# XXXIII explained — Typee > Chapter companion for Typee by Herman Melville. ## What happens The narrator, still captive in the Typee valley, is visited again by Marnoo. Despite his hopes, Marnoo refuses to help him escape directly but suggests a plan: the narrator must flee alone at night to Pueearka, where Marnoo will take him by canoe to Nukuheva. The narrator attempts to sneak out at night but is repeatedly thwarted, especially by Kory-Kory. He grows increasingly despondent, contemplating his fate and the loved ones far away. Marheyo shows him sympathy, and the narrator finds solace in observing the old chief's quiet work and the three breadfruit trees. ## Themes in this chapter ### Freedom and Captivity The narrator's desperate attempts to escape and the constant surveillance by the Typees highlight his physical and psychological imprisonment. ### Taboo and Social Order Marnoo explains that the narrator is 'taboo' and cannot leave, illustrating how local customs restrict his movement. ### Colonialism and Its Effects Marnoo's warning that white men fear Typee reflects the broader colonial dynamics and the islanders' awareness of European encroachment. ## Character check-ins ### Narrator Desperate to escape, he devises a nighttime plan but fails due to constant surveillance. ### Marnoo Returns to the valley and suggests a risky escape plan, but refuses to directly intervene. ### Kory-Kory Thwarts the narrator's escape attempts by staying alert and placing water by his mat. ### Marheyo Shows deep sympathy for the narrator, pausing his work to fan him and gaze at him. ### Fayaway Lies beside the narrator during his periods of rest and solitude. ## Key lines > gloomily pondering over the fate which it appeared now idle for me to resist, when I thought of the loved friends who were thousands and thousands of miles from the savage island in which I was held a captive, when I reflected that my dreadful fate would forever be concealed from them, and that with hope deferred they might continue to await my return long after my inanimate form had blended with the dust of the valley⁠—I could not repress a shudder of anguish. The narrator broods on his hopeless captivity, imagining his distant loved ones waiting in vain for his return while his body decays in the valley. _Highlights the narrator's despair and the emotional weight of his isolation._ > It is strange how inanimate objects will twine themselves into our affections, especially in the hour of affliction. Even now, amidst all the bustle and stir of the proud and busy city in which I am dwelling, the image of those three trees seems to come as vividly before my eyes as if they were actually present, and I still feel the soothing quiet pleasure which I then had in watching hour after hour their topmost boughs waving gracefully in the breeze. The narrator reflects on how the three breadfruit trees became a source of comfort during his suffering, and their memory still brings him peace even in his current civilized life. _Illustrates the theme of finding solace in nature amid captivity._ > Me no hear you talk any more; by by Kanaka get mad, kill you and me too. No you see he no want you to speak at all?⁠—you see⁠—ah! by by you no mind⁠—you get well, he kill you, eat you, hang you head up there, like Happar Kanaka .⁠—Now you listen⁠—but no talk any more. Marnoo angrily warns the narrator that if he keeps talking, the Typees will kill and eat them both, and that the narrator's head might be displayed like those of the Happar. _Reveals the danger Marnoo perceives and the threat of cannibalism._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/typee_se/chapters/xxxiii - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/typee_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/typee_se/chapters