Blood Quantum 2 - Seminar Post

Blood Quantum 2 Critical Response

What issue/theme is being addressed?

Issue of loss of culture is one of the main themes being addressed in the story. In the text we can see that Hawaiian culture is being lost. The voice of the poem is firstly judging someone for being one sixteenth Hawaiian feeling superior in the fact that he/she is a third and therefore more Hawaiian. However, as the poem continues it becomes apparent that although being third Hawaiian the speaker is lacking in knowledge of the culture being unable to speak the language and not being able to understand about heritage of genealogy. The speaker goes on to explain why he is unable to speak Hawaiian claiming that the older generations of her family were looked down upon for speaking Hawaiian. The speaker ends with “no one can tell who is Hawaiian now days, yeah”. This feels like it may relate to the Hawaiian culture being lost with people unable to distinguish between who is Hawaiian and who is not.

What is the overall emotion/tone of the poem?

The overall tone and emotion in the poem is generally a negative one. It is set out as if it is a conversation between two speakers. The speaker seems to go through the five stages of loss and grief (Ross, 1969).

Stage One and Two Denial and Anger

The speaker whose voice is the only one heard throughout the poem seems to be very hostile towards the beginning  who he is talking to and it sounds like he is judging who he is talking to.

“Wat? You Hawaiian, you no look like?

One sixteent… In yaw small toe?”

He seems aggressive towards who is speaking to cover up the fact that he himself has lost his Hawaiian culture

Stage three – Bargaining

He seems to change a little when he learns that the other speaker is able to speak Hawaiian and is knowledgeable in the culture the tone changes. The speaker becomes more defensive trying to defend why he is unable to speak Hawaiian referring to his family’s mistreatment

“dey wen use Hawaiian when dey like talk stink about my mudda dem”

Stage four depression

After this he exclaims

“Wow, you can talk stink about us too now”

He seems to have lost all his aggression and now seems to think of himself somewhat lower than who is talking to.

Stage five – Acceptance

From here he seems to reach a resolution that being Hawaiian may not be based solely on what you know or how you look like but rather what you consider yourself.

Language of the text

The language of the text seems to be Hawaiian pidgin English a common form of English which is commonly spoken in Hawaii (Stewart, 2001). This is effective in the poem as it relates closely to modern day Hawaii and the themes of the poem. The speaker seems to be a representation of Hawaiian people and their feelings. The two people in the conversation are both part Hawaiian so it seems fitting that the language used in the poem is in neither Hawaiian nor English but rather a combination of both.