The Bone People
The Bone People is a
novel by
Keri Hulme.
8-year-old Simon shows up at hermit Kerewin's tower on a dark and stormy night. Simon is mute, so is unable to explain his motives. When Simon's adoptive father Joe comes to collect him in the morning, Kerewin learns their unusual story. Simon was found washed up on the beach years earlier with no memory and very few clues as to his identity. Joe took him in and has been trying to raise him ever since. Joe describes Simon as a wild child, who does whatever he wants and has never been taught otherwise because, as is suspected by most but acutally known, Joe's parenting consists mainly of violent beatings. The three become a sort of family, visiting regularly, Joe and Kerewin drinking together and going on a beach holiday together. Kerewin makes Joe promise not to beat Simon anymore. Her influence seems to be having a positive effect. When
Kerewin discovers that she is suffering from cancer she shuts Joe and Simon out of her life without communicating with them, for fear of grieving them. Joe then beats Simon to within an inch of his life and is sentenced to prison. After Simon recovers he is sent to live in a foster home. When Joe gets out of jail he goes in search of his
Māori heritage, Simon wanders the country-side in search of Joe and Kerewin.
The title
The Bone People draws parallels between
Māori, who use bone extensively in art and tools, and the notion of the core or skeleton of a person: in the novel the characters are figuratively stripped to the bone.
Kerewin HolmesKerewin is reclusive artist who is running away from her past. The character's name seems intentionally similar to the author's. This could mean that the author wishes for some reason to draw parallels between herself and Kerewin. Kerewin also shares the author's appearance and lifestyle, but the character's realism and obvious flaws such as short-temperedness and
alcoholism suggest that Kerewin is not a
Mary Sue.
Kerewin is a powerful painter. She has suffered painter's block since having a lottery win, building her tower and falling out with her family. She doubts her value and her abilities because she can no longer paint.
Kerewin wants to help Simon discover his past, wants Joe to stop beating Simon and wants all other people to leave her alone. Kerewin is an unusual for a female character, having a strong desire for isolation and no difficulty in taking a dominant role where her sense of justice demands it.
Joe GillayleyJoe is the adoptive father of Simon. He is very intelligent and spiritual, but blinded in his judgement, particularly in relation to his raising of Simon, by his
alcoholism. Joe seems to both love and respect Kerewin, but also compete with her. He is deeply scarred by his wife's death. The book implies that this event was probably the source of Joe's alcoholism.
Simon P. GillayleySimon is a mute child who displays an immense interest in details of the world around him. He exhibits
kleptomania, and shows exceptional intelligence and talent in some areas whilst having an apparent inability to perceive others' emotions, perhaps suggestive of a type of
Autism such as
Asperger Syndrome.
Simon could be a reference to the diciple Simon Peter, who witnesses Jesus' revival of Jairus' daughter (Kerewin revives herself and is godlike) and was a fisherman (Simon was found washed upon the shore from the wreckage of a fishing boat.) The Christian explanation is evident in the tricephalos Kerewin creates portraying herself, Joe and Simon. Joe calls Simon
Himi or
Haimona, both
Māori translations of Simon.
Simon's judgement and understand of how to behave are poorly formed because his adoptive father Joe has placed him in a
double bind by beating him when he is bad and also for no reason at all.
Simon has a deep attachment to both Joe and Kerewin, but shows his love in odd ways because of his upbringing. Simon is isolated from others primarily by his inability to speak: others mistake his muteness for stupidity.
Isolation is one of the major themes of
The Bone People. Kerewin isolates herself from the world in her tower. Simon is isolated from the world by his inability to speak. Joe is isolated by his grief. Characters' motivations are shown to the reader through paragraphs that detail their thoughts, which serve to illustrate how their isolation leads to misunderstanding.
"This novel is unforgettably rich and pungent." -The New York Times Book Review
"A novel that is mysterious and violent, gentle and unsettling, compassionate and honest." -Los Angeles Times
"The most rapturously new fictional experience imaginable, reminding us of things in heaven and earth we too often forget or provincially ignore." -Houston Press
"An original, overwhelming, near-great work of literature."
-Washington Post Book World
This novel is set in the real world location of
South Island,
New Zealand, so will often mention real places or historical events. It also often mentions a race of people named the
Māori. Kerewin and Joe are both partially of Māori ethnicity, whereas Simon is
Pākehā (New Zealand European).
The Bone People won both the
Booker Prize for Fiction and the Pegasus Prize for Literature in
1985.
*1983, New Zealand, Spiral/Hodder & Stoughton ISBN 0 14 00.8922 5, First published in 1984, then in United States of America in 1985 by Louisiana State University Press, then in 1986 by Penguin Books, soft-cover
*http://www.postcolonialweb.org/nz/kerihulme/boneov.html
*http://www.bibliofemme.com/others/bonepeople.shtml
*http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Maori.html
*http://communication.students.rmit.edu.au/media/clare_oataway/BonePeople.bones.html
*http://www.constantreader.com/discussions/bonepeople.html
