Chase Cox
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Oh-institute
4/2/2011
Prompt – How do the differences of the main characters help resolve their problem?
The novel, “Nation” by Terry Pratchett is a very diverse read. In the beginning of the story a native Mau is returning to his home to complete the boy-to-man soul ceremony. Yet a nearby earthquake causes a tsunami to form. The tsunami wipeouts out Mau’s people off the island and also destroys a ship close by. Mau and a British girl named Daphne are the only survivors on the island. It takes Mau and Daphne strong will to overcome their challenges and build a nation from nothing.
Mau and Daphne are put on the island and forced to work together in order to survive. Because of their diversities, Mau and Daphne have completely different personalities and views on the world. This helps them get through most of the struggles throughout the novel. They have to become mature adults and work together if they want to survive the disaster.
Mau is strong willed and confident, but he has lost his tribal soul. As he was completing the ceremony to become a man he was interrupted by a tsunami. The disaster wiped out all the people on his island. His main goal is to rebuild his new nation. Throughout the novel you see great leadership from him. Yet since his lack of communication, he cannot fully direct his new group of people. Mau is encountered with many struggles. He is forced to fight a cannibal leader for the land and his life. He proves his wits by defeats the helpless cannibals. With time he finds himself a man soul with a new nation.
Daphne has an independent role in the novel. Daphne becomes frightened in occasions such as when she and Mau meet for the first time and the cannibal attack. Daphne helps a pregnant woman give birth. Daphne is intrigued by nature and science. As Mau and her travel around the different islands they find a cave called “the cave of the grandfathers”, which holds many ancient scientific tools and discoveries. Mau’s hopes were for her to say on the island, but Daphne leaves the when her father reaches the island, and becomes a royal British heir. Daphne invests in the cave she visited as a landmark of scientific knowledge.
Two young opposites merge together when disaster strikes and they figure out how to combine their knowledge and hope to start a new life. They begin, with leaving their old-self’s behind and eventually become adults. It takes Mau and Daphne strong will to overcome their challenges and build a nation from nothing. Much change had happened but at the end they carry on the lives that they wanted.
