Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Whale Rider, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Humans and Nature
Maori Identity
Gender and Power
Familial Love
Summary
Analysis
The ancient bull whale leads his herd deeper and deeper into the sea. The females sing about love and unity but worry about the ancient whale’s injuries. His wife, the old mother whale, asks about the person on his back, and he responds, “I am carrying my lord, Paikea.” While he directs the young warrior whales to keep guard, the women wonder whether tiny Kahu could really be Paikea.
The ancient whale’s distress finally gives way to joy: he has waited centuries to reunite with Paikea and rebuild the long-broken ancestral bond between whales and humans. In this sense, his decision to go to Whangara was the right one, even if much of his herd died in the process. Still, in his excitement, he fails to see that Kahu is not actually Paikea, and this raises the question of whether he can still be a competent leader to his herd.
Themes
Remembering Paikea, the old mother kindly says that Kahu doesn't look like him. Maybe the girl could be Paikea’s descendant, she suggests—his final spear. And if Kahu really is the final spear, the mother delicately points out, then she must return to the land to fulfill her destiny of rejuvenating it. The ancient whale remembers Paikea throwing the final spear, realizes that his wife is right, and starts wondering about fate. Realizing that his destiny is intertwined with those of Kahu and Whangara as a whole, he announces that the herd must go back to the surface and take Kahu home. The rest of the herd agrees.
The old mother whale’s relationship with the ancient whale is an interesting foil for Nanny Flowers’s relationship to Koro Apirana. On the one hand, their roles in the community power structure are similar: both women are their husbands’ trusted advisors, but ultimately, they have little power of their own. On the other hand, while Koro Apirana almost never listens to Nanny Flowers—who lashes out in response—the old mother whale persuades the ancient whale by approaching him with tact and sympathy. Her theory that Kahu is the final spear not only promises to save Kahu’s life, but also answers the crucial question of Kahu’s relationship to Kahutia Te Rangi. If she is truly the final spear—Kahutia Te Rangi’s precious last gift to his people, which he has withheld until the crucial moment when they truly need it—then this explains how she can have the whale rider’s powers without fully reincarnating him.
Themes
