Storyline/Plot• Structure – This novel has 3 parts: 1 The Prologue which

introduces the story; 2 The majority of the story is told by Uncle Rawiri looking back over the past 8 years; and 3 The Epilogue which generally wraps up the loose ends.

• Your Task – Put these events in the correct order and place on the graph below.

Prologue/Intro

Rising ActionClimax

Denouement

Events:1 Paikea distributes his mauri in Aotearoa.2 Kahu dives for the stone and is helped by the dolphins.3 The ancient whale strands himself at Whangara.4 The second whale stranding occurs.5 Kahutia te Rangi, the girl, is born.6 The ancient whale is sad and heads south.7 Rawiri goes to overseas for four years.8 Koro Apirana doesn’t turn up to the prizegiving.9 Kahu becomes the whale rider and saves the ancient whale and her

people.10 Koro tells Kahu he loves her and that she’s the best mokopuna in the

world.

Storyline/Plot - Responses• Describe the opening of the novel.

Explain how effective it is as a beginning.

• Describe the most important event in the novel. Explain why it was important. Try to link your response to themes and/or character(s).

Characters• When you study a fictional text, it is important to

understand the characters. In this novel the central character is Kahu, however, there are other important characters.

• Your Task - Draw up a table with four columns like the one below. Include all the key characters: Koro Apirana, Kahu, Nanny Flowers, Uncle Rawiri.

Character Motivation and Conflicts

Key Relation-ships

Key Quotations

Role Their most important event

Koro

Kahu

Character – Koro Apirana• Koro’s character changes a great deal throughout

the novel.

• Your task: Draw a picture of Koro Apirana on your page. Draw a line down the middle of him. – On the left side write BEFORE and list all the

characteristics he displays at the beginning of the novel, before he is willing to acknowledge the truth.

– On the other side write AFTER and list all the characteristics he develops.

– Underneath write HOW and list all the people and situations which motivate him to make these changes to his behaviour and view of himself.

– Include quotes as evidence.

Characters - Responses• Put yourself in one of these situations

and write about how you feel and why you feel that way. Don’t concentrate on the action so much. It’s the feelings that matter in this task:– Kahu in Chapter 17– Koro Apirana in Chapter 17

Theme• When a writer writes a novel they usually

want to explore certain ideas or communicate a particular message to the reader.

• Here are some of the ideas dealt with in The Wale Rider: leadership; tradition and change; cultural awareness; expectations and disappointments; cross-generational differences; working together; female empowerment; gender stereotypes and discrimination; feelings of achievement; and nature and the natural world.

• Your task: Choose three of these ideas. For each one construct a mind map. Place the idea in the centre and around it describe the different ways it is explored in the novel. Then draw branches out to examples of each of the ways it is explored. The examples can be quotes or events.

Themes - Responses• Agree or Disagree? Explain yourself:

– Families are our greatest asset.– The generation gap is growing.– The young can learn a lot from their elders.– Heroes are even more important in the 21st

century.• What did you learn about …

– Human behaviour,– Life,

– Social issues or problemsby reading this novel?

Language Use• Witi Ihimaera’s style in The Whale Rider is

characterised by the use of: – A prologue and epilogue– Te Reo– Humour– Contrasting great happiness with sadness– Mixing mythology and reality (magical realism)– Changing narrative technique – story tellers– Contrasting regular people and events with

sophisticated language

Language Use - Responses• What is the purpose of the prologue?• Why does Ihimaera use Te Reo?• Rawiri and Nanny Flowers are humorous characters. Prove it!• Why has Ihimaera used humour?• Kahu’s birth is a mix of sadness and happiness – how and why?• Rawiri’s time overseas is also mix of sadness and happiness –

how and why?• Kahu’s childhood is another mix of sadness and happiness – how

and why?• Kahu becoming the whale rider and disappearing out to sea on

Paikea’s whale is also sad but happy. What’s happy about this event and what is sad?

• Why do you think Ihimaera chose to use Rawiri as the narrator for a big chunk of this novel?

• Magical realism is defined as ‘a style of literature that depicts mytholical subjects in a realistic manner’. What aspects of this story is an example of magical realism?

• How does magical realism link to Maori culture and/or beliefs?

Language Use- Symbolism• A symbol is something that represents

something else. For example, a what flag symbolises surrender, the silver fern and the kiwi symbolise NZ and NZers.

Your task:• Draw 2 of the following objects and around

each note your thoughts on what ideas it symbolises and examples/quotes involving it from the novel: the whales, the dolphins, Koro’s bone carving, or Papua New Guinea.