Aaron: Sons for the Return Home (Final)

Sons for the Return Home: Text to Self.

After reading Sons for the return home the most common reaction I can imagine one having is a reflection on their identity. With the man character in constant struggle with who he is and where he belongs it is easy to come to that conscious line of thought yourself. In this blog I want to look at how some themes in Sons for the Return Home relate to me. I will be looking at text to self via three points, they are: ancestry, family and cultural practice.

I have spent the last two years living abroad and some of the countries I have visited are Scotland, Germany and Ireland. I noticed while traveling these countries that the people who lived there and have many generations belonging to the certain country, have a real sense of who they are and where they are from. It set, in my mind, a question in regards to identity. Where do I fit in New Zealand?

Ancestry

After reading Sons for the Return Home, this question started to return. I could see the same unsureness in the main character as I felt while being overseas. However, one of the differences between me and Sione was the fact he knew where his ancestry was from and though he struggled trying to identify himself (was he Samoan or a Kiwi) at least he could trace his roots back to Samoa. Where as I have a European mother and a European/Maori father, so tracing my ancestry is difficult as the word "European" is a highly generalized term when used for ethnicity and I have little contact with the outer family. In class (Pacific Reader) I have come to learn that an individual can understand themselves and where they fit in their society if they know more of where their ancestral roots flow from. So when I went searching for my family ties I was intrigued, although not surprised, to find one of the main bloodlines flows back to Scotland.

Family

In Sons for the Return Home Sione is well feed into the Samoan way of life with his family. He attended church with his them (when he was younger) and as part of being Samoan is keeping the traditions of Fa'a Samoa. I believe though he was removed more than any other of his siblings form his family Sione still had a deep connection with them. I also believe Sione considered Sarah as a big part of his family and through her traditions and cultural norms helped confuse what he held dear to him. This I can directly relate to as I also have a partner from another country and culture, while living with her and learning what traditions and cultural norms she is used to, I also had this sense of confusion. So through this example one can understand why family and those you hold dear can effect where you see yourself.

Cultural Practice

Language in Sons for the Return Home is used as tool to show immediately the cultural divide between New Zealand and Samoa. It is also one of the problems Sione's parents struggle with. As they are older when they have to start using the language in day to day living it is more difficult than it was for Sione. This is where I feel I can relate to the parents. When I moved to Germany I lived there for a year and a half, I had never tried to learn the language, this made it difficult for me to understand the culture and I felt alienated from it. Thus I had a longing to return to what I knew, English and New Zealand.


I guess in the end Sons for the Return home helped me realize that like Sione and some what Albert Wendt, it is ok to be confused on what your identity "is". I'm somewhere in between or maybe outside a Kiwi, Scotsman and a Maori, just like Sione is between or outside a Samoan and a Kiwi.