Journey

by. Patricia Grace

 Biography of author

Born in Wellington, New Zealand

17 August 1937
Foundational figure in the development of Maori
Fiction
 Authors Purpose
To represent the lack of respect that the goverment has for the
Native Maoris in New Zealand

Historical Context
Takes place in New Zealand during the 1980s
Immigration flourished during this time and the country
became very ethnically diverse
 Setting
New Zealand
Native land
City
Taxi
Train and train station
Old man's home
 Characterization

Old man
71 years old Maori
Very sarcastic and grumpy
Takes a journey during the course of the story
 Young Fulla
The young taxi driver that the old man speaks to while in the taxi

Business Man
Tries to buy the Old Man's native land which "which has been his
since birth"
 George
The Old Man's nephew he speaks about and speaks with in the
end of the story

Nieces and nephews

• Have their homes taken by the goverment for more development
of the land
 Symbolism
Family Property
Represents the Native's efforts to protect their heritage and a
lack of power over it

Old Man's garden

Represents the Maori Culture and admiration of nature
 Strip of artificial land
Represents what the goverment has taken away from the Maori
and how they have glorified this to be 'spectacular'
 Plot and structure
An elderly man from New Zeland sets out on a journey
Young fulla
An unpleasant man calls him “sourpuss”
The water in his generation used to find a small edible shelled animal called “pipi”
Pakehas are foreign Europeans in Maori
They deemed change as “spectacular”
His land is scheduled to be subdivided
He wants to be cremated instead of buried
 Narrator and Point of view
The narrator is not stated in the story
The narrator delivers the thoughts and feelings of only the protagonist
using the pronoun “he” to describe the old man instead of “I”.
The readers are only given the opinions of one character, until we read
the dialogue.
It then changes to 1st person when the old man is speaking to other
people about the maori’s tarditions and cultures.
 Conflict

 Man versus society

 Climax
The old man’s experience of change and bureaucracy has been
unpleasant. He has not succeeded in his goal which suggests that
he has become powerless to the changes that are and will occur
around him. The only thing the old man can do is accept the
position he finds himself in. Though this may take him some time.
The old man has been beaten by both change and bureaucracy. The
drive and determination he had prior to setting out to the city.
 Theme

 Land
 Change
 Style

 Narrative
 Descriptive
 Significant quotes
• Not a journey, not what you would really call a journey (Page 320, paragraph 1)
• They'd rather stare at the weather on televison and talk about a this and a that coming over
because there's nothing else to believe in (Page 322, paragraph 1)
• and probably the whole life was like that, sitting in the dark watching and waiting. Sometimes it
happened and you came into the light, but mostly it only happened in tunnels. Like now (Page
322, paragraph 6)
• And then coming out of the second tunnel that's when you really had to hold your breath, that's
when you reall had to hand it to the pakeha, because there was a sight (Page 323, paragraph 4)
• Yes, he knows this place like his own big toe (Page 324, paragraph 4)
• Yes, yes I want you to understand, that's why I came. This here, it's only paper and you can
change it. There's room for all the things you've got on your paper. and room for what we want
too, we want only what we've got already, it's what we've been trying to say (Page 326)
THANK YOU

 by: Group 1
Ann Chong Yen Tze
Alyssa Gabrielle Lo
Milya Minnelley Martin
(4 Dynamic)