Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Hawaii in The Descendants


     For my last blog post I have decided to discuss one of the questions for discussion in the back of The Descendants.
“What was unique about the Hawaiian setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story?”
    My answer to this question is twofold. On the one hand Hawaii is very central and important to the inheritance plot of the novel. This part of the novel could not take place if the novel was set in a different locale. Issues of land, inheritance and ownership in the novel are very “Hawaiian”. This quote from the novel exemplifies this notion, “But now I find myself not working to give it up- the land, the lush relic of our tribe, the dead. The last Hawaiian – owned land will be lost and I will have something to do with it” (229-30). On the other hand, the second plot of the story could happen anywhere. Matt’s struggle to understand his daughters and try to bring his family together. The struggles of families are universal. 

No comments:

Post a Comment