The Unfinished Fence
The Unfinished Fence by Vilsoni Hereniko is about a Fijian man named Jimi who migrates from Fiji to New Zealand for work.
Jimi has to deal with migration issues such as feeling like he does not belong, "crowded bus among strange and indifferent people"
Avoiding the police and being so far away from his family, "Occasionally, Jimi's thoughts wandered back to Fiji, to his wife and his two children. Did they miss him as much as he missed them? There were so many people yet he felt so lonely."
When I read this story, I thought about how hard it must be for pacific people to migrate to a different country. This is because the culture and general lifestyles are so different compared to the western world. I found that the story gave me insight into the perspective of Jimi and his struggles of fitting in and feeling at home within a different country. Immediately in the story we see the difference in lifestyle between Mrs Davidson and Jimi, with such contrast between the two characters. However, with the mutual understanding of the feeling of loneliness they get along.
Creative Response-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JYUgnwL3Pc
This video of Fijian people welcoming foreigners into their country reflects the nature of Fijian people, and shows how hard it would be for a Fijian person, like Jimi, to migrate to a completely different country and experience the culture shock, to support his family back home.
Hi Jordan,
ReplyDeletei particularly love this story, and feel empathy for both of the main characters.
Why does he have to avoid the police?
The irony is that NZ IS part of Polynesia/ the Pacific, an of course should be relatively less 'foreign' to Jimi than it is to Mrs Davidson.
A good start here, though needs further exploration
Esther :)
Hi Esther,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. I also feel empathy for both characters, the feeling of loneliness within both characters of this story was sad "She found a sympathetic ear in Jimi and they often talked for hours" (pg.70) "Sometimes he thought it better to work in a factory. At least there would be people to talk to." (pg. 71) I thought that Jimi had to hide from the police because he is working for Mrs Davidson illegally? "Where do you work? I'm not working. What is that on your hands? Jimi faltered. Paint. What were you painting, Viliame? Our house. Silence. Okay Viliame. That is all." I believe this conversation between the police and Jimi show that he avoids telling the authorities the truth, obviously having to hide his job.