The major theme of this story from Patricia Grace is casual racism: the habit of using a racial descriptor (in this case the terms Maori and Pakeha) in a way that infers all members of an ethnic or cultural group share the same characteristics. Set in New Zealand, an indigenous university student visiting her home town for her sister’s wedding teaches the older girl a new “way of talking” when confronted with discriminatory or racist language. Other themes: cultural and individual identity; education as a force for social change; the courage to speak out, even if standing alone.
As illustrated in the story, casual racism can be quite unintentional, can reinforce both negative and positive stereotypes (They’re all so friendly and so natural and their house is absolutely spotless.), and fails to recognize individual diversity within a population. The protagonist’s neighbor takes this to an extreme by not even taking the trouble to learn the names of the indigenous workers she refers to.
Original Text / PDF (1,900 words)