Tyler Szabo
Dr. Ellis
Post-Colonial Lit
10/14/15
Sex as
Interpersonal/Social Transcendence and as Power
Sex is at the forefront of Sons for the Return Home in many different forms. These forms are not only unique to the
cultures presented in the novel, both New Zealander and Samoan, but also to the
individuals. How each group views sex
not only reflects the views of the group/individual, but it also reflects their
goals and hopes for the future.
The New Zealanders view cross ethnic sex in two primary
ways, as purity and as domination. Sex,
as a means of procreation, is seemingly looked down upon by the population when
it comes to cross ethnic sex. This seems
assumed from the beginning of the book, but we don’t get our first real taste
of it until the girlfriend brings the main character to the pakeha party. After dancing for a bit they return to their
drinks and a pakeha male asks the narrator’s girlfriend to dance. She says no and when he inquires why, only to
learn that she was dating a Samoan, he is disappointed with her and disgusted
with him. Though this is simply the view
of one, it seems to be the belief of the majority. The other major belief about sex is that of
subjugation, in this case subjugating Samoan men with pakeha women. This is evident very early on while our
narrator is in high school. His first
time was after a dance and a pakeha female had sex with him, only to gloat to
her friends the next day and dehumanize him as a prize she won. This is also seen after the narrator has his
first mini “break up” with his soon to be girlfriend, before he decides to
commit to her. While on the bus a pakeha
woman brushes up against him and he follows her to her apartment where she
gives him a strip tease, before having sex with him, and jests that he loves
pakeha women and would be more than happy to fuck her. Though this is an act of validation for the pakeha
woman, it is validation through having power over the narrator, even if it was
just pity sex for him. I believe these
two beliefs about cross ethnic sex are very much intertwined, as there is power
directly derived from having this dominating form of sex, but also an indirect
power by saying that even though you are worth having sex with, having a cross
ethnic baby is out of the picture, thus dehumanizing the Samoans. Samoans actually have similar beliefs, but
for some different reasoning.
The Samoans in New Zealand have cross ethnic sex
primarily as a defense and as a form of validation. The defensive side of cross ethnic sex
derives from the dominating idealisms of the pakeha. The narrator, after being dominated by his
first pakeha woman and dehumanized, decides to preemptively have sex with the
other pakeha women that ogle him in order to gain the upper hand and ignore
them, thus dehumanizing them and not the other way around. This is also reflected in the idea of not
becoming connected with other individuals in any way, especially in love, as
the narrator talks about after being questioned as to why he didn’t help the
injured man who was thrown out of a car.
The other belief in cross ethnic sex is doing it as a form of
validation, which I also find as a reaction to pakeha sex beliefs. The narrator, while at Oriental Bay, recalls
talking to his brother about his conquest over a sun tanning pakeha woman by
gloating that he had a permanent sun tan all the way to the tip. By pakeha women lusting over the men because they have Samoan features, it
makes them proud of their Samoan heritage, when in actuality the women are most
likely having sex with them as a conquest and couldn’t care less about
them. These may be the majority, but
there is a young minority that has a more positive light of sex.
Though still products of their environment, there is a
young minority, as expressed through the main couple, that sees and uses sex as
a way of transcending ethnic boundaries created by society. By having sex with others because of a
physical attraction or because you love the other individual, it negates the
importance of ethnicity for these young individuals. This is not to say that the main couple is
color blind, far from it. They not only
see ethnicity, but they seek to understand each other through both physical
oneness and through communication. This
is in contrast to the majority, which seeks to use the opposing ethnicity
through sex instead of using it as a common language for communication. This is best stated after the narrator’s girlfriend
grabs his cock and saying, “It’s gentle and understanding; it talks very
fluently and it can overcome all racial barriers. Or any other barrier that
needs overcoming” (65). This statement,
and as an extension the cross ethnic views sex according to each group, shows
us the different views of the future and how the future may turn out.
It is obvious that the old blood of society, The New
Zealanders and Samoans, do not seek to progress society in a mutual fashion,
they either want to progress it in their favor or keep to their own
entirely. The new generation, not all of
them but a significant minority, is where a hope for a better tomorrow lies,
which comes through their sexual openness.
Frivolity in and of itself is not an automatic pathway to mutual
progress, but sexual desire as seen through our main character’s relationship,
is. To choose to become one with someone
with a time without the worries and opinions of the world allows a one on one
connection between the two people with a common “language” that transcends
every barrier. It is in this erotic
faith in one another that we may achieve a oneness with each other and progress
mutually instead of selfishly.
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