Entry Three: Reflection/Reaction and Historical Information

    Section two of Moloka'i was anything but boring, to say the least. The section began after Rachel had run away from the Bishop Home, and as I had predicted, she was in search of Uncle Pono and Haleola. On the way to find them, she experienced an encounter with a wild pig. Rachel ran from the pig successfully, but was a little shaken up afterwards, and ended up tripping over a tree root and cutting up her leg. Fortunately, a man saw this and went to help Rachel. He brought her to his house, took care of her cuts, and when she asked if he knew Pono, he promised that he would take her to him when she was recovered. However, the man broke his promise, and forced Rachel to do labor around his house. When she tried to escape, he hit her in order to show her that she would not be leaving anytime soon. Rachel, however, fled when the man was not paying attention, and finally made it to Uncle Pono. The Bishop Home, who had discovered Pono even before Rachel, allowed her to stay with her uncle. She was allotted this privilege because Uncle Pono was dying. Rachel stayed with her uncle and Haleola, (who were romantically involved just like I predicted), until his death. All of these events were difficult to read about. At this point in the book, Rachel is still a mere seven years old. Reading about her being hit by the unfamiliar man was awful, especially since she had been so excited for the man to bring her to Pono. When she was finally united with her uncle, it was terrible to learn of the young girl losing yet another family member, though she handled the situation in a surprisingly mature manner. I also felt immense sympathy for Haleola, who had previously lost her husband. As soon as she went back into the dating world, she lost yet another man whom she had loved. I even felt bad for Pono, who was such a positive, happy character. He seemed like he accepted his death, but I knew I would miss his presence in the story. Shortly after his brother's death, Henry Kalama came to visit Rachel. I was grateful for this, especially because his arrival took me by such surprise. Henry definitely took some of the tension out of the situation, and it was wonderful to read about Rachel being happy, though it was only temporary.
    After some minor events, the book skips to 1903, when Rachel is seventeen years old. The section starts by announcing that in 1898, the annexation of Hawai'i had occurred. Back in the first section of Moloka'i, the author describes the overthrow of Hawai'i's previous Queen Liliuokalani. This website, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=189, describes both events in further detail. The inclusion of the historical context seems a bit out of place, except for the fact that Haleola was evidently against the annexation. Shortly after this event is described, Rachel and her friends at the Bishop Home sneak out to a party, where Rachel experiences her first kiss. It was strange to see the girls experiencing normal situations, since up until that point, they had all seemed like prisoners. However, it was definitely interesting to observe how they acted and how much they enjoyed themselves. When doing some research about the privileges and restrictions of life on Moloka'i, I actually came across a video that showed Kalaupapa today, and compared and contrasted it back to the 1800's. This video,

 is tourist-made, and describes a man referred to as Father Damien. This man was mentioned multiple times in the book, and the sisters at the Bishop Home had a personal connection with him. I did not realize he was an actual person, or more specifically, a hero. Not long after the party, Rachel gets dismissed from the Bishop Home to take care of Haleola, whose leprosy was worsening. This was another difficult thing to read, especially because it seemed as though as soon as Rachel would become close to someone, she would lose them.
    Years go by in a matter of pages and Rachel loses her virginity to a close friend of hers, Nahoa. The two decide that they would rather stay friends, but Rachel is relieved to have the burden of being a virgin lifted off of her shoulder, considering she was 22 at this point. During this point in the book, Rachel is receiving treatments to remove the tumors depicted by her blemishes, in hopes that her leprosy will be cured. This made me really hopeful, and I instantly imagined Rachel reuniting with her father. In the meantime, Rachel meets a new friend, Leilani. One night, Rachel and Leilani go to a party and Leilani goes off with a boy. When Rachel hears screams, she finds her friend being abused. She takes her to Haleola, the healer, who undresses Leilani to examine the damage. This is when Rachel and Haleola discover that Leilani is not who she appears to be - or rather, who he appears to be. At first, Rachel is very upset. But, Leilani explains that her whole life, she had to deal with being a man when she rightfully felt as though she was destined to be a woman. Rachel comes to accept this, and the two become close friends once again. I really respected Rachel's decision to forgive her friend for lying to her, and also her ability to deal with Laileni being a transvestite. At the end of the section, as predicted, Haleola passed away. I was very upset when this happened, especially because of how much I admired her as a character, and I knew Rachel loved her in the same way she loved her mother. The only good thing is that it was easy to see the death coming, for both Rachel and me, so that it was not such a catastrophic event. I am truly anxious to read on in Moloka'i and learn of Rachel's new life on her own.