Sons for the Return Home

Sons for the Return Home

This book is an auto-biography on Albert Wendt's family who moves to New Zealand from Samoa in 1960's.  He moves to New Zealand when he is just a child with his brother, mother and father. They live in the Wellington area as that's where his uncle is staying.

In this book, a lot of issues are addressed, such as how the 'papalagi' and the 'others' interacted with each other, how people on the outside saw New Zealand, how kids were raised, and how gays were perceived to be.

This book shows that there was a lot of racism back then when people from the island were considered to be 'dirty'. There is one bit in the book that I found quite sad, when the boys are helping the old man at the rubbish dump and later on that old man shouts at them and tells them to leave him alone. I did think to myself that the old man must have been confused and unaware of his surroundings as he referred to them as the "nazi". It is also at the same time very unbelievable that kids could treat an older man like this. 

Discrimination is also shown when the boys brother is being hated on in school just because he is not studious like him.

The way gays were seen was really disturbing. The man became sick at the sight of two men making love and his wife started crying that the thought of it. People weren't educated on freedom and that they can choose they own partners, so they saw it as a very wrong and sinful thing to do.

The way the book was structured was very confusing for me when I started to read it and found it quite boring, however as I carried on I found it quite interesting and I thought Wendt was very bold and brave to present his life this way to the world. 

(need to add more)