Under the day moon
Under the Day Moon (English original title The Bone People ) is a New Zealand novel by Keri Hulme from 1984. The book is about how three New Zealanders find their place in society, and shows how the Māori and the Pākehā should live together. The book received the Booker Prize in 1985 .
action
The book begins with the isolated Kerewin meeting the mute Simon. Although she wants to be alone again as soon as possible, the bad weather and Simon's injuries keep the woman from letting him outside. In the following, Simon visits her again and again and Kerewin befriends his adoptive father Joe. Kerewin also researches Simon's past, which is in the dark. During this time, Joe hits Simon twice, after the first time Kerewin becomes suspicious and after the second time she finds out that the father is abusing his son. To prevent this in the future, she goes on vacation with the two of them, where there is a fight between the two adults, which Kerewin, who studied Japanese martial arts, wins. The two agree that Joe Simon can only hit with Kerewin's approval. Although Kerewin still doesn't trust Joe, everything seems to be going well until Simon makes a cruel discovery, he wants to talk to Kerewin about it, but she doesn't want to listen, after all, Simon destroys her beloved guitar. He continues his work of destruction in the city and is eventually brought back to Joe by the police. Kerewin and Joe decide that Simon must be punished. However, Simon now defends himself for the first time and both he and Joe have to go to the hospital. Now the second part of the book begins, in which the three are separated, Joe goes to prison, Kerewin is looking for a place to die because she has felt for a long time that she has cancer, and Simon remains in the hospital for the time being. Both Joe and Kerewin will regain physical and mental health, with the Māori culture playing a major role. Simon manages to make it clear to everyone around him that he wants to go home, which he thinks is where Kerewin and Joe are. So it finally comes to a reunion of the three.
author
What is striking about the book is that there are many parallels between the author Keri Hulme and the main character Kerewin. Both live very lonely, also Kerewin seems like Keri Hulme asexual being.
Original title
The English original title The Bone People refers to a New Zealand phrase, "back to the bones", which means "back to the roots", "bones" also refers to the ancestors or their graves.
literature
- Stephen D. Fox: Barbara Kingsolver and Keri Hulme: Disability, Family, and Culture. Gallaudet University, Washington, DC Summer 2004, pp. 405-420.
- Gay Wilentz: Instruments of Change: Healing Cultural Dis-ease in Keri Hulme's "The Bone People". In: Literature and Medicine. 1995, pp. 127-145.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Keri Hulme's Bone People Wins Booker Prize. In: New Zealand History Online , accessed April 4, 2010.