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