Character Analysis Of Pua In Ola Na Iwi

When one observes a profile picture, one tends to see optimistic, attractive traits to showcase that they have their life together. Everyone tends to parade their best self, a disguise of sorts. Long ago Hawaiian bones were stolen from their sacred grave sites and distributed across Europe, America, and other locations. In America, the bones were required to be returned to their origins, but not in Europe. Within in the play, Ola Na Iwi by Victoria Kneubuhl, a character named Kawehi who’s from Hawaii is visiting Berlin, Germany; she steals the bones out of a museum. A suspicious co-worker, Pua, attempts to pilfer the bones back to the Berlin museum while representing Hawaii. Pua is less worthy because her facade of being a Hawaiian allows her …show more content…
Pua and her cousin, Mina, were at a party discussing the disappearance of the bones and Mina’s friend, Fatu, appears. Upon hearing that Fatu is a Samoan, she assumes that he had an athletic scholarship and that was the sole reason he went to school. Pua exclaims profoundly, “You know, it’s just wonderful how many scholarships there are available now for Pacific Islanders. Especially if you’re interested in athletics.” (Page 202). Pua fails to acknowledge that Fatu is actually a prince and that his mom is a renowned anthropologist. Pua assumes that the lone reason he went to college was to be on a sports team. Also that remark offends the Pacific Islanders meaning that they aren’t intelligent and the sole reason they go to college is to compete in sports. Furthermore, Pua isn’t concerned with connecting with humans, she just wishes to get her job of collecting the bones accomplished. She craved to have them back so badly that she failed to recognize a person, Fatu, and a whole civilization. Instead she recognized a label and asked the most basic, offensive question to those people. Pua is a racist to Fatu and the Pacific Islanders and failed to recognize them as …show more content…
The mana is a spiritual force that resides in the bones after one has deceased, and the living feel this energy and are attracted to it. Pua doesn’t sense the mana like the other characters within the play. One character describes that he didn’t comprehend why his girlfriend stole and concealed the bones. He explains, “…until I picked up the bones, until I had to carry them myself.” (Page 224). Pua has been around the bones and hasn’t felt its draw. A reason could be that she’s not in the right state of mind to make connections with the world. It could be her tirelessly being able to escalate her career and the willingness to rip down anything to achieve her goal. In addition to Pua’s lack of mana, her cousin, Mina, and Fatu are the investigators who are actually working with Kawehi. At the moment, Pua and her accomplice Gustav have an understanding that the investigators are on their side. Mina and Fatu are contriving a plan to switch the bones so that Pua can have the real ones and the fake ones are blown up. Pua is chiming in with questions and confirms that she’s in on the plan with a brisk, “See you then.” (Page 214). Pua covets for the bones back for herself to get in the good graces of the museum. She agrees to take the real bones and to deceive others such as Kawehi to confirm that they’re blown up. This