How does The Whale Rider fit into the coming of age stages or hero cycle?
Niki Coro’s The Whale Rider fit the stages of hero cycle through its protagonist Paikea. The story is set in the east coast of New Zealand where the Maori people live. Paikea’s brother was supposed to be the next tribe chief but he dies during birth along with their mother and Paikea is born. Their family is very upset and sad about both mother and son’s death specially Paikea’s grandfather and chief, ¬¬¬Koro. After 12 years Paikea has grown and Koro is searching for a boy who is going to be the next chief, even though Paikea has shown her competence multiple times. Paikea was called to this adventure when she was born because she is from the chief’s blood. She also developed an interest in being the chief as she became…show more content… On the other hand Paikea’s mentors include her uncle and grandmother. Her uncle thought her how to get better in thaiha , a traditional sport which was important::: to learn for the chief. Paikea’s grandmother helped her to focus on her task and always backed her up in difficult and frightening situations. The protagonist of this story had to overcome many challenges and obstacles in her path, these obstacles include tussling with her grandfather, Koro because he was very upset about the fact that the next chief will not be of his own blood. Paikea was so interested in the school that was established by her grandfather for young boys who were learning about skills needed for being the next chief, so she always stood behind the wall and tried to learn the skills, one day Koro took all the boys to the sea for the final challenge, the task was to retrieve Koro’s whale tooth necklace from the bottom of the sea. Unfortunately none of the boys was able to complete the task, after a while Paikea and her uncle were fishing and she asked him about the neckless and its location, her uncle showed her the spot