Whangara Analysis in The Whale Rider

The Whale Rider is set in Whangara, a real Maori town on the northeastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Whangara was founded by the legendary Kahutia Te Rangi (Paikea), and it is located near the small city of Gisborne and author Witi Ihimaera’s hometown of Waituhi.

Whangara Quotes in The Whale Rider

The The Whale Rider quotes below are all either spoken by Whangara or refer to Whangara. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Karanga mai, karanga mai, karanga mai.

Related Characters: Kahutia Te Rangi / Paikea (speaker), The Ancient Bull Whale

Page Number and Citation: 6

Explanation and Analysis:

So the whale rider uttered a prayer over the wooden spear, saying, “Let this spear be planted in the years to come, for there are sufficient spear [sic] already implanted. Let this be the one to flower when the people are troubled and it is most needed.”

And the spear then leaped from his hands with gladness and soared through the sky. It flew across a thousand years. When it hit the earth, it did not change but waited for another hundred and fifty years to pass until it was needed. The flukes of the whale stroked majestically at the sky.

Related Characters: Kahutia Te Rangi / Paikea (speaker), Kahu , The Ancient Bull Whale

Related Symbols: The Last Spear

Page Number and Citation: 6-7

Explanation and Analysis:

Yes, people in the district vividly remember the stranding of the whales, because television and radio brought the event into our homes that evening. But there were no television cameras or radio newspeople to see what occurred in Whangara the following night. Perhaps it was just as well, because even now it all seems like a dream. Perhaps, also, the drama enacted that night was meant to be seen only by the tribe and nobody else. Whatever the case, the earlier stranding of whales was merely a prelude to the awesome event that followed, an event that had all the cataclysmic power and grandeur of a Second Coming.

Related Characters: Rawiri (speaker), The Ancient Bull Whale

Page Number and Citation: 108

Explanation and Analysis:

Whangara Term Timeline in The Whale Rider

The timeline below shows where the term Whangara appears in The Whale Rider. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...just had a daughter, Kahu. His grandfather Koro Apirana, the chief in their village of Whangara, is distraught. Koro Apirana’s wife, Nanny Flowers, cries and reassures her son on the phone.... (full context)

Rehua wants Kahu’s umbilical cord buried in Whangara. But Koro Apirana refuses to help, so Rawiri takes Nanny Flowers on his motorcycle to... (full context)

...Still, she remarks that Kahu’s birth cord and genealogy will inevitably bring her back to Whangara. (full context)

Whangara’s people descend from Kahutia Te Rangi, who traveled from the ancestral homeland of Hawaiki to... (full context)

When Kahu is almost two, she comes to Whangara for summer holidays and grows very attached to Koro Apirana. But he doesn’t love her... (full context)

Kahu returns to Whanghara a year later. All she wants to do is see Koro Apirana, whom Nanny Flowers... (full context)

...who got lost at sea. One such whale brought a major Maori ancestor, Paikea, to Whangara. But over time, humans forgot how to talk to whales and even started killing them. (full context)

When Kahu returns to Whangara the next summer, Koro Apirana isn’t nasty to her anymore—he’s just indifferent. He has found... (full context)

...another, he reveals that Kahu, now six, is returning to live with the family in Whangara. (But Koro Apirana still doesn’t love her.) Later, he writes about the importance of revitalizing... (full context)

Back in Whangara, Nanny Flowers makes fun of Rawiri for spending so long away. Then, seven-year-old Kahu gives... (full context)

With a thunderous sound, the whale rider and his whale “burst through the sea” near Whangara, where they have arrived after a long journey from Hawaiki. The whale starts to miss... (full context)

Back in Whangara, a young jogger sees a large herd of whales approaching the beach. Word spreads fast,... (full context)

...are traveling on the South Island and report that they are trying to return to Whangara as soon as they can. Rawiri tells Nanny Flowers not to let Kahu see the... (full context)

...all over New Zealand, but the equally strange events that occur the next day in Whangara do not. Koro Apirana and Porourangi fly back from the South Island, barely beating a... (full context)

...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... (full context)

Whangara Term Analysis

Whangara Quotes in The Whale Rider

Whangara Term Timeline in The Whale Rider