The Whale Rider: Writer's Methods and Techniques (Edexcel IGCSE English Literature): Revision Note

In your exam question on The Whale Rider, examiners will assess your ability to demonstrate a close knowledge and understanding of the text and engage with the text in a personal and informed way. This means that you will be required to write about how you believe Ihimaera creates meaning and conveys ideas across the novel. 

There is no assessment on language analysis as such. Examiners are looking for an exploration of how Ihimaera’s overall aims were achieved. To achieve his aims, Witi Ihimaera uses several methods and techniques in The Whale Rider:

• Bildungsroman

• Parallel narratives  

• Structure and setting

• Symbolism and magic realism 

Bildungsroman

• A bildungsroman is a genre of novel that relates the protagonist’s psychological and moral growth

• The Whale Rider is a bildungsroman as the protagonist, Kahu, undergoes a personal journey of self-discovery

• The structure of a bildungsroman portrays the protagonist’s challenges as they mature:

  • Typically, the protagonist experiences emotional suffering at the beginning of the story

  • In The Whale Rider, Kahu is shunned by her grandfather, the village chief, as soon as she is born, and soon after, she loses her mother

• In the rising action, the protagonist embarks on a journey to find their identity: 

  • After her mother dies, Kahu is raised away from Whangara by her maternal grandmother

  • The protagonist typically goes against societal norms: Kahu is a female successor to the original male whale rider

• Kahu’s development and transformation is marked by her consistent determination to define her own identity and history:

  • Her ability to communicate with whales shows her natural gift 

  • In her forgiveness of Koro's behaviour and her understanding of Māori culture, we see good leadership qualities emerging 

  • Kahu’s maturity and empathy are clear in her forgiving attitude to Koro

• A bildungsroman usually concludes with the significant personal development of the protagonist:

  • In the case of The Whale Rider, this is the inevitability of Kahu’s claim to her birthright

Parallel narratives

• Ihimaera employs parallel narratives as we hear from both the humans and the whales

• The human story is narrated by Rawiri, Kahu’s uncle, which creates distance and a mythlike quality to Kahu’s character:

  • Rawiri’s narration is reflective, and told as an observer in the past tense

  • His colloquial language may represent the modern world

  • It identifies Rawiri as a native Māori close to his tribe

• The whale’s perspective is told by an omniscient third-person narrator:

  • Italicised, poetic (magical) language describes Māori legend

  • Narrating from the whale’s perspective reflects Kahu’s communication with whales and a bond between humans and animals 

• Contrasting styles of narration signify conflicts between the past and present 

• In the final chapter, both narrative styles are combined, symbolising the newfound harmony 

Structure and setting 

• The novel is divided into seasons to show a year’s progression in the life of the whale pod and the tribe 

• The seasonal structure presents the inevitable passing of time, warning of the urgency of ecological crisis

• By beginning with the Māori creation story, Ihimaera presents this as a focal theme

• The human story starts with Kahu’s birth to connect her to the rider, Kahuti Te Rangi:

  • This foreshadows her significant role in the tribe

• Ihimaera makes use of motifs such as the call of “karanga mai” (call out to us):

  • Chapters end with the traditional Māori prayer "Hui e, haumi e, taiki e” (Join together and let it be done)

  • This underlines humanity’s connection with nature, as well as the integral nature of the Māori tradition 

  • Kahu’s life mirrors that of the whale rider Kahuti Te Rangi (she leaves home and returns)

• Ihimaera alternates his setting between the whale pod’s migration in the Southern Ocean, and the human family in Whangara, New Zealand:

  • Using two settings links the human world with the natural world 

• The novel opens and closes with symbolic unity between humans and whales, suggesting a restored but hard-earned harmony

Symbolism and magical realism

• Ihimaera makes use of symbols, magical motifs, supernatural characters, and mystical settings to represent the power of the Māori culture: 

  • The symbolic creation story shows connections between the human and the supernatural world

  • The “spear” that Paikea leaves behind may connect the past to the future as it awaits a time when it will be needed most 

  • The whale song symbolises the Māori spirituality and heritage

• By combining the real with the magical, Ihimaera is able to symbolise the conflicts between cultural traditions and a changing world:

  • Koro’s concern with the broken “oneness” between humans and nature is amid struggles to maintain a pure culture in a modern world

  • The bull whale represents ancestral wisdom and links to the past

• Kahu symbolises the Māori legend and links reality and fantasy, such as when she communicates with the sea creatures:

  • The “stone” Kahu brings back from the ocean symbolises and foreshadows her destiny as future whale rider

  • Another key symbol is Kahu’s “birth cord”

  • When Koro refuses to acknowledge the sacred burial of the umbilical cord because Kahu is a girl, Nanny Flowers buries it in defiance

  • Ihimaera shows the struggle with traditional, yet prejudicial, customs