House of Skin
“We Hawaiians,” she reminded me, “are all descendants of sharks.”
Sharks feature prominently on weapons in Hawaiian culture. Often shark teeth are tied to clubs as a sort of blade.
“My father was a Caucasian, a haole, as Hawaiians say…”
Haole is Hawaiian for foreigner actually. In most contexts however, haole often refers to a Caucasian. It is an ambivalent term, with casual use and at other times, a hostile one. Kill Haole Day for example.
“We stood in the Windy Pali and I cried with my face in my hands, asking what would become of me.”
Hearing Pali makes me think about the Old Pali Road. A location in which the supposed Boar God dwells. It’s a ghost story in which the real reason the road closed was due to the Boar God haunting it. Those who brought pork there were attacked by something unseen.
“Finally, she possessed Hiro completely by possessing his armor against the world.”
In a morbid turn of events, Rachel preserves Hiro’s tattooed skin as a memento of him. Ironic that the narrator describes the skin as his armor when earlier she commented about the needle being the first thing that pierced Hiro’s existence.
The Lipstick Tree
“Observing the taboo of female blood, no man witnessed childbirth for fear of dying or going insane.”
So, are the traditions of this clan matriarchal in structure? Childbirth seems to be something seen with paranoia and fear.
“By secondary school she saw that the white man’s language was her passport to the outside world.”
Eva in this instance sees the conditions of staying with the Sepik tribe and wishes to leave it. There is an undertone of colonialism however in which one’s native culture is subsumed through the use of another group’s language. To continue using the language of the dominant only empowers the hold the dominant group has on the marginalized.
“During Eva’s first mating with her husband, and ever after, he whispered chants from the potency of the female who bled without being wounded, who gave birth to other humans, whose power could shrivel his unprotected soul.”
The Sepik seem to put a lot of power into the females of the tribe. There is a layer of mysticism. This mysticism appears to stem from the belief of fertility which due to women giving birth are also seen with the power of death as well.
“And why must I leave my people? Why can’t things change for women? I am not the only unhappy one. Why do you think Agnes gave herself to the puk puks?”
Again, we see even within a group, there are forms of oppression. Women in the Sepik are treated with fear and thus the harsh treatment of being forced to sleep outside. The female perspectives in history are one that is often overlooked, as a reflection of a male dominated narrative.
Dragon Seed
“Great literature, music, Albinoni and Bach, things deeply foreign to our family, had kept Jin afloat in her sea of pain, and on humid sleepless nights she had charted my escape to worlds beyond our island life.”
One of the things this quote brings up is my time living on the island on O’ahu. There is that feeling of cabin feeling, but island wide and it is unbelievably stifling. I suppose my experience parallels the narrator in turning to fantasy to escape beyond the island.
“One day he led me down to Chinatown, dark pocket of downtown Honolulu.”
Ah yes Chinatown on O’ahu, very fascinating place. In between the constant smells of Chinese street food, open markets, and the cramped nature of the place, it is an experience to say the least.
“It was a feeling deeper than need, deeper than the human condition. I seemed to back-flip through my soul.”
Addiction has settled into the narrator’s being. Between managing college courses and a job, stealing items from their home to fuel the habit is going to lead the narrator down a very regrettable path. Curious as to why it’s called Dragon Seed though. Made me think of dragon fruit.
“In Vietnam they’d kept him far from combat; he looked too much like the enemy.”
As we’ve discussed before in seminars, the War on Asia has led to many different Asian cultures being subjected to surprise hostility from others. In Wu’s case, he was never sent to the front lines, what is left unsaid however is his treatment by others in the battalion.
Rosie and Jake at Top Speed
“Earth’s tiniest independent republic, per capita the richest republic in the world after the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.”
Impressive statistics for the country of Nauru. It’s interesting to read up on the facts of such a small place. Makes me wonder what the population is for that area.
“He was like a son to Rosie and Jake, their own children having settled in Sydney, forgetting their parents the way animals forget vanished stable companions.”
Tito is a recipient for Rosie and Jake’s attention as a substitute for their own children. A bit of an empty nest syndrome.
“Once lush jungles and fertile fields, Nauru was now a flat atoll, surrounded by a narrow coastal belt and coral reef.”
Here we see the effects of intrusion by other countries on a Pacific island nation. The natural beauty despoiled in exchange for the money provided by the phosphate. With the discussion of climate change, one can see how much of an impact this will have on other islands in the Pacific.
“For a minute Ruth couldn’t focus. Her son lost his legs for love of speed. She thought of cars and motorcycles as instruments of Satan.”
Now the title of this story is starting to be clear. The cars are a facet of the reckless indulgence that Nauruans are partaking in in response to the dire future of the island. Cars represent luxury and on the Highway to Hell, are barreling down it, heedless of the consequences or what lies at the end.
Fork used in eating Reverend Baker
“It unsettled her, the notion that this person whom she regarded as the ‘curry man’ was visible in her life on more important planes.”
This quote is a disturbing reminder of the film Gook. There is a tension here between the native Fijians and the Asian Indians especially over business and jobs. That parallels the tension between the African American community and the Korean Americans who were seen as more successful.
“The ultra-nationalist Taukei movement – with a goal of ‘racially pure’ Fiji purged of Indian influence – was steadily growing.”
Another comparison to Gook in which a violent movement is sparking a lot of tension between two different ethnic groups. In Gook, that was the riots during the Rodney King incident. In Fiji however, an ultra-nationalist party seems to be the precursor to a lot of negative perceptions against the Indians.
“We look down on the Indians, they look down on us. We’ve been living together for so long, it’s a kind of symbiosis between the cultures. Of course, whites look down on all of us.”
This story in particular seems to focus primarily on the interethnic conflict and interaction between the native Fijians, Indians, and the seemingly dominant whites. There is tension here and Numan, being a newcomer, is finding this conflict surprising.
“Years ago when she left this place, she was a girl who knew how to kill and skin small game without scoring the pelts. At boarding school in New Zealand, Annabel wore her first pair of shoes. She learned to use a telephone. T survive far from blood she could trust, she became many-selved.”
Another theme that reappears here is the struggle for identity between two different cultures. Annabel’s father disproves of her relationship with Numan, a foreigner. Annabel was even pushed into staying with the clan to keep making heirs despite having an education.
War Doll Hotel
“Here’s a snapshot that’s always troubled me. My father’s father in Decatur, Ala-bama, 1921. He’s wearing a white robe, a funny cone-shaped hood.”
Oh dear, the Ku Klux Klan are part of the narrator’s lineage. The thing that caught my attention however is the way Alabama is written. Ala in Hawaiian roughly translates to path or street. Such was the case when I remember our address in O’ahu being Ala Ilima then Ala Nanala. This shows that even a bit of Hawaiian linguistic flair is present in the story. It alters the U.S Alabama and makes the name more Hawaiian.
“What I want to be evoke here is not my father’s name, not my mother’s humiliation. Not even the silence after he rang the bell. What must be evoked, is the twitching of the curtain.”
There is conflict between the narrator’s father and his family. Especially in the southern state of Alabama, there are undercurrents of racism. The twitching of the curtain is emphasized here as the act represents being briefly acknowledged, then cast aside.
“And there was something else that emerged: a communal scrubbing-down of identities, eccentricities, as we waited for green cards, a husband, a job, degrees.”
There is something about this quote that gets to me. Through interactions with established Western facilities, one is inevitably sucked into a vortex of homogenization. While we try to celebrate diversity, there is the standardization of most facets of our life that makes efforts towards diversity rather moot.
“They think my family are Caucasians, rich enough to live in the islands year-round. I never mention my Hawaiian blood.”
The narrator is in a crisis of identity. Highlighted as when she asked her mother if she was White or Hawaiian, the narrator finds herself intimidated by how she might be treated by others. As a result, she hides her Hawaiian heritage to blend in as a tool for survival. Similar to The Beautiful Land, when Vietnamese immigrants were pushing each other to learn English words to better blend in.
Her Walking Stick
“He had just dived head-first from a ninety foot-high wooden tower. Only strong liana vines – one end tethered to his ankles…”
I remember watching a documentary featuring this ritual, so it’s a surprise to see this very ritual being shown in the opening sequence of the story. This diving ritual if I recall correctly is a rite of passage for a boy to transition to a man.
“…he’s only wearing a fiber sheath for his sex, like a bushman. The sheath is for the tourists. Sali favors jeans and Nikes, speaks English, and eats with a knife and fork.”
Thus, it is revealed that the boy diving off the tower is merely putting on a show for the tourists observing. It says something for how what was normally a rite of passage with cultural significance has transitioned into a mere performance for gawking tourists. There is a reduction of the inherent symbolism in the act.
“The masks are sold to the Handikaf Blong Vanuatu, the co-op for local artisans. The best masks are rivaled by the spectacular masks from nearby Papua New Guinea.”
Local customs and traditions are being preserved merely for the sake of making money in a colonized world. The competition with Papua New Guinea at least fuels the desire to keep the traditions alive in the face of rampant colonialization.
“Mama has trouble with this concept. When he talks about life after death, she imagines a maggot crawling out of the nose of a corpse.”
It’s difficult to say if Mama worships a branch of the Abrahamic religions as there was an off-handed reference to Jesus being turned sideways on the crucifix when her son Sali has sex with his wife Efati. IS the crucifix something that Mama bought or was it from Sali? It’s interesting however as there is implications of no afterlife based on Mama’s reaction to Father Dominic. Also need to note what Christian missionaries almost did to the Hawaiian when they arrived.
Bones of the Inner Ear
“…Ava rice-powdering her cheeks and arms, trying to make them paler…”
This reminds me of the little discussion in class about how children are attempting to make themselves whiter to avoid prosecution and racism. This is a sad reminder of just how multi-generational colonialism is. The act doesn’t stop after surrender, it extends to the next generations as well. In time, identity is snuffed out.
“She slammed Kiki’s head with an iron skillet. Shaved her head bald for telling a lie. One day she held Kiki’s hand over open flames until Uncle Noah pinned her to the wall.”
There seems be a lot of domestic troubles in the narrator’s family. Considering what the narrator describes as a slum, there is an indicator for their financial standing. Plagued with veterans from various wars, this family does not appear to be happy.
“One day I heard Taxi scream, then muffled silence. Blue moons appeared on his arms and legs, little bruises the size of a pinch. Grandpa saw them too and started throwing chairs again, telling Ava to get out for good…”
There are implications that Ava’s treatment of the kids is an extension of the treatment given to her by her own mother. But there is something inherently disturbing that Ava decided to name the kid Taxi, after where she gave birth to him. That serves as a constant reminder of how Ava gave birth and the circumstances that led to it. It’s also a reminder to the family of Ava’s recklessness.
“Ben said it was Kiki’s ‘fits’ that drove him off. They came out of nowhere, like her mother’s.”
The bones of the inner ear manifest as more than just a physical imbalance, but a rather severe head injury. It’s an imbalance that seems to harm Kiki even after Ava dies. There is also the fact that Ava died via head trauma. That iron skillet is something of a symbol for fear and hate.