Dinner with the Cannibal is about a man who
goes to dinner with another man and is surprised when he discovers that he is
the main course. The poem is a metaphor for European settlers and Maori
people. The invitation to dinner is a
representation of the signing of the Waitangi treaty in 1840. “Dinner”, the
eating process symbolizes the robbing of land, power, language and culture of
the Maori people by Europeans. Witi believes that the taking of all these Maori
assets is as cruel as Cannibalism. A Cannibal can be defined as a person with
no basic humanity. This metaphor is very strong because Witi does not say the
European settlers are “robbers” or “killers”, but “Cannibal”, this means they
don’t just rob or kill, they rob, kill and then devour the killed people, they
have no primary humanity. The Cannibal eats the narrator in a specific order:
this is legs, arms, heart, liver, kidney and eyes. “The legs” represents Maori
land, as legs are the fundamental structure of the person, land is also the
home of Maori, the production areas of Maori. Once land was taken away, Maori
lost homes.
The themes found within Dinner with the
Cannibal are nostalgia for Maori life-In the seventh stanza he speaks of his
people’s grief for what has been taken from them.
Also oppression of Maori- The poem uses
cannibalism to symbolise the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The British
violated many terms of the treaty, and so Witi considers it to be a vicious
savaging of Maori, rather than a fair agreement between two cultures. Just as
the narrator was hoaxed into going to dine with the host, the Maori were
enticed in by Britain’s promise of a brighter future.
Loss of land and culture is another theme-
The writer has used the loss of limbs to symbolize the loss of independence and
choice Maori felt when their land was taken away from them by the British. “A
landless man may just as well be limbless”. The cannibal eats the man’s legs first
and from there he eats his internal organs and tongue. This is representative
of the loss of culture Maori experienced, along with their language being
forbidden in schools. The last thing to be consumed was the eyes and this
signifies the European government withholding the fact that they had reneged on
the terms of the treaty.
The sacred and the profane- The dominant
subject matter in the poem is cannibalism and there is occasional referencing
to Christianity. This is a huge disparity between religious suggestions such as
“eat and drink the body and blood of Christ” and the unmentionable subject of
cannibalism. It is interesting that the British should view Maori as being
savages, and yet the acts of savagery they carried out on Maori were equally as
savage.
Other themes are regret at the fatal impact
of colonization and disempowerment of Maori.
Overall the poem has a clear structure to
it, it is quite orderly and has set stanzas. The tone of the poem is one of
sarcasm. Witi uses irony- The cannibal’s impeccable sophistication is actually
opposite to his behavior.
So within the poem the host begins eating
the guest. He first eats his legs and then moves onto his other limbs. When the
host is breaking the guest’s arms, it portrays that the power of the people is
being taken away. Arms are used to fight back and protect, and without them we
are defenseless.
The heart is at the centre of the human
being and hold’s a person’s joy, sadness, grief and hope. When the heart no
longer functions, the human will fail.
“Ah, there it is,” he said, impaling my
heart with his fork
And lifting it from its protective cage
I wept to see its pulsing beauty”
These are powerful words, showing
polarities within the poem, the harsh language of ‘impaling my heart with his
fork’, followed by a softened ‘I wept to see its pulsing beauty.’
This polarity is witnessed again before the
cannibal eats the legs, arms and heart, which are extremely violent acts; he
actually asks quite gently “You won’t need these, will you?”
The Europeans professed to be kind and
polite, but were very cruel toward Maori.
The treaty has come under much speculation
and scrutiny ever since it came about. It has resulted in Maori having a sense
of insignificance in their own society, and being stripped of their
possessions.
“Cruelly, he left my brain intact to wonder
Why I had ever accepted his invitation to
dine
150 years ago —“
Witi agonises over how his ancestors were
deceived so shockingly by these intruders and how detrimental and devastating
the treaty has been for his people and culture.
His use of language is fascinating and
holds the reader’s interest. He has been so clever placing formal and polite
language alongside such venomous deeds.
Witi has purposefully eliminated the use of
full stops in this poem to represent the ongoing struggle that Maori people
endure and have done since 1840. The use of –at the completion of the poem is
illustrating that there is doubt about whether the cycle of anguish will
continue.
This poem shows the critical impact that
colonization can have on natives and in this case Maori.
NOBLE SAVAGE
Noble Savage is about the struggle that Maori
and Pacific Island people encounter and the stereotypes that come along with
it. This poem is powerful, emotional and confrontational in nature with a rawness
to it based on social injustice. Through his craft Strickson-Pua is able to
unleash anger, pain and his feelings towards the injustice of racism.
The themes found within Noble Savage are oppression
within Maori and Pacific Island culture and disempowerment of culture.
The structure of the poem is neat and at the start of every stanza there is sort of a title such as “Romantic Notions” and “Alas the noble savage”.
The title Noble Savage in itself is
contradictory however the majority of the poem is full of stereotypes such as
“the noble savage works factory floors,” and “civilized man hunts the concrete
jungle,” the first quote is a stereotype of Maori or Pacific Island people and
the latter represents white people.
The poem portrays Maori and Pacific Island
people as not quite human in the second line when the poet says “sub human
species”. Whereas in the second stanza white people are portrayed as civilized
and even more than human when Strickson-Pua says “becoming a god to himself.”
This created a huge contrast between the different nationalities. This poem has
a mocking tone to it because of the stereotypes placed within it.
The last stanza is important as it has a
sense of resignation and at the same time freedom when the poet says “return to
the shadows of imagination now gone savage to be noble and free.” This
acceptance is like the poet is coming to terms with his cultural identity and
it is a powerful ending to the poem.
No comments:
Post a Comment