Newspaper article + "Racial Tensions" poem w/ two voices

Obituary

Princess Victoria Kawekiu Lunalilo Kalaninuihilapalapala Kaiulani, beloved daughter of Princess Likelike and Archibald Cleghorn, has passed away on March 6, 1899, at the age of twenty-four. Her doctors confirmed that her death was due to rheumatism of the heart, likely caused by her frequent outings in cold and stormy weather. Kauilani’s death saddens all Hawaiians, for whom she seemed the last hope of a free Hawaii. She had been educated and raised similarly to European monarchs, in hopes that one day she could rule Hawaii and restore the islands to their original state of independence. Kaiulani will be missed by family and community alike. Her vast amounts of land will be willed to her descendants to care for as she has in her short lifetime.

Matt King's Desk

Map of Hawaii

Works Cited

Works Cited

"Hawaii Is Diverse, But Far From A Racial Paradise." NPR. NPR. Web. 21 May 2014.

"Hawaiian Annexation." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Web. 20 May 2014.

"Hawaiian Annexation." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Web. 20 May 2014.

"Kingdom of Hawaii Illegal "overthrow" History in Detail..." Kingdomhawaii. Web. 21 May 2014.

"The Monarchy." The Monarchy. Web. 21 May 2014.

Payne, Alexander, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, and Kaui Hart. Hemmings. The Descendants. Covina, Calif.?: Willow and Oak, 2010. Print.

Payne, Alexander, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, and Kaui Hart. Hemmings. The Descendants. Covina, Calif.?: Willow and Oak, 2010. Print.

"A Site to Help You Learn More about Your Hawaiian Genealogy." Welcome to Hawaiian Roots A Site to Help You Learn More about Your Hawaiian Genealogy RSS. Web. 21 May 2014.

Expository Essay- Hawaii's Last Hope

Healy Crews

Ms. Romano

4 AP English, 6th Period

21 May 2014

Hawaii’s Last Hope

The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings goes beyond detailing the issues of a man dealing with death and the raising of his children to describe the racial tension that has plagued Hawaii for centuries. When Matt King has to decide between selling his family’s acres of unblemished Kauai land or preserving it and protecting the Hawaii that his ancestor’s knew, he ends up also caught in the crossfire of those who want to make money from the sale, and those who feel that parts of Hawaii should remain unindustrialized. His conflict represents the racial tensions in Hawaii, which began when Captain Cook first stepped onto Kauai’s shores. As it turns out, Hawaii isn’t the peaceful set of islands it seems to be. Instead, underlying tensions based on socio-economic and racial differences remain a major issue.

Before Hawaii was annexed into the United States, the islands had their own government and and natives were very successful. Today “Native Hawaiians [...] have been pushed to the margins. And it's not a nice place to be [...] Those margins include high incarceration levels, very little land ownership and poor education” (NPR). Matt King is a direct descendant of the royal family of Hawaii, but also of an American, which upsets many Hawaiians, who don’t feel he deserves to control their land. This puts him in a tough position, because on top of his mixed heritage, he also has a lot of money, which makes it hard for native Hawaiians to identify and sympathize with him. The same issues of land ownership, race, and income haunt real life Hawaii too.

Like his ancestor, Princess Kaiulani, Matt King represents a “last hope” for Hawaii. That hope is for Hawaii to return to a beautiful and independent nation, where Native Hawaiians have power and freedom. In the years before Hawaii’s annexation “keeping European powers out of Hawaii became a principal foreign policy goal” for the royal family (US History). When that failed, Hawaiians turned to Kaiulani, who “became the first member of the Hawaiian royalty to receive the kind of training traditionally given to the children of European monarchs” (Hawaiian Roots). Despite her European-like upbringing and Scottish father, Kaiulani remained loyal to old Hawaii and remained anti-annexation until her death. Matt King lived in a similar way, with all of the privilege that comes from being part of a wealthy white family, but the love for Hawaii that came from growing up Hawaiian. When King decides to keep the land he’s restoring a piece of old Hawaii and giving back a tiny bit of power to the frustrated natives, which is what makes him the second “last hope” for Hawaii. 

The issues in Hawaii do go beyond arguments over the preservation and ownership of land. Soci-economic and racial tensions are deep seeded in Hawaiian life, because of the anger Hawaiians felt over annexation. However, Hemmings is saying that as long as there are people who care about preserving the nature and cultures of Hawaii, there is always hope that one day Hawaii can be the peaceful group of islands that it is meant to be. 

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

I decided to research Hawaiian history for my project, because I noticed in The Descendants that Kaui Hart Hemmings makes the setting, Hawaii, a major part of the story. Once I realized this, I also noticed Hemmings hinting at racial tensions, so I decided to research the history of racial tension in Hawaii, specifically between Americans and Native Hawaiians. I quickly found that as diverse as Hawaii is, it still has a lot of problems with discrimination between groups of people. 

My process for the multi-genre paper was basically to brainstorm what I could do with different genres and how I could use them, then narrow my list of genres down and make drafts of them. I ended up with a poem from two-viewpoints, which I think works well with the two-sided conflict I researched. The two voices are of a native hawaiian and of a newer Hawaiian, according to a native (In other words, the type of person that old Hawaiians think white Hawaiians are). I also wrote a newspaper article, in which I made up interviews with various Hawaiians, showing the tension and anger surrounding issues of land ownership and the real reasons behind these issues. Then, a map of Hawaii, with one half showing the modern tourist and the other showing old Hawaii and the royal family (I found that this is a hawaii which many natives want to go back to). I created Matt King’s desk, which shows the internal struggle of someone who is torn between loyalty to his ancestors /old Hawaii and love for his cousins, who want the money from the land sale. I designed his desk, which has pro/ con lists, reminders, notes, and a printed newspaper article, all projections of his internal struggle. This is significant because his struggle is representative of the struggle between old Hawaiians and the current culture of Hawaii. After I finished all of my genres and came up with my golden thread, I added one more genre, an obituary for Princess Kaiulani, so I would have something from the past too.

My golden thread was the phrase “last hope” and the image of Princess Kaiulani. This phrase refers to the last princess of Hawaii, Princess Kaiulani, whom Hawaiian’s called “our last hope.” I realized that Matt King is also a last hope, because he holds the last piece of untouched land that belonged to the Hawaiian monarchy. His decision to keep and protect the land brings hope to the people of Hawaii that their islands still belong to them. King also begins to reduce racial and socio-economic tensions, bringing Hawaii together, when he decides that preserving a bit of old Hawaii is more important than making money.

Healy Crews

Descendants blog #2

I decided to do my project on Hawaiian history, because I think it will help me understand more layers of the main character's conflict. Specifically, I want to research the history of native Hawaiian and European/American tensions. Captain Cook was the first to discover Hawaii for the Europeans, but centuries before that Polynesians inhabited the islands. The original Hawaiians had their own caste system and governments, and by 1810 King Kamehameha I had united the islands under one rule. The Hawaiian monarchy ended when the United States annexed Hawaii, and many islanders weren't happy about this at all. 

I want to look into the motives behind the United State's annexation of Hawaii further. I read that part of the reason American's wanted Hawaii was for naval bases during the war with Spain, which native Hawaiians probably weren't too excited about. I think the Hawaiian's opinions about annexation will end up as the main part of my project, because Matt King, in The Descendants is often criticized by other Hawaiian's for not being fully Hawaiian, but deciding the fate of a huge portion of Hawaiian land. 

Today and when The Descendants takes place, there is still a lot of racial tension in Hawaii. An article on NPR.com says that there are now high rates of incarceration, little land ownership, and poor education for native Hawaiians. This creates conflict between the natives and others who arrived later. So, even though Hawaii is incredibly diverse, tensions are high between all of the ethnicities on the islands. Knowing this, I now notice how often Kaui Hart Hemmings mentions the race of characters. In fact, almost every character is introduced by a racial description. 

The main character of the story being part Hawaiian and part American is significant, because it determines how other characters feel about him and also how he identifies himself. Ultimately, his mixed heritage also play a role in King’s decision about his family’s land (he chooses to preserve the land and help maintain Hawaii’s natural beauty instead of selling to any American businessmen, who would turn the land into golf courses or hotels). I think there is enough information online about Hawaiian/ American history and conflict to do my project well. I have a few good sources already. It’s harder to find sources that explain the Hawaiian’s opinion about annexation and other incidents, but I’m sure I can find some. I think this will be an interesting topic to learn more about, and I’m excited to show the layers of Hawaii’s history with different genres. 

Descendants Blog #1

So far, Kaui Hart Hemmings' The Descendants interests me, because it shows the way a family reacts to tragedy and how it changes them. The story begins with narrator, Matt King, in his wife's hospital room (she's been in a coma for almost a month). He comments that its hard to mourn in a place like Hawaii, which begins the juxtaposition of beautiful surroundings with the hardships that the kings face. Hemmings hints at trouble in King's marriage and family life, which I'm guessing sets up an opportunity for him to become a better father and move on with life after his wife dies. 

Hemmings does a great job of introducing the King family and the problems that they face (Matt is worried about his parenting of his youngest daughter, Scottie, and, his oldest daughter, Alexandra's drug addiction; he also suspects his wife was having an affair before her coma). I’m really interested in the family dynamics and the underlying tension between family members that Hemmings hints at. I don’t know how I would do a project on this, but I think it would be interesting to do. There are already lot of things about the book interest me (the setting, how death/coma affects the family, public vs. private lives, etc.), so I have a lot of other options for my final project, too. 

Hemmings also introduces the underlying conflict between “real” Hawaiians and white Hawaiians. King is part native Hawaiian and part white, but looks white, so he thinks that other native Hawaiians look down on him. King’s situation is even more tension filled, because he is in control of, and about to sell, a huge portion of untouched Hawaiian land, which upsets many islanders. 

I started to research Hawaiian history, in case I want to make that the focus of my project. In The Descendants, Matt King says that his family has owned the piece of land that he is selling since 1810, and I just found that that’s when King Kamehameha I united the islands, making them one kingdom. I want to find out more about when Americans came to Hawaii, because I think that could help me understand the King’s background better.

I’m really excited to finish this book. I think I will be able to come up with a good project from it. I’ll probably do something about family dynamics or how people change under and cope with hardships, but my favorite thing about the book is the setting, so I might try to come up with something having to do with Hawaii instead. I think the history of Hawaii would be interesting to research, and it would make the history of the King family more clear, which could help me better understand the tensions between the different types of Hawaiians in the story.