Tuesday 20 March 2012

Chapter 1 - THE IMMIGRANTS

Purple Heart by Ta'afuli Andrew Fiu
Chapter 1- The Immigrants (pages 11-26)
The main idea or what this chapter is  about is to describe and explain how the authors family and himself came to be in New Zealand and more importantly how this new life was when they moved here. This chapter also shows some of the experiences that many immigrants especially Pacific Islanders go through when they come to New Zealand. In this chapter the challenges that they face are also emphasised such as the language barrier, their naivety and more. It also enlightens me on things that I never knew happened such as changing peoples foreign names to English names supposedly so they can know them better. Dialogue is also used in this chapter to help readers imagine the situation and also to make the story more believable and realistic. The use of slang and colloquial language is also effective for this same reason such as calling Ponsonby 'the ghetto' and also using some Samoan language such as 'to'onai'(Sunday afternoon lunch) to show the connection with his culture and origins. Another language technique found is onomatopoeia when they describe the sound that the firecracker should make to create an image or paint a picture of what is happening. I personally like this chapter as it shows some stereotypes that Pacific Islanders have and also how they were treated and in some parts of society they still are such as being given all the 'dirty' jobs or factory jobs. My culture also influences how I feel about this story as I can relate to some of the experiences and understand or sympathise with the people. This chapter has a big link to the real world especially in Auckland as the book is based on a real life story in places in Auckland. The things that happen in the book also occur frequently in real life especially as a pacific islander. I also found this chapter quite humorous especially the last pages describing Sio and his European girlfriend. This was a good opening chapter as it explains the beginning of his life in New Zealand and also gives us a brief description of him and his family and how they lived.