Analysis of Kidnapped by Ruperake Petaia

This poem interested me because it brought to my attention some negative views towards education that I may not have considered before. It allowed me to explore my feelings towards my own education and realised how fortunate I am to have had such a positive experience, and also how I almost struggled to relate to anything other than this positivity.

However, through reading this poem I can empathise with Petaia, and understand the angle he is coming from. It is an honest recording of a Samoan student’s experience with feeling indoctrinated in a foreign, predominantly white educational system. He expresses the loss of traditional Samoan knowledge and bemoans the Western influences on Samoan culture and society (similar to the work by Albert Wendt).

“Mama and Papa grew poorer and poorer and my kidnappers grew richer and richer I grew whiter and whiter.”

 The poem criticises the legacy of British influence on different facets of Samoan life.

He implies that his teachers, the white colonialists, have stolen him from his mother. His education came with such a great cost to his parents, and he feels resentment that at the end of it all it had been detrimental to his parent’s and all he got was(what he feels to be) a worthless certificate.

Petaia depicts his academic achievement as a metaphorical ‘kidnapping’ or the completion of a jail sentence, “on my release fifteen years after....”

This feeling of being kidnapped is like he is losing his identity and having something forced upon him.

 He illustrated a feeling of being forced to learn to value information and cultural habits that are not truly your own.

The poem in parts has an angry tone, and leads into one of resignation. There is an underlying feeling of Petaia being stripped of his culture, language and heritage and there is nothing he could do to change the situation.

Another facet of this poem which I found interesting was the references to historical figures.

“I was held in a classroom guarded by Churchill and Garibaldi pinned up on one wall and Hitler and Mao dictating from the other,”

These references are important as they allow us to in a way relate to the poem. Learning about these historical figures is a part of most children’s schooling in New Zealand, and so this allows us prior knowledge of the subject.

Also these references have a subtle sarcasm to them especially when Hitler and Mao are said to be dictating. This relates to the theme of imprisonment within education.

I thought it was so interesting that Petaia referred to his parent’s paying for school as ransom fees. Within this stanza it is said “Each time Mama and Papa grew poorer and poorer and my kidnappers grew richer and richer I grew whiter and whiter,” This once again speaks of resentment and the loss of the writer’s culture.

I found this poem quite sad when I finished reading it. It really makes me feel like I understand Petaia’s mourning for his loss of cultural identity and his bitterness towards his education. This surprised me because as I previously mentioned I had not expected to empathise with him. However, I believe that Petaia is such an amazing writer that he invites the reader to see his point of view and understand his feelings and loss.