The Descendants: Now What?

Throughout The Descendants the characters are mostly dealing with the loss of Joanie. A secondary plot line to this is dealing with their Hawaiian heritage. As stated in the title of the book they are descendants of Hawaiian royalty and missionaries. One quote I found interesting to this theme was when Matt King was discussing his family. He states, "Their sole purpose in life is to have fun. They Jet Ski, motocross, surf, paddle, run triathlons, rent islands in Tahiti. Indeed some of the most powerful people in Hawaii look like bums or stuntmen. I think our bloodline's progression. Our missionary ancestors came to the islands and told the Hawaiians to put on some clothes, work hard and stop hula dancing. They make some business deals on the way, buying an island for ten grand, or marrying a princess and inheriting her land, and now their descendants don't work. They have stripped down to running shorts or bikinis and play beach volleyball and take up hula dancing" (Hemmings 157). I felt this quote packed a lot of punch. As we have learned throughout this course and as stated in the quote missionaries came to Hawaii to change the native people. Now though their descendants are living the lifestyle they came to oppose. This role reversal is probably not far from the truth of what is actually happening in Hawaii. These missionaries came for a pious Christian cause but instead ended up very wealthy or at least their descendants were and living the life they opposed.

I feel that in the book the characters deal with this issue of role reversals with a sense of guilt. They are aware they are not fully native Hawaiian and living a life against their missionary ancestors wishes. They also do not look or act like most Hawaiians which makes them feel separate. This guilt and distance can be seen in many quotes in the book. As stated in the book when they discuss their cousins, "walnuts. What happened to me? Why am I not like them" (Hemmings 228). The characters in the book are not fully Hawaiian or fully haole. This creates a sense of displacement that they don't belong in either category because they don't look Hawaiian or even speak like Hawaiians. Another place this is brought up in the novel is when Matt King states, "All around, people speak pidgin English and glare at the two of us like we're crazy white fools, even though we're Hawaiian. But we don't look it, and we don't count as true or real Hawaiians because we don't talk right either" (Hemmings 18). These two quotes show how to native Hawaiians they seem separate. This makes the fact that they inherited so much and are responsible for a huge decision that will affect Hawaiian even more difficult.

 The King family feels this huge amount of guilt for the privileges and family property they have inherited. Their missionary and royal ancestry gave them money and freedom to do as the previous quote described ride Jet skis or buy islands. Matt King rejects this though as he says his father did. He doesn't touch the money and wants to avoid dealing with the land. It isn't until the end of the novel that he finally takes on his role and decides to accept his responsibility to his ancestors and the land.

 Despite not looking or acting the part they are responsible for this huge amount of land and their decision affects many people. Throughout the book other characters ask about the land decision and makes comments about the property they own or their wealth. This shows the huge responsibility they inherited. The fact that they inherited it also means they did nothing to deserve it, it was simply given to them to deal with. This is similar to the situation with Joanie. Her accident just happened and they were left to deal with the aftermath, even though they did not do anything.