Isabella Roberts
New Zealand Texts Essay
Foreigners to New Zealand may gain an impression of the country and people from texts. Four texts
about New Zealand are the novel, “The Whale Rider” written by Witi Ihimaera, the film, “When
The City Falls,” directed by Gerard Smyth, the short story, “Deep Waters,” written by David Hill
and the poem, “Wanaka Holiday,” written by Ruth Arnison. These texts represent New Zealand
and give foreigners to New Zealand the impression of the setting of the texts, the beautiful natural
environment and New Zealanders opinions and attitudes.
These four texts are all set in New Zealand. The film, “When a City Falls,” and the poem,
“Wanaka Holiday,” are similar because they are set in bays of the South Island. “When The City
Falls,” is filmed in the city of Christchurch (South Island) and the suburbs around the city.
Goveners Bay is an area that is shown often. We are shown Goveners Bay and a view of the city
from the bay as well as a helicopter view of the bay as well as the rest of the city. “Wanaka Holiday,”
is set in the town of Wanaka (South Island) and the areas around the town. Glendhu Bay is where
the boys cycle and spend their day at the bay. “We cycled to Glendu Bay and futher.” The novel,
“The Whale Rider,” is set in a different area of New Zealand. “The Whale Rider,” is set in
Whangara on the east coast of the North Island. Whangara is a small maori village near a beach.
During the summer Whangara would be a dry and dusty place. It was a quiet village with a small
population. “Take me back to Whangara a quiet way.” The short story, “Deep Waters,” is also set
in a different area of New Zealand. “Deep Waters,” is set at the Te Rapa River in the bush near
Hamilton in the North Island. “We have to cross the Te Rapa River.” During the holidays a group
of people went on a four hour bush tramp. “But the world ahead was exploding as the Te Rapa
River threw itself against the boulders.” “When The City Falls,” and “Wanaka Holiday,” are similar
texts because they are both set in bays of the South Island. “The Whale Rider,” and “Deep
Waters,” are no similar texts because “The Whale Rider is set on the east coast in a small maori
village and “Deep Waters,” is set in the bush during the school holidays.
These four texts show foreigners the natural environment of New Zealand. The novel, “The Whale
Rider,” gives the impression that New Zealand’s natural environment has beautiful, big mountains.
“The mountains were like the stairway to heaven.” “The Whale Rider,” describes the lush green
grass and crystal clear sea matching the clear sky. “The sea was shimmering and seamless to the
sky.” The animals in the novel are fluorescent and happy. The weather is hot and repetitive. “The
sea flashed with flying fish as the sun rose and set.” The film, “When a City Falls,” gives the
impression that the natural environment is beautiful and has rolling hills with lots of rivers.
“Beautiful environment laced with rivers and springs.” The film describes the lush green grass and
the blossoming of flowers in the spring. The air was clean and clear. “When spring comes to
Christchurch the daffodils bloom and as summer comes around the hills are green and lush, so
clear and clean.” The short story, “Deep Waters,” gives the impression that our rivers are fast and
dangerous. “The river was crammed with car-sized boulders, pale green water frothed and crashed
among them.” The short story also described the happy animals that live in New Zealand’s
environment. “They moved back down between the lofty trees where fantails darted out onto the
riverbed.” The poem, “Wanaka Holiday,” gives the impression that New Zealand has lots of big
and beautiful mountains. “Skeleton mountaintops piercing the sky allowing the studded stars to
shine through.” This also gives the impression that the sky is clear. “The mountains threaded across
the biro blue sky.” The novel “The Whale Rider,” and the poem, “Wanaka Holiday,” express the
natural environment in similar ways as they both meant ion the beautiful big mountains that lace the
country side. “The mountains were like a stairway to heaven.” “Mountains knitting together.” The
novel, “The Whale Rider,” and the film, “When The City Falls,” also express the natural
Isabella Roberts
environment in similar ways as the both give the impression of lush green grass the clean and clear.
“The lush green grass was rippling of many colours.” “Spring to summer time so very green and
lush and clean and clear.” The short story, “Deep Waters,” is not similar to the other texts as it
gives and impression that New Zealand’s rivers are dangerous and does not show the beautiful
beauty of our natural environment. “The river was crammed with car-sized boulders, pale green
water frothed and crashed among them.” “The Whale Rider,” and “Wanaka Holiday,” are similar
texts because the both give the impression of big, beautiful mountains. “The Whale Rider,” and
“When The City Falls,” are also similar texts because they both give the impression of the lush
green grass and clean and clear air. “Deep Waters,” is a different text as it gives a negative
impression of New Zealand’s natural environment.
These texts show the New Zealander’s are strong characters and that they have strong opinions.
The novel, “The Whale Rider,” shows that New Zealanders have strong opinions and are
traditionalists. One of the main characters in the novel Koro is strong minded and is not a push
over. “Koro had the reputation of being stern and tyrannical because of the many people that were
afraid of him.” Another main character Rawiri is a family orientated person and will always do the
right thing. “A cuz is a cuz, you never leave a cuz behind.” Because of their maori culture religion is
very important throughout the novel. “By maori custom leadership was hereditary and normally the
mantle of the mana fell from the eldest son to the eldest son.” In the film, “When The City Falls,”
the people showed in the film were also family and community orientated and would do anything to
help other people out. For example after the first earthquake all the liquefaction had made it hard
for people to do things so two hundred volunteers shovelled liquefaction to help out. “I just want to
help.” The short story, “Deep Waters,” shows that one of the main characters Janie was considerate
of others and cared about the safety of other people before herself. “Loosen your pack straps
before you cross. Then you can get the pack off if you go under.” This also shows that New
Zealanders have a sense of humour. “Then you can get your pack up if you go under, which you
won’t!” The poem, “Wanaka Holiday,” gives the impression that adults appreciate the natural
environment more than children. For example when the parents rang their children and spoke
about “golden willows lamp lighting the night path” all the children wanted to know was if the skate
park had been extended. When the parents carried on talking the teenagers only “grunted.” This
could also show that teenagers do not say much and would rather do nothing. “When The City
Falls,” and “Deep Waters,” have similar opinions as the people in the film help other people and
would rather help others than look after themselves. As in the short story When Janie wanted to
help and warn people of the safety precautions and forgets to do it herself. This is selfless. The
characters in, “The Whale Rider,” are also selfless. “A cuz is a cuz, you never leave a cuz behind.”
“Wanaka Holiday,” is different to the other texts because the opinions are about different things.
In conclusion, foreigners to New Zealand may gain an impression of the country and people from
texts. Four texts about New Zealand are the novel “The Whale Rider,” written by Witi Ihimarea,
the film, “When a City Falls,” directed by Gerard Smyth, the short story, “Deep Waters,” written by
David Hill and the poem, “Wanaka Holiday,” written by Ruth Arnison. These four texts give
foreigners the impression of New Zealand’s setting, beautiful natural environment and the opinions
the New Zealanders. I learnt from reading these texts that it is very easy for people to make
impressions of our country without actually being there because of the amount of detail and
opinions that the authors and directors put into their work.
Result: Excellence