Hawaii is a 1959 novel by James Michener.
It's made up of 6 sections, each of which somewhat can stand alone.
- "From the Boundless Deep": The geological history of the islands
- "From the Sunswept Lagoon": The original Polynesian colonization of the islands
- "From the Farm of Bitterness": The first Christian missionaries to the islands in the 1800s
- "From the Starving Village" The immigration of Chinese workers
- "From The Inland Sea": The immigration of Japanese workers
- "Golden Men"
Tropes
- Alas, Poor Yorick: Kelolo takes the skull of his beloved late wife Malama, cleans it of all the flesh, and keeps it. He talks to her in the evenings, like the Happily Married couple they were.On the fourth day Kelolo opened the grave whose burning heat had baked away Malama's flesh, and with a sharp knife he severed her head from her gigantic skeleton. Carefully scraping the skull to remove all desiccated fragments, he wrapped it in maile leaves, then in tapa and finally in a closely woven pandanus mat. For so long as he lived, this would be his perpetual treasure, and as he grew older, in the evenings he would unwrap his beloved's head and talk with her. He would recall that before the Christians came she had loved tobacco. He would light his pipe and when the smoke was good, he would blow it into her mouth, knowing that she would appreciate his thoughtfulness.
- Death by Childbirth: Played for Drama in the death of Abraham Hewlett's wife Urania. Her death is not inevitable, it's not "just how things were back then." There are experienced local Hawaiian midwives who would've taken great care of Urania, but out of racist mistrust they don't ask them. The mission doctor, Dr. Whipple, is not on hand to deliver the baby, and so the job falls to Abner Hale. Abner has never delivered a baby before and is doing the best he can, based off a midwifery book. The baby is born well enough, but he doesn't manage the aftermath right, and Urania dies.Abraham had not thought to enlist the aid of Hawaiian midwives at his home mission, for they were some of the most highly skilled in the Pacific and within ten minutes would have diagnosed Urania's case as one of simple premature birth brought on by exhaustion. Had the Hewletts relied on them, they would have produced a clean birth and a healthy baby; but for the Hewletts to have accepted their aid would have meant admitting that a heathen, brown-skinned Hawaiian knew how to deliver a Christian white baby, and such an idea was unthinkable.
- Marry the Nanny: The first interracial marriage of the story is Abraham Hewlett and Malia. Abraham's first wife, Urania, had a Death by Childbirth. Abraham was left widowed with his newborn son. Malia stepped in and was a caring mother to his son, and before long, a caring wife to him. Abner Hale is appalled by this Maligned Mixed Marriage, while John Whipple says it's a good union, and the best thing possible for the little boy.
- Royal Inbreeding: the Christian missionaries to Hawaii are appalled by the alii's (Hawaiian nobility) custom of inbreeding. At the time of arrival, the local alii is Malama who's Happily Married to her brother Kelolo. While the missionaries do object to this, it's also "grandfathered in" in a sense because they've already been married for decades. When Malama and Kelolo's children, Keoki and Noelani, are wed after the arrival of the Christians, Reverend Abner Hale is even more upset. He has the following conversation with a fellow missionary, John Whipple. Whipple has relaxed his views about a lot of things since arriving in Hawaii and Hale thinks he's Going Native.John Whipple: I've been thinking about it a great deal. What's so dreadful about it? Now really, don't quote me incidents from the Bible. Just tell me.
Abner Hale: It's abhorrent and unnatural.
John Whipple: What's really so abhorrent about it?
Abner Hale: Every civilized society…
John Whipple: Damn it, Abner, every time you start an answer that way I know it's going to be irrelevant. Two of the most completely civilized societies we've ever had were the Egyptians and the Incas. Now, no Egyptian king was ever allowed to marry anybody but his sister, and if I can believe what I've heard, the same was true of the Incas. They prospered. As a matter of fact, it's not a bad system, scientifically. That is, if you're willing to kill off ruthlessly any children with marked defects, and apparently the Egyptians, the Incas and the Hawaiians were willing to do so. Have you ever seen a handsomer group of people than the alii? - So Beautiful, It's a Curse: The leper colony on Molokai is a Wretched Hive of utter depravity because there is no law. As the fullest expression of this depravity, women exiled there whose leprosy has not disfigured them yet are Blessed with Suck — so desirable that they are gang-raped for months by the terrifyingly disfigured long-term inhabitants of the leper colony until the women are driven insane and become promiscuous, either out of nihilism or the need to deny that the advance of their leprosy has rendered them undesirable, foreshadowing their deaths.
- Your Normal Is Our Taboo: There is a great deal of Culture Clash between the Christian missionaries and the Hawaiian alii, but the one that becomes the biggest sticking point is incest. The alii practice Royal Inbreeding. The Christians say it's an abomination. The Alii Nui, Malama, is willing to oblige on other points, but she and her brother Kelolo are happily married and she's loath to end their relationship. Malama has a breakthrough moment when she realizes it's not really morality, just a taboo. This conceptualization ticks Abner Hale off.Abner Hale: This relationship is evil … it is forbidden by the Bible.
Malama: ["Eureka!" Moment] [brightly] You mean it is kapu!
Abner: It is not kapu. It is forbidden by God's law.
Malama: That's what kapu means. Now I understand. All gods have kapu. You mustn't eat this fish, it is kapu. You mustn't sleep with a woman who is having her period, it is kapu. You mustn't …
Malama: Malama! Being married to your brother is not kapu! It's not some idle superstition. It's a law of God.
Abner: I know. I know. Not a little kapu like certain fish, but big kapu, like not entering a temple if you are unclean. All gods have big and little kapus. So Kelolo is a big kapu and he must go. I understand.
