Catlin Castan
28 February 2013
Sons for the Return Home
In
the beginning of part two, Wendt parallels the external with the internal, that
is—he compares the boy’s internal emotions with that of the external
environment: the weather. Wendt writes: “The night was chilly, a stiff wind was
blowing in from the south, and the black starless sky echoed the fear he felt:
for the first real time, he was confronted with the fact that he could lose
her”(122). In this moment, Wendt includes a romantic narrative in which he
describes the weather as a way to shed light on the boy’s emotional state, and
vice versa. This provides Wendt’s audience with a better understanding of the
text.
I
found it interesting when the mother and the boy discuss his potential desire
to marry the girl. Upon expressing his certitude in pursuing marriage, his
mother exclaims, “’No!’…refusing to accept the severance of the umbilical cord.
‘She is a papalagi. You cannot love her enough to want to marry her!’”(134). In
this quotation, the boy’s mother displays her true colors—she proves herself to
be the most racist character within Wendt’s text. It is also important to note
the use of “umbilical cord”, referring to a natural process. The boy is
severing his biological ties to not only his mother, but to his culture. In
this moment, the boy can be seen as straying away from the restricting nature
of racial barriers; his mother’s denial affirms his deep- rooted presence in
Samoan culture. In severing the umbilical cord, he is leaving his comfort zone—his
home; the boy is now ready to fully commit to participate in an inter-racial
relationship.
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