Downfall of Colonialism

MAORI COMMUNITY AND EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT IN NEW ZEALAND
an academic review of KERI HULME'S "THE BONE PEOPLE"

It is a story of a solitary woman artist, an abusive man laborer, and a washed-up mute boy, the pain they individually suffer, and the healing they find by the end of the story. It discusses none of the characters' histories or the changes that history has brought their heritage. It does not paint the picture of evil intruders that wipe out entire tribes and traditional lineage of thousands of years. It does not discuss political wars or racial wars. It is simply a story of three people who are part of the New Zealand Maori culture after the wars have been fought, the culture devastated, and the government's attempt to recompense its offenses. It is Keri Hulme's novel "The Bone People" and Hulme uses the three main characters Kerewin, Joe, and Simon to illustrate symbols, commitment rituals, and myths crucial to sustaining Maori identity. Although this novel does not paint intratribal conflict, political upheaval, or cultural clash like other postcolonial literature, it does poetically illustrate its aftermath and the permanent damage to the Maori culture once the beliefs are lost, abandoned, or changed in the name of colonialism.

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