85 pages • 2 hours read
Patricia GracePotiki
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
PROLOGUE-CHAPTER 7
Reading Check
1. In the Prologue, which facial feature is “the final gift of the carver”?
2. According to Roimata, what is the purpose of seagulls?
3. What “define[s] [the] lives” (Chapter 5) of Roimata and her family?
4. Whose child is Toko?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Summarize the story of the master carver and his apprentice. What is the significance of the Prologue?
2. Who is Mary and how does she spend her day? What item in particular fascinates her?
3. Where does Roimata find herself after 12 years? How does she process the changes that occurred over this period of time?
4. What does Roimata observe Mary throwing into the sea? How do Roimata and her daughter react to the situation?
5. How do Roimata’s children process their education? How does Roimata respond to the variety of differences in her offspring?
Paired Resources
- The New Zealand’s government encyclopedia shares information and visuals of typical Māori structures.
- This information connects with the theme The Relationship Between Humankind and the Natural World.
- Based on the novel and this resource, what are the purposes of various Māori structures within the community? How do these structures connect with the well-being and longevity of Māori culture?
- This site offers information on the history of Māori education in New Zealand.
- This resource connects with the theme The Repression of Indigenous Populations and Their Struggle for Survival.
- How do Roimata’s children’s ideas about their educational experiences compare with this resource’s descriptions?
CHAPTERS 8-15
Reading Check
1. What does Hemi remind Toko of regarding the size of their family?
2. What name does Granny call Toko?
3. Why does Hemi want to teach his children the skill of the land?
4. For what purpose do Roimata and her husband use the final payments of Hemi’s job?
5. What does Toko specify is “not for sale”? (Chapter 14)
6. What color does Roimata use to describe the development machinery?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Toko is said to possess a special power. What type of power is this and what is an example of this power?
2. Describe the connections that Toko makes regarding wordplay in his conversation with Granny. How does Toko connect these ideas?
What reflections does Hemi have on the women in his life? What does he determine about the fate of these different romantic relations?
3. What is Te Ope? How does Toko use this story to explain the importance of land for his people? How is this story juxtaposed against Dollarman’s account of the event?
4. Compare the use of the term foresight by Dollarman and Uncle Stan. How do their own perceptions of this word shape their actions?
Paired Resources
“Māori and the First World War”
- The government of New Zealand shares a four-part history of the Indigenous community’s involvement in WWI.
- Students might discuss this information in connection with the themes The Repression of Indigenous Populations and Their Struggle for Survival, The Inhumanity and Destructiveness of Capitalism, The Relationship Between Humankind and the Natural World, and The Relationship Between Life and Death.
- According to this resource, how did the Māori community respond to the war effort in New Zealand? What does this response say about the Indigenous community’s relationship to the colonial government?
- New Zealand Tourism shares an overview of Māori culture intended for those unfamiliar with it.
- How does this tourism website reflect some of the concerns that Roimata and her community have regarding the Dollarman’s development? Does this website indicate more of a respect for or a monetization of Māori culture? Explain.
CHAPTERS 16-24
Reading Check
1. What ideas about land are Roimata and her community compelled to remember?
2. What are the two types of fish that Roimata and her family catch the day before the rain?
3. How does Toko characterize Granny’s life?
4. According to Hemi, which of his children takes the destruction of their land the hardest?
5. Which two things does Roimata note have changed in the community?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What happens to the urupa? How is this place a significant component of the community?
2. Describe the community response in the wake of the loss of the urupa. How does the community come together during this difficult time?
3. How does the destruction of the wharenui initially impact the community? Overall, how do surrounding Māori support them in this difficult time?
4. What do Roimata and Toko say about the adjustment of life after the burning of the wharenui? Are there any positive outcomes to the situation?
Paired Resources
- The government of New Zealand shares a series of visual depictions regarding the Māori land from the 19th to the 21st centuries.
- This information connects with the themes The Repression of Indigenous Populations and Their Struggle for Survival and The Inhumanity And Destructiveness of Capitalism.
- According to this article, what are some of the primary reasons that the Māori lost their land over the centuries? For what purposes was this land taken?
- The Saint Louis Art Museum shares visuals for and information about the poupou.
- These images connect with the themes The Relationship Between Humankind and the Natural World and The Relationship Between Life and Death.
- How do the Māori depict important figures? What are some of the visual features that they use on their poupou?
“The Spiral Temporality of Patricia Grace’s ‘Potiki’”
- This scholarly journal article analyzes postcolonialism, time, and the role of Polynesian mythology in Grace’s novel.
- The topics covered connect with the themes The Repression of Indigenous Populations and Their Struggle for Survival, The Inhumanity and Destructiveness of Capitalism, The Relationship Between Humankind and the Natural World, and The Relationship Between Life and Death.
- Where is Grace’s novel situated in the field of Indigenous Polynesian literature? How did Grace mirror existing myths in creating her story?
CHAPTERS 25-29
Reading Check
1. What important task does James do for the community?
2. What will Roimata support her two children in doing?
3. What possibility does the novel suggest as Toko’s true origins?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why is Tangi angry? How does she channel this emotion when speaking to the working men?
2. What noise does Roimata hear one early morning? Summarize what the community discovers.
3. What stories are shared in the wharenui? Who shares them and what is the significance of this event?
Recommended Next Reads
Waiariki by Patricia Grace
- Grace’s 1975 collection of short stories centers on Māori life and relationships.
- Shared themes include The Repression of Indigenous Populations and Their Struggle for Survival, The Inhumanity and Destructiveness of Capitalism, The Relationship Between Humankind and the Natural World, and The Relationship Between Life and Death.
- Shared topics include the Māori community, storytelling and oral traditions, and the setting of New Zealand.
The Color of My Words by Lynn Joseph
- Joseph’s 2000 middle grade novel follows protagonist Ana Rosa as she discovers the power of her writing in the midst of conflict in the Dominican Republic.
- Shared themes include The Repression of Indigenous Populations and Their Struggle for Survival, The Inhumanity and Destructiveness of Capitalism, The Relationship Between Humankind and the Natural World, and The Relationship Between Life and Death.
- Shared topics include government-promoted capitalistic development for touristic purposes and the loss of one’s home.
- The Color of My Words on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
PROLOGUE-CHAPTER 7
Reading Check
1. The eyes are the final gift: “The spinning, dancing eyes are the final gift from the carver, but the eyes are also a gift from the sea.” (Prologue)
2. As carrion eaters, seagulls tend to the seashore by eating the dead creatures: “Seagulls are the inheritors of the shores where they take up death and renew it[...]” (Chapter 3)
3. Stories (Chapter 5)
4. Toko is Mary’s baby. (Chapter 6)
Short Answer
1. The novel opens with a story centered on an old man, a master carver in the Māori culture, and his apprentice, who is a young boy. Over the course of his life, the old man becomes a “master carver” in the community, and before his death carves a final “poupou” (wooden figure), which he gives a “chisel-shaped penis” and leaves incomplete without the eyes. This Prologue sets the tone of the novel by introducing the wharenui, the incomplete carved figure, as well as the motif of the power of storytelling. (Prologue)
2. Mary is the sister of Hemi and sister-in-law of Roimata. Considered to be “simpler” than her family, Mary spends her day cleaning the community buildings and houses. She cleans the wharenui, spending considerable time with the poupou with the “chisel-shaped penis.” (Chapter 2)
3. After 12 years, Roimata attends the funeral of Hemi’s mother, on the papakainga (ancestral land). Although she has been gone for some time, she is welcomed back into the arms of the people; she explains to Hemi that she felt guided to come back, and he acknowledges this feeling. (Chapter 3)
4. One day, Roimata and her daughter Tangi observe Mary walking more awkwardly than normal, trying to throw something into the sea. They discover that the object is a baby boy with a caul and physical disabilities, to whom Mary has just given birth. Roimata and Granny Tamihana tend to the baby and Mary; soon the community determines that the father of the boy must be a local man named “Joe-billy” who must have taken advantage of Mary’s youthful innocence. (Chapter 4)
5. Roimata remarks on the different ways that her children process their education. While Tangi and James do not struggle in school, Manu implores his mother not to make him go back as he would “disappear into the cracks.” To help the latter, she makes their own schoolhouse at home, focusing on less of the formal education components and instead creating a safe space for sharing, where her children share stories of the natural world. (Chapter 5)
CHAPTERS 8-15
Reading Check
1. That Toko has a large family (Chapter 8)
2. “Little Father” (Chapter 9)
3. For survival (Chapter 10)
4. To start a farm (Chapter 11)
5. Singing and dancing (i.e., Māori culture) (Chapter 14)
6. Yellow (Chapter 15)
Short Answer
1. Both Toko as well as Roimata acknowledge that Toko possesses a kind of sixth sense, the power of “special knowing.” In addition to his premonition of a future conflict in Chapter 7, Toko also correctly predicted that he would catch a “big fish” (the eel) in the lagoon when he was five years old. (Chapter 8)
2. In his visit with Granny, Toko learns significant information regarding his name. First, he learns that he is named Toko from Granny’s deceased brother. He also learns that her brother, his great granduncle, died after falling from a horse and hitting his head on a rock, which is similar to the sound that the big fish made when Hemi hit it against the rock. Toko then realizes that there are unexpected connections to be discovered in the world: “And the life of the long-ago Toko and the life of my big fish seemed somehow to come together.” (Chapter 9)
3. Hemi reflects on his relationship with Roimata; now that they have been together a while, he cannot picture life without her. He also reflects on a girl he used to love named Sue with whom he thought he would spend his life; however, he understands that it could not happen that way, as Roimata was from the family, and Sue was an outsider. (Chapter 10)
4. Te Ope is a Māori community. After an old war (i.e., World War I), the residents were forced to move far from their land. Years later, a young activist named Reuben fought for his right to stay on the land, and as a result, the community was able to resettle on their ancestral land. Toko’s story is an example of the importance of stories and land for the Māori people. This story is contrasted against the Dollarman’s account, which explains Mr. Dolman’s efforts to “develop” the area into a wealthy space for tourism, showing that the plight of Indigenous peoples is perpetual. (Chapters 12-13)
5. Dollarman finally begins to build on the area surrounding the community; however, he chides the Māori people for their lack of foresight, pointing out how developing the region could benefit the Indigenous community. Uncle Stan responds that his community does indeed have “foresight,” meaning their vision that their land is crucial to the survival of the community and that they will never let it go. (Chapter 14)
CHAPTERS 16-24
Reading Check
1. “[T]hat land does not belong to people, but that people belong to the land” (Chapter 16)
2. Snapper and many kahawai (Chapter 16)
3. Toko shares that Granny’s life was marked by sadness and loss. (Chapter 20)
4. Tangi (Chapter 22)
5. Their lives and stories (Chapter 23)
Short Answer
1. The urupa (the burial ground for their community) is destroyed by flooding after a significant rain. Soon, Roimata and her children learn that this is due to the land developers. The community mourns its loss, as the urupa is a place of great significance. (Chapters 17-18)
2. With the arrival of Reuben, Hiria, and Pena, the community comes together to discuss the problem of the destruction of the urupa; they determine to open an investigation into the problem. (Chapter 19)
3. The destruction of the wharenui is a pivotal moment for the community. In the days following its destruction, the characters are at a loss what to do, as they do not feel an investigation would be helpful, and they are too broken-hearted to continue with life as normal; however, with the arrival of Reuben and others from Te Ope, they begin to make plans to rebuild the structure. (Chapters 20-21)
4. Both Roimata’s and Toko’s narratives mention life after the destruction of the wharenui. Roimata notes that Reuben and his counterparts are supportive, urging them to understand that this is not “a game” and, while certain members of Roimata’s family are affected by the “acceptance” of the situation, there is a “new breath,” or a feeling of hope and resilience moving forward. Toko’s narrative carries this line of thought, as he speaks of the possibilities of the structure, such as a ramp for his wheelchair, that allows him to access the wharenui, along with the redesign of the wharenui poupou to connect the Te Ope with their own community. (Chapters 23-24)
CHAPTERS 25-29
Reading Check
1. James carves the poupou of Toko in the wharenui. (Chapter 27)
2. Roimata will support her children in going to the court about both the development and Toko’s death. (Chapter 28)
3. The novel suggests Toko may have been the result of an immaculate conception from Mary and the carver who made the last poupou. (Chapters 25-29)
Short Answer
1. After being gone some time, Tangi returns to the community after Toko’s death. She is angry, believing that the working men are responsible for Toko’s death. Her words greatly affect the workers, as many of them refuse to continue their jobs on the development. (Chapter 25)
2. Roimata and her family wake up one early morning to the sound of machines, which had been previously stopped during the funeral of Toko’s death. Later, they see that the machines have destroyed the new development, and when the officers come to inquire about who committed the destruction, no one is able to give a clear response. (Chapter 26)
3. Roimata, Hemi, James, Tangi, Manu, Granny, and Mary all share their stories with each other in the wharenui. Some of these stories are overlapping in their content, touching upon the themes of the development, Toko’s death, and the importance of their land in relation to the future of their community. The stories are shared in different ways: Granny and Tangi sing, Mary’s story is in the form of whispering, and James’s story is within the carvings. (Chapter 28)
