Koro’s Symbolic Journey in Whale Rider Anonymous College

Whale Rider tells the story of Pai, a young Maori girl, who faces incredible challenges in trying to follow in her family line by leading her tribe. But these challenges originate in an unlikely place: her beloved and respected grandfather. In narration, Pai claims that “Koro wished in his heart that I had never been born, but he changed his mind” (Whale Rider, 2002). Koro’s disappointment at her gender - and inability to follow him as the next male chief - contrasts his overwhelming love for his granddaughter. But Koro is particularly concerned with legacy and tradition, especially in his continued search for a successor as chief. He is so concerned with pushing this tradition forward, in fact, that he is unable to see that the position could ever be held by a woman. Pai, however, knows that she is the only one capable of following in her beloved grandfather’s footsteps. Koro makes sure that Pai, because of her gender, does not have access to not only the tests and trials he subjects the young boys of the tribe to, but the cultural lessons that he teaches them.

Koro is incredibly stubborn - so much so, that he is stuck in these misogynistic patterns of thinking that neglect the simple solution to his finding a predecessor. As...