” or a welcoming space, as exemplified by the boys, helps us to gain insight into the idea of the Samoan homeland.
           


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