In my opinion this story was extremely heartfelt. This text made me feel disappointed in the older generation as they have paved the path of judgment and hate for their children and their children’s children which often happens not only as shown in the text but also in the world we wake up to everyday. It’s everywhere you see, elders imposing their fixed beliefs on our generation for example, in our generation being homosexual is normalised however the older generations typically have a fixed belief that it’s not right. This is an example of the older generation pushing their own beliefs onto their children which made me extremely disappointed.
This text shows inter-generational hate. children perceive their parents as role models so when they see them oppressing the servants, the children are taught to follow suit. On page nine the children were described doing this , “Emmie swallowed in a very meaning way and nodded to Isabel as she’d seen her mother do on those occasions.” This quote teaches us about our own human nature, how easily influenced our children can be based on our actions and how it can impact the generations after you. We are indirectly shown the importance of what we show around children as the effect can become hugely impacted.
My favourite part of the text would be when Kezia went against her peers’ opinions and openly invited the Kelveys to play with her doll house. I was fond of this part of the text because Kezia broke this generationally passed down hate and came to her own personal ideology about how to treat people even if they are born “ different “ or have different circumstances to her “ normal “. Although Kezia did not believe she made much of a difference, the Kelveys were overjoyed by the kindness shown, as seen in page 13 when Our else showed her rare smile after seeing the little lamp. This rare smile of our else expresses how much something small to you could be something huge to another. On this page it shows us that we can break the cycle and change our ways. This part of the text teaches us that we are not just a product of our environment but a product of our own choices.
I, as a teenager enjoyed reading this text however I would recommend this to an older crowd. This text has lessons meant for later on in life like the effect of what you do and what you show your children aswell as not following trends but creating them like how Kezia did on page 10 through 11. These lessons are important to all ages however I believe this text would help the older crowd more so than teenagers.
In today’s society we are progressively becoming more open to “ different “ or “ unique “ beliefs, just having a growth mindset when it comes to new things. In recent times we have normalized speaking Maori openly and proudly aswell as speaking out against racism or even micro racism. A great example of this change would be the march from Cape Reinga to Wellington for Toitu te Tiriti, the text reminded me of the march as in the text it showed Kezia being open and proud of inviting the Kelveys to look at her playhouse just like how NewZealand was being open and proud of defending the treaty even when there were people who were heavily opposing their protest.
