Finlayson, Robert - Another Kind Of Life

The relation of "Another Kind of life" by Roderick Finlayson to the historical context

Since the colonization of New Zealand by the British the Maori continuously lost land to the Europeans. This happened mostly in an illegal way. Till 1856 the Pakeha had taken possession of 26 million acres land on the North Island though only 7 million were legally bought. This led to several wars in which the Pakeha were defeated by the Maori several times but after the 1870s the Maoris had no chance to hinder the Europeans from gaining supremacy, because the stream of settlers did not end.

The Maori population sunk continuously till about 1900 it was nearly for sure that the Maori would die out - a memorial was built for the Maori on the One Three Hill near Auckland. Some of the remaining Maoris that mostly lived n rural areas formed the Young Maori Party that wanted the adaption of the Pakeha-culture. Their motto was:" There is no alternative but to become a Pakeha". The government initiated programs to support Maori farmers and language schools for Maoris to turn all Maoris into "black Pakeha". The Maori practiced the new Pakeha culture, but not as individuals but as families. This way the own cultural tradition continued to be the stronger one. The Maori population recovered and rose to 57,000 in 1921. This led to the urbanization of many Maoris who had to adapt the Pakeha culture to survive.

At this time the short story takes place. One of the main centers of urbanization in the 1920s and 1930s was Auckland.

The author

Roderick Finlayson was born in Auckland in 1904 where he studied architecture. He was interested in the intercultural relations of the Pacific life and affairs. He spent time in different Maori farming districts. The short story "Another Kind of Life" reflects his extensive experience that he made during his stay. For him New Zealand in the 1940s is a "ruthless and technological and acquisitive society¹ ". The short story is from "Sweet Beluah Land", published in 1942, the second of several collections of short stories.

Summary Of "Another kind of life" by Roderick Finlyson

The main event in the short story is the visit of Charlie, a middle-aged Maori man to his village that has changed from a traditional Maori Kainga² to a Pakeha holiday place. The resulting loss of identification with the own culture is the problem the story deals with.

The narrator is Charlie, who lives with his family in Auckland where he works as a bus driver. During a strike, leaving his wife who is half a Pakeha and his three children in Auckland, he takes the chance to visit his uncle and aunt at Waiari. After some problems with his bearing because of a lot of new Pakeha buildings he finds the house where his uncle used to live when Charlie was in his home village the last time as a youngster. Charlie meets a Maori looking woman who lives in his uncle's house and greets her with a traditional Maori phrase. But neither him nor the woman do understand or speak Maori. Talking to her in English he finds out that his uncle works in a Metal industries factory since his land has been taken by the government to build tourist hotels.

Afterwards he goes into a bar to drink some alcohol. Inside the bar, two Maori man who are sitting together talking in Maori. Charlie explains that he cannot speak Maori because the previous generation of Maoris was forced to speak English at school by the Pakeha teachers. He feels ashamed that he cannot speak his people's language and is sad that he is not able to share the comfortable atmosphere of his culture.

Charlie starts to understand why Maori people think that they have lost their freedom by the treaty of Waitangi. He hopes that he does not live his life the Pakeha way of life like the family in his uncle's house does. Charlie thinks Maoris should just visit their relatives because of a happening in the Maori society like a tangi³ and not because of a strike which is a Pakeha happening. When he departs he knows he will never see his uncle again.

Interpretation Of "Another kind of life" by Roderick Finlayson

The main character in this story, Charlie, is in a permanent struggle between the two worlds that surround him, on the one side the modern Pakeha world, on the other side the traditional Maori world. In this conflict the Maori language plays an important role.

When he is still in Auckland Charlie uses only English words, for example the word village. As soon as he is arrives in his home village he calls it kainga. This is a change that can also be seen when he greets the young woman in uncle Tu's house with a Maori greeting. Charlie says "...at Waiari, my people's Kainga, it just came natural." ( p. 97 l. 6 ). It is Charlie's nature to speak Maori, but his father was forced to speak English by Pakeha teachers when they made him "...wash the dirty Maori off his tongue." ( p. 98 l. 39 ). Charlie thinks that using his knowledge of Maori would be a trick though it is his nature. This contradiction makes him feel ashamed and mad. The inability of speaking Maori hinders Charlie to share the "... big warm and friendly sound..." ( p. 99 ll. 3-4 ) of the two Maori speaking men in the bar. Charlie expresses his longing to speak Maori when he says:" They're never alone and cold there in that place where the words warm the heart." ( p.99 ll. 6-7 ).

For Charlie the Maori world symbolizes the past. In the very first sentence he says:"...going down to the old people's place.." ( p. 96 l. 1 )and the rest of the first paragraph contains words that symbolize something past, the death of Hemi ( p. 96 l. 4 ), uncle Tu talking about his "...young days." ( p. 96 l. 5 ) and uncle Tu's advice to "...keep in touch with the old folk." ( p. 96 l. 7 ).

On the other side there are the old people that live the traditional way of Maori life. But Charlie does not want to become like they are. As usual between two different generations the younger generation does not want to live the same way as the elder generation does.

One of the problems of the lives of the Maoris the Pakeha have caused is the loss of Maori property to the Pakeha. When Charlie arrives in his home village he "...tried to get his bearing ..." ( p. 96 l.20 ) because the village has changed to a holiday place in that the Pakehas live "...shut up in the house..." ( p.98 l. 7 ) and do not sit together and yarn like the old people would do it. The marae⁴ which is the focus of social life in a Maori community is "... of course...shut up now..." ( p. 98 l.12). This is a matter of course for Charlie because he has realized that there is no social Maori life in his home village anymore.

When he talks about why he can not speak Maori he does it in an accusing way. He says:" It is because of what the Pakeha did to my father, and all the other kid's fathers, when they were youngsters." ( p. 98 ll. 33-35 ) This shows Charlie's sadness and perhaps even his hate for what the Pakeha did.

Charlie's wife lives a Pakeha lifestyle so she decides to stay at home to care about the children instead of visiting the relatives in Waiara with the whole family, which would be the Maori lifestyle. This drives Charlie mad and he runs her down when he says:" She´s half a Pakeha in more ways than one if you see what I mean." ( p. 96 l. 15 ). After the argue with his wife Charlie says:" That's not the Maori way...But the way it goes now." ( p. 96 l. 17 ). He would like to take his family with him because he does not want to be alone ( The author uses the same aspect talking about the Maori language ).

The young woman who lives in the house of Charlie's uncle and looks like a real Maori pretends that she does not speak Maori at all, though she lives in a region which is the "...middle of Maori country..." ( p. 97 l. 2 ) and probably knows the meaning of the Maori greeting. That means that she does not want to speak Maori. She has parted with parts of her own culture and adapted to some parts of the Pakeha culture for example the house she is living in looks new like the Pakeha houses. When she talks to Charlie she says:" The Pakehas want to get the seaside places..." ( p. 97 l. 39 ). This means that she still sees herself as a Maori.

Charlie is influenced by all these aspects: In the beginning of the story, although he is quite satisfied with his Pakeha life, he knows that he will always be reminded of his history. But when he takes the chance to face it, he has to realize that the Maori world he used to live in as a child ( e.g. on his grandfathers funeral with a group of Maoris, or his uncle as a farmer ) does not exist anymore. So he tries to daze his sadness with alcohol. The only way out of his struggle would be to live like the young woman lives, to become a Maori that lives the Pakeha way of life but the impression of his own culture was to large, "the old words kind of whisper, they keep coming up trying to get out...give...no peace" ( p. 99 ll. 25-26 ) so he does not live in any of the two worlds. Charlie sees that he came down to his home village because of a Pakeha happening though he wanted to get in contact with his Maori culture.

Anyway he has changed for he hopes he had left behind what the young woman and all the other Pakehas talk about.

Charlie leads the reader to the probable reason of this changes in the lives of the Maoris, the treaty of Waitangi and the question "was it for good, or the saddest day ever" ( p. 99 ll.8-9 ). He realizes that the Maoris lost a huge part of their freedom by the signing of the treaty and that this freedom has different consequences for each person. There are two possibilities to interpret the sentence "...uncle Tu and the things dear to his heart, all lost." ( p.99 ll. 15-16 ): One the one side in the paragraph above this sentence Charlie talks about his feelings. So it could mean that he is sad that he lost the world in that his uncle lived and that he longed for. On the other side Charlie says:" And for them that's Waitangi." ( p 99 ll. 14-15 ). This could stand in a relation to the sentence as well and mean that Charlie thinks that the Pakeha will sooner or later destroy all Maori culture and assimilate all Maoris because of the loss of freedom.

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¹ From: New Zealand Short Stories

² Maori word for: village or home

³ Maori word for: funeral

⁴ Courtyard of Maori meeting house