Typee · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide clarifications on Polynesian terms such as 'Kanaka,' 'Arva,' and 'Artua,' discuss the sacred color white among the Marquesans, cite historical sources on Mendanna's voyage, critique the superficial civilization of the S
What happens
The endnotes provide clarifications on Polynesian terms such as 'Kanaka,' 'Arva,' and 'Artua,' discuss the sacred color white among the Marquesans, cite historical sources on Mendanna's voyage, critique the superficial civilization of the Sandwich Islands, and explain the apparent contradiction in the honesty of islanders toward each other versus their thievery from foreigners.
Themes in this chapter
Colonialism and Its Effects
The endnotes critique the impact of European contact on the Sandwich Islands, describing how chiefs adopt foreign luxuries while the common people suffer from disease and starvation, illustrating the destructive consequences of colonialism.
Cultural Relativism
The notes explain that the islanders' thievery from foreigners may be understood as a form of reprisal for the 'wholesale forays' made by European visitors, urging readers to reconsider their moral judgments through the lens of cultural context.
Key passages
“The word Kanaka is at the present day universally used in the South Seas by Europeans to designate the Islanders. In the various dialects of the principal groups it is simply a sexual designation applied to the males; but it is now used by the natives in their intercourse with foreigners in the same sense in which the latter employ it.”
Today, Europeans across the South Seas call the islanders 'Kanaka,' though in native dialects it originally referred only to males; now, islanders use the term the same way when speaking with foreigners.
Clarifies the origin and modern usage of the term 'Kanaka.'
“The strict honesty which the inhabitants of nearly all the Polynesian Islands manifest toward each other, is in striking contrast with the thieving propensities some of them evince in their intercourse with foreigners. It would almost seem that, according to their peculiar code of morals, the pilfering of a hatchet or a wrought nail from a European, is looked upon as a praiseworthy action. Or rather, it may be presumed, that bearing in mind the wholesale forays made upon them by their nautical visitors, they consider the property of the latter as a fair object of reprisal.”
Polynesians are remarkably honest with each other but often steal from foreigners, which might be seen as a moral code that approves taking from Europeans—or, more likely, as justified retaliation for the large-scale thefts committed by European sailors.
Explains the apparent contradiction in islanders' honesty and thievery as a form of reprisal.