Shark Dialogues and Mixed Heritage Identities

As English settlers and many other foreign races began traveling to the Hawaiian Islands, a blending of cultures started to take place. The Hawaiian people that inhabited the islands were now surrounded by many other ethnic backgrounds. This led not only to the blending of cultures but also the blending of families. Interracial marriage and multiracial children started becoming a common occurrence. As this interweaving of races came to be, many people had to acknowledge their diverse ethnic backgrounds. This tended to be overwhelming for many and had different effects on individuals. In the novel Shark Dialogues, author Kiana Davenport exemplifies the identity struggles and triumphs that multiracial individuals faced in Hawaiʻi during their lifetimes.

The melding of races over time has left many people with more than a few ethnicities in their lineage. Shark Dialogues traces seven generations of a Hawaiian family through a magnificent journey that illustrates what life was like for each. The story of the family tree begins with a Tahitian princess, Kelonikoa Piʻimoku Kanoa, and a white sailor, Mathys Coenradtsen. This is a unique yet relevant example of the interracial marriage that was occurring in Hawaiʻi’s history at this time, as the public sanctioning of marriage between Hawaiians and foreigners became legal in the year 1820. Although social tensions were high between Hawaiians and white settlers, the characters are introduced in a setting that is not affected by these outside social norms. Rather they are regarded as two individuals who have left their lives behind, “For, in that last year while Mathys had been slaughtering, whoring, eating human flesh, a young, headstrong Tahitian beauty was also consigning herself to a life of shame, exiling herself forever from her native lands” (Davenport 36). This is important to note because both characters flee their societal labels to live a secluded lifestyle. It is not until later when they return to society in Honolulu, when Mathys becomes a rich white business owner and Kelonikoa strongly identifies with the wilderness, that their societal roles drive a wedge between them. This is only the beginning of a family with a long line of mixed races.

With two or more races in a person’s blood it is not uncommon for one to identify strongly with only a certain part of their ancestry. A study done to identify mixed identities states, “We are not claiming that individuals of mixed ancestry recognize their multiple identities. Of course, many are absorbed back into one or another of their ethnic groups” (Labov and Jacobs). Pono is a character that perfectly exemplifies the absorption of one identity. Pono is the great granddaughter of Mathys and Kelonikoa. She mentions Kelonikoa and the Tahitian blood her family contains many times while almost blatantly ignoring her haole blood due to bad experiences with whites in her past. For this reason she identifies with the blood she is proud of and the ethnicity that makes the most sense to her.

A parallel to this is Jess’s daughter, Anna, who ignores the one-quarter of her Hawaiian blood and identifies as white like her southern father. Jess describes the first time she took Anna to the Big Island, “Her shock, her accusations. ‘You didn’t tell me they were dark!’ Summer of our fracturing. And when Benson and I divorced, Anna choosing to go with him. Tearing down genetic blocks, erasing my side of her history…” (Davenport 217). Anna is sixteen years old during this visit to the island, a period of adolescence when she is trying to form and understand her identity. Anna lives on the east coast of the United States, where white ethnicities are considered superior. Seeing that part of her family is from a completely different race upsets and confuses her. It is far easier for her to embrace her Caucasian lineage not only because of its perceived superiority on the mainland, but also because it is the ethnicity she has embraced growing up.

Anna’s mother Jess had a completely different upbringing that enhanced her abilities to acknowledge both her Caucasian and Hawaiian backgrounds. Jess spent most of her time on the mainland with her parents. Yet she would visit the Big Island and stay with Pono and her cousins every summer. Vanya, the darkest cousin, often refers to Jess as “just another haole,” among other negative references. As a child in Hawaiʻi, Jess’s fair skin often confused and embarrassed her, as she wanted to identify with her native blood when on the island. She did not understand why she couldn’t be as dark as most Hawaiians. This makes it hard for Jess to be secure with her mixed ethnicity for quite some time. As an adult Jess goes to college and opens a veterinary practice in New York, which shows that many opportunities were allowed her because she was identifying with her Caucasian lineage. However, Jess embraces her Hawaiian roots and begins speaking in Pidgin when she stays in Hawaiʻi for long periods of time. While many struggle with their mixed heritage throughout their lifetime, some find a way to make peace with their diverse backgrounds.

Vanya makes fun of Jess as a child for being different in the Hawaiian culture. Vanya is described as Hawaiian-Filipino with deep golden skin that glows. However, she knows that her own skin tone is different compared to people on the mainland. She is upset by the fact that she has fewer opportunities than white people. Working when she is younger to be able to attend college Vanya remembers, “Smoothing out my English. Swallowing Pidgin, denying it, saving it for home, for slang. This tongue I was born with, raised on, this part of my mouth demeaned, thrown out like garbage” (Davenport 193). She cannot embrace the way she grew up because she needs to fit in with whites on the mainland. Vanya made fun of Jess for looking white around the Hawaiians, yet she desperately tries to fit in with them eventually. However, even Vanya is concerned about her mixed identity thinking, “Christ, how I hated it, hated being mix-marriage mongrel” (Davenport 193).

The erasing of family genealogy and the embarrassment of certain aspects of one’s bloodline are also common occurrences involving mixed ethnicity. Ming thinks about all of her father’s ancestors who were “Mistakes erased from the family genealogy” (Davenport 200). This includes baby girls who were killed because birthing a boy was considered beneficial. However, to the Hawaiian people having a child at all is a great gift. This is another issue involving mixed heritage because of cultural clashes that can occur based on varying beliefs. Davenport uses the character Ming to represent the balancing of ethnicities and cultures amongst peoples. Ming is known as the family mediator throughout the story, which is symbolic of her mediator status in a cultural sense. She manages to keep in touch with her Chinese history as well as her Hawaiian side.

The unique history of Hawaiʻi has led to the melding of many ethnicities. In a study involving the identification of multiple ethnicities, Hawaiians identified with mixed blood 24% compared to 2.1% on the mainland (Labov and Jacobs). Many struggle with identifying the multiple cultures that their races are linked to. Kiana Davenport perfectly exemplifies the many different reactions individuals have toward their mixed ethnicities. Some struggle with the ability to embrace multiple backgrounds while others can find a balance. Each character faces a different struggle that is relatable to problems people face in the real world. Toward the end of the story Duke addresses his granddaughter Jess saying, “you’re also haole Jess. Never forget that. You’re hybrids, all of you. You’re what the future is” (Davenport 416). This world is quickly becoming full of mixed ethnicities and the blending of cultures. There are now multiple facets for every individual to struggle with or embrace, as each is in search for identity.

Works Cited

Labov, Teresa, and Jerry A. Jacobs. "Preserving Multiple Ancestry: Intermarriage and

Mixed Births in Hawaii." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 29.3 (1998):

481-502. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Reed, Gay Garland. "Fastening and Unfastening Identities: Negotiating Identity in

Hawai'i." Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 22.3 (2001):

327-39. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Min, Katherine. "Shark Dialogues." Ploughshares 20.2/3 (1994): 241-42. Academic

Search Premier. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Davenport, Kianna. Shark Dialogues. New York: Penguin Books, 1994. Print.