Based on Edward Said’s postcolonial theory,this thesis examines KatherineMansfield’s New Zealand stories,early sketches,poems and notebooks,aiming toillustrate her defense of the Maori.First,this thesis has studied Mansfield’s depictionsof Pakeha’s appropriation of the Maoriland and their social rejection of the Maori.Instories like“The Woman at the Store,”“Old Tar”and“The Garden Party,”Mansfieldreveals that the Maori who are the repressed Other in the colonial society are the realmaster of the Maoriland.Second,this thesis has traced traditional Maori images inearly colonial literature,in which the Maori are depicted as savage“cannibals.”Because of the lack of discourse power,the Maori become the defined Other.Mansfield,in her notebooks and stories like“How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped”and“Summer Idylle,”deconstructs the distorted images of the Maori and portrays them asthe noble race.Third,in“A True Tale,”“Summer Idylle”and“She Has Thrown Methe Knotted Flax,”Mansfield expresses her appreciation and acknowledgement ofMaori culture.Mansfield’s celebration of Maori culture shows her efforts to help theMaori reconstruct their cultural subjectivity and her critique of European colonialdiscourse and cultural hegemony.In a word,this thesis has followed the theoreticalformulations of Edward Said to analyze Mansfield’s defense of the Maori and herpostcolonial consciousness.
reference(omitted)
