Hawaii (novel)

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Hawaii
HawaiiNovel.JPG
First edition
Author James A. Michener [1]
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Random House
Publication date
November 20, 1959 [2]
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeprint
Pages937pp.

Hawaii is a novel by James A. Michener [3] published in 1959, the year that Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state. It has been translated into 32 languages. [4]

Contents

The historical correctness of the novel is high, although the narrative about the early Polynesian inhabitants is based more on folklore than anthropological and archaeological sources.[ citation needed ] It is written in episodic format, like many of Michener's works, and narrates the stories of the original Hawaiians who sailed to the islands from Bora Bora, the early American missionaries and merchants, and the Chinese and Japanese immigrants who traveled to work and seek their fortunes in Hawaii. The story begins with the formation of the islands themselves millions of years ago and ends in the mid-1950s. Each section explores the experiences of different groups of arrivals.

Development

For Hawaiian history, Michener researched at the Hawaiian-Mission Historical Library and consulted experts on island history, volcanoes, botany, pineapples, and Chinese culture. His technical adviser, noted Hawaiian scholar Clarice B. Taylor, explained customs, language, family names, and nuances of Hawaiian culture to Michener. Taylor said, "The things you want are not in books...all this material you want has to come out of my head. A book cannot tell you how a Polynesian acts or how he talks." [5]

Several characters in the novel are inspired by actual individuals. The character Reverend Abner Hale is a caricature of true-life missionary Hiram Bingham I. [6] Asa Thurston was also a model for a missionary character in the novel. [7] Chinn Ho, the "Chinese Rockefeller", was popularly considered to be the inspiration for the character Hong Kong Kee. [8]

Plot

The novel tells the history of Hawaiian Islands from the creation of the isles to the time they became an American state through the viewpoints of selected characters who represent their ethnic and cultural groups in the story (e.g. the Kee family represents the viewpoint of Chinese-Hawaiians). Most of the chapters cover the arrivals of different peoples to the islands. [9] With the exception of Chapter 1, all the chapters are of standalone novel or novella length.

  1. From the Boundless Deep describes the creation of the Hawaiian land from volcanic activity. It goes into flavorful detail describing such things as primary succession taking root on the island to life finally blooming. [10]
  2. From the Sunswept Lagoon begins on the island of Bora Bora, where many people, including King Tamatoa and his brother Teroro, are upset with the neighboring isles of Havaiki, Tahiti etc. because they are trying to force the Bora Borans to give up their old gods, Tāne and Ta'aroa, and start worshiping 'Oro, the fire god, who constantly demands human sacrifices. Tamatoa suggests to his brother and friends that they should migrate to some other place where they might find religious freedom. After finally agreeing to this plan, his brother secretly sets fire to Havaiki to take revenge for the human sacrifices they have been demanding from Bora Borans. Later they take the canoe Wait for the West Wind and sail to Hawaii. Later some return to Bora Bora to bring back with them some women and children and an idol of the volcano goddess, Pele. [11]
  3. From the Farm of Bitterness follows the journey of the first Christian missionaries to Hawaii in the 1800s and their influence over Hawaiian culture and customs. Many of the missionaries become founding families in the islands, including the Hales and Whipples.
  4. From the Starving Village covers the immigration of Chinese to work on the pineapple and sugarcane plantations. The patriarch of the Kee family contracts leprosy (a.k.a. the ‘Chinese sickness’) and is sent to the leper colony in Molokai. Chapter 4 includes a fictionalized version of 1893 historical events known as the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
  5. From The Inland Sea focuses on Japanese workers brought to the islands to replace Chinese laborers; the latter begin to set up their own businesses. It also covers the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
  6. The Golden Men summarizes the changes in Hawaiian culture and economics based on the intermarriages of various groups in the islands. [12]

Cinematic adaptations

The film Hawaii (1966), starring Max von Sydow and Julie Andrews was released in 1966. [13] The film focused on the book's third chapter, ‘From the Farm of Bitterness’, which covered the settlement of the island kingdom by its first American missionaries. [14]

A sequel, The Hawaiians (1970), starring Charlton Heston, covered subsequent chapters of the book, including the arrival of the Chinese and Japanese and the growth of the plantations. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawaii</span> U.S. state

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiram Bingham I</span> American Protestant missionary

Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham I, was leader of the first group of American Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian Islands. Like most of the missionaries, he was from New England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huahine</span> Island in French Polynesia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pōmare IV</span> Queen of Tahiti

Pōmare IV, more properly ʻAimata Pōmare IV Vahine-o-Punuateraʻitua, was the Queen of Tahiti between 1827 and 1877. She was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Tahiti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raʻiātea</span> Island in French Polynesia

Raʻiātea or Raiatea is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia, in the South Pacific Ocean. The island is widely regarded as the "centre" of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the organised migrations to the Hawaiian Islands, and other parts of East Polynesia started at Raʻiātea.

<i>Hawaii</i> (1966 film) 1966 film

Hawaii is a 1966 American epic drama film directed by George Roy Hill. It is based on the eponymous 1959 novel by James A. Michener. It tells the story of an 1820s Yale University divinity student who, accompanied by his new bride, becomes a Calvinist missionary in the Hawaiian Islands. It was filmed at Old Sturbridge Village, in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and on the islands of Kauai and Oahu in Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jocelyne LaGarde</span> French Polynesian actor

Jocelyne Bredin LaGarde was a Native Tahitian actress who became famous for her first and only acting role in the 1966 motion picture, Hawaii, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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Chinn Ho was a Hawaiian entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist, and self-made millionaire who pioneered Asian involvement in the Hawaiian business community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Bora Bora</span> 18th c. Polynesian kingdom

The Kingdom of Bora Bora was established during the early 19th century with the unification of the island of Bora Bora and official recognition by France and the United Kingdom in 1847 through the Jarnac Convention. It was one of a number of independent Polynesian states in the Society Islands, alongside Tahiti, Huahine and Raiatea in the 19th century, which all shared a similar language and culture and whose rulers were interrelated by marriage. Besides Bora Bora, the Kingdom encompassed the islands of Tupai, Maupiti, Maupihaa, Motu One, and Manuae. The Kingdom was finally annexed to France in 1888 and its last queen Teriimaevarua III was replaced by a French vice-resident in 1895.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Likelike (wife of Kalanimoku)</span> High chiefess and member of the royal family during the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (died 1821)

Likelike was a high chiefess and member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Before the standardization of the Hawaiian language, her name was sometime written as Rikériki. She was the favorite wife of Prime Minister Kalanimoku, a powerful chief and statesman during the early years of the Hawaiian monarchy, and she would accompany him on his interactions with visiting Western explorers and American missionaries to Hawaii. Likelike and her newborn son Lanihau died shortly after the baby’s birth due to the shock caused by cannons fired to celebrate the royal birth. Her funeral was conducted under traditional Hawaiian customs with the exception of a Christian sermon, which was the first performed on a Hawaiian royal.

Bible translations into Oceanic languages have a relatively closely related and recent history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teriitaria II</span> Queen of Tahiti and Huahine (c. 1790 – 1858)

Teriitaria II or Teri'itari'a II, later known as Pōmare Vahine and Ari'ipaea Vahine, baptized Taaroamaiturai, became Queen consort of Tahiti when she married King Pōmare II and later, she ruled as Queen of Huahine and Maiao in the Society Islands.

Marie Mariterangi, Marie Mariteragi, Marie Terangi or Marie was a singer, songwriter of Polynesian pop music, guitarist and ukulele player. She was born on May 3, 1926 in Hikueru in French Polynesia and died on April 27, 1971 in Papeete in French Polynesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamatoa IV</span> King of Raiatea and Tahaa

Tamatoa IV, also named Moe'ore Teri'itinorua Teari'inohora'i (1797–1857) was the king of Raiatea and Tahaa from 1831 to 1857.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ariifaaite</span> Prince consort of Tahiti

Tenaniʻa Ariʻifaʻaite a Hiro was a Prince consort of Tahiti. He was son of Hiro from Huahine and Teihotu alias Ta'avea daughter of Tamatoa III of Raiatea. He became second consort of his first cousin, Pōmare IV, Queen of Tahiti, who was likewise a maternal granddaughter of Tamatoa III. From their union were born:

  1. A boy, died of dysentery
  2. Henry Pōmare ., died of dysentery
  3. Ariʻiaue Pōmare, Crown Prince of Tahiti, Ariʻi of Afaʻahiti.
  4. Pōmare V, succeeded as King of Tahiti.
  5. Teriʻimaevarua II, succeeded as Queen of Bora Bora.
  6. Tamatoa V, succeeded as King of Raiatea.
  7. Victoria Pōmare-vahine.
  8. Punuariʻi Teriʻitapunui Pōmare, Ariʻi of Mahina and President of the Tahitian High Court.
  9. Teriʻitua Tuavira Pōmare, Ariʻirahi of Hitiaʻa, called the "Prince of Joinville".
  10. Tevahitua Pōmare.

Tamatoa is a name of Polynesian and Tahitian origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annexation of the Leeward Islands by France</span> Armed and diplomatic conflicts between France and native kingdoms of French Polynesia

The annexation of the Leeward Islands or the Leewards War was a series of diplomatic and armed conflicts between the French Third Republic and the native kingdoms of Raiatea-Tahaa, Huahine and Bora Bora, which resulted in the conquest of the Leeward Islands, in the South Pacific archipelago of the Society Islands in modern-day French Polynesia.

Kalaikuʻahulu was a kānaka maolialiʻi and kahuna nui of Kamehameha I in pre-Christian Hawaii who was considered a prophet for his prediction of; "Ke Akua maoli" and a message to Hawaiians never seen before. After the arrival of the Christian missionaries in 1820, Kaʻahumanu and others believed the prophecy to be fulfilled. He was also genealogist for Kamehameha, who placed his wives, Kekāuluohi and Hoapiliwahine, under his tutelage as genealogy students.

References

  1. Ali Rothstein (Fall 2001). "Michener, James Albert". Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Archived from the original on February 25, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  2. "Books—Authors". The New York Times. November 6, 1959. p. 26.
  3. Albin Krebs (October 17, 1997). "James Michener, Author of Novels That Sweep Through the History of Places". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  4. Lum, Doris (date unknown). "Michener, James A.: Hawaii" in "20th-Century American Bestsellers". University of Illinois. Retrieved on 2010-03-24 from http://www3.isrl.illinois.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/search.cgi?title=Hawaii.
  5. May, Stephen J. (2021). Michener: A Writer's Journey. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 139–142. ISBN   9780806182148.
  6. David Stowe (1999). "Bingham, Hiram". In Gerald H. Anderson (ed.). Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. William B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 63–64. ISBN   978-0-8028-4680-8.
  7. Sheehan, Nancy (December 7, 2001). "'Curiousities' tell tales of earliest Hawaii". Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts). p. C1. ProQuest   268822576.
  8. Beissert, Wayne (May 4, 1987). "Man of many firsts dies". USA Today. Chinn Ho breached Hawaii's white power structure to become a multi-millionaire businessman, but was perhaps better known in the other 49 states as the basis for the character Hong Kong Kee in James Michener's novel Hawaii.
  9. ""Hawaii" by James A. Michener". Novelguide.com. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  10. "Hawaii A Novel by James A. Michener". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  11. "The main gods in Polynesian mythology". Introduction to Polynesian Mythology. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  12. Betty Lytle (December 18, 2016). "Spotlight: 'Hawaii' by James Michener". The Oklahoman. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  13. Hawaii at IMDb   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  14. "Hawaii". Turner Classic Movies, Inc. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  15. Emily Soares. "The Hawaiians". Turner Classic Movies, Inc. Retrieved April 1, 2017.