“Cross” and “Kidnapped” by Katie Amanda Tomlinson

Through out history we have seen many islands colonised by Western forces this is no different for Samoa.  In the late 18^th century Germany and Britain took control of the island and with that came huge culture, political and social change. New ideas and beliefs were formed in Samoa and along with that came the loss of tradition and locals identity.  In this essay I will discuss the two poems “Cross” by Albert Leomala and “Kidnapped” by Ruperake Petaia and how they relate to the ideas of loss of identity from the impact of colonisation.

Samoa was colonised in the 18^th century by Germany and later Britain. Two missioners by the name if Charles Barf and John Williams arrived in Samoa in the early 1830’s to spread the word of Christianity to the native people. Samoa was seen as a place that would be great for trading and later became one of the most popular places and was used by a German company J.C Godeffroy and Son. During the periods of 1850-1970 Samoa was passed through the hands of America, Britain and lastly New Zealand. Through out this time the native people of Samoa had been through a lot of changes and had constant western influence, Christianity became a huge part of their culture and church was a regular part of life. It wasn’t until 1970 that Western Samoa gained independence and in 1997 they officially changed their name to “Samoa”. 

In the poem “Cross” Leomala talks about “cross” with a lot of anger and resentment, for example “Cross I hate you, You are killing me, You are destroying me, My traditions I hate you”. I believe that the cross is a symbolism of everything that the Westerners brought over, at face value you could take the cross as a representation of Christianity but I think it’s colonisation as a whole. Leomala speaks about how they never “bother about me and my traditions” for him they came in and took over everything that was important to their Samoan culture and replacing it with what they thought was ‘better’. He goes on to talk about how ‘they’ receive them as “ignorant” and “primitive”, the idea that they never understood his culture or ideas just because they were different it made them ignorant or stupid. At the end of the poem it takes more of aggressive approach using lines such as “I hate you cross….. take your ideas, And your civilization, And go back to where you belong” Leomala is rejecting the colonisation of Samoa and everything that came along with it; religion, politics and language. I believe that Albert feels that they have loss a sense of their identity, because Germany and Britain brought in so much of their values like Christianity the English language that it over took theirs traditions that were consider to be “disgusting”.  Leomala speaks as though through loss of traditions you lose your identity as a Samoan and that is expressed with a lot of anger and hatred for it.

 “Kidnapped” by Ruperake Petaia is very similar to the poem “cross”. They both feel the effects of western influence. As a part of the colonisation came higher forms of education revolving around English culture. Petaia see’s his mother’s decision to send him to school as “careless” and relates school life as being “kidnapped by a band of western philosophers armed with glossy pictured textbooks and registered reputations”. I think that the problem was not education it was more the context of what they were learning, mostly western books and it school was usually taught in English. He then talks about “in a classroom guarded by Churchill and Garibaldi pinned up on the wall. Again we can see that they were learning about American History. For Petaia I believe that it was hard for a young Samoan boy to be thrust into schooling and to be only taught about English culture rather than anything about their Samoan culture. “ Mama and Papa loved their son and paid ransom fees each time, Each time Mama and Papa grew poorer and poorer and my kidnappers grew richer and richer. I grew whiter and whiter” Petaia uses constant references to the word “kidnapped”, for him that was what going to school felt like. He was being forced into becoming white or ‘western’ there was no teaching about Samoan culture. He considers finishes school his “release”. I think you can tell from the poem that Ruperake feels as though school was something he did not choose nor like or found any value in, he considers his degree “a piece of paper to decorate my walls certifying my release”. This poem explores the idea of what the colonisation of Samoa had not only on traditions but also their education. We see that he refers to losing his Samoan identify as he was becoming “whiter and whiter” instead of keeping their own educational values.

I wanted to talk about my experience with this issue.  My mother is from Bulgaria and my father is from New Zealand and what I have notice is there is a vast difference between the two cultures. I always have seen myself as a New Zealander and never really identified as Bulgarian but every time I would see my extended family I would always feel out of place as I felt more kiwi than anything. My mother is traditional eastern European and sometimes I found it very difficult with her values and morals as they were quite different to the typical ‘kiwi’ culture. I feel as though that with accepting both sides and acknowledging that I am a mix that my identity doesn’t have to be black and white I can fit in both sides. I know that it defiantly made me a much more interesting person and allowed me to be more respectful and value other cultures.

In both poem’s we see the effects that colonisation had on the island of Samoa. In “cross” Leomala talks of the effects as a whole while Petaia speaks of the effects it had on his education. Both poems see the effects in a negative light, both feel as though it has made them lose a sense of their Samoan identity.  They both reject idea of the western influence and preferred their Samoan traditions. I think that there is both a positive and negative to colonisation. It can bring more advances to islands that don’t have help they need, like medical care and also education. But in saying that I feel as though a lot of times when islands are colonised that they feel as though their way is the only way and that the natives are barbaric or are not living the right way. I feel as though Christianity is something that Samoa treasures, it is a big part of their lives and having faith in something is a positive attribute and is personal choice. 

Seminar post

Our group choose the poem Four poems and Sione's Wedding by Karlo Mila.This poem explores the ideas of misogamy and the serotype of woman and pacific woman. She talks about the double standards between men and woman “drive through drives, double double standards, burgers with fries” “ yeah those boys know freedom like flying foxes in the night” . Boys have more freedom to grow up and live their lives, their able to make mistakes and have no one to answer to. While women can either be one to two things; the Madonna whore complex that still affects woman today. The poem is written in three different paragraphs, the first one coming from the boy’s perspective and with that they have more freedom have fun without getting judged or named. While the second paragraph is what pacific island woman should be like with more traditional roles “same old roly poly roles, dusky maiden in her little lava-lava”. The last paragraph is where pacific are actually, they can only express their sexually through art as it is not accepted in society. Woman who are sexual are named while men it is considered a normal part of their life. Mila points out through this poem that we still are stereotyped are living in a man’s world “its called BRO- town mate”

Son's from the Return Home

The story in set in the 1960's when a Samoan family migrates into New Zealand for a want of a better life with more money and security.  The parents feel as though they want their children to return home so they can keep their Samoan culture and identity, His mother wants him to keep their values and not turn "papalagi" as her culture is very important to her. You can see the protagonist struggle through this book with his identity because he is Samoan but living in New Zealand. I loved the book and the emotion that it brought out was quite intense. The love story I found to be very real, a young Samoan boy with a white New Zealand girl and through out they faced a lot of difficulty.  The Sons from the return home deals with a lot of issues such as racism, identity crisis, love and family. It really showed the hardship of coming from a different country and trying to grow up in New Zealand. Racism is shown with the girls mothers and how she does want them to marry, being a different nationally must face this all the time. I couldn't help but feel the book brought up issues that we all have to deal with. He was a great student in school but struggled with the fact that it wasn't good. I thought that it was quite cool that the characters were not given names bu only refer erred to "he" or "she" , i found it allowed you to identity with the issues more instead of being completely involved in the characters. It is kind of hard to not feel emotion for the two main characters and their relationship, you cant help but root for them because their is so much getting in the way.