Potiki literary analysis

In comparing Things Fall Apart and Potiki, it is evident that each culture, and even individuals within a culture, define home differently. Many of the characters in Potiki rely upon the geography of New Zealand to define home. Hemi particularly views home through this lens. 
            Hemi first demonstrates his commitment to the land when he loses his job. While he is initially disappointed, he quickly resolves that “He’d always known that one day he would return to the land, and that the land would support them all again," (60). He trusts that the land will provide for his family, which is exceptional given that he has recently become unemployed. Additionally, Hemi expresses the importance of protecting his own land. He reflects, “These days people were looking more to their land” because “They had to if they didn’t want to be wiped off the face of the earth,” (60). He then points to the Te Ope people as an example of those who had been forced to protect their land. 
            The Te Ope people seek to gain back their land by writing letters and speaking with the colonizers. They resist new developments with the argument that “All we need is here,” (90). Although they eventually receive the majority of their land back, the colonizers have made significant changes to it. Additionally, the colonizers claim a portion of it for themselves as compensation for making these changes and for offering the natives temporary shelter. These irreparable changes symbolize the loss of culture the Te Ope people experience at the hands of the colonizers. The civilization they had once established on that land it what made it so important to them in the first place.
            In short, the natives of New Zealand featured in Potiki seem to have a definition of home which is inseparable from its geography. As a result, when their land is taken from them, they are, in effect, robbed of their identity as well.  As Hemi suggest, the natives’ association between home and land appears to have been forged out of necessity. The colonizers find the land as valuable as the natives do, but for different reasons.

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