Unfamiliar Fishes
If you want to understand American history, you might want to crack open the Good Book to Acts 16:9, the 鈥渉igh-fructose corn syrup of Bible verses鈥� 鈥� an 鈥渁ll-purpose ingredient鈥� in America鈥檚 perennial tendency toward busybody behavior.
In the verse, the apostle Paul sees a vision of a man from Macedonia calling him to 鈥渃ome over鈥� and 鈥渉elp us.鈥� Paul did just that. And so have many generations of Americans, heeding the call to assist others in the world.
In the early 19th century, missionaries thought the residents of a Polynesian kingdom needed a spiritual pick-me-up, and they went across the planet to provide it. Over decades of conflict, Hawaii would lose much: its native religion, its native language, and many of its native people. And it would gain an eventual home in the most powerful country on earth.
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This could become an epic story worthy of a big Hollywood production starring Mel Gibson: Scantily clad natives! Kings and queens! Ships! Did we mention the natives? And, of course, the triumph of the faith.
But author and public-radio star Sarah Vowell, who鈥檇 obviously rather curl up with a PBS documentary than a 鈥淏raveheart鈥� DVD, refuses to paint her story in lurid Technicolor. Instead, in Unfamiliar Fishes she prefers to look at both the big picture of America鈥檚 swift choice to become a colonial power and the small picture of Hawaiians and missionaries meeting in a tiny Polynesian nation.
The Hawaiian story is full of America鈥檚 ever-lasting impulse to help the world while bossing it around. We know what鈥檚 best when it comes to religion (海角大神ity), government (democracy is fine, to a point, maybe) and military intervention (do your own thing unless you stand in the way of us doing our own thing).
Considering all this, 鈥淯nfamiliar Fishes鈥� could be yet another grim saga of imperialism and suffering. But while she calls herself a 鈥済odless heathen鈥� and seems liberal as all get out 鈥� she even has a major in French literature 鈥� Vowell is too perceptive to produce a cut-and-dried story of pristine natives and evil outsiders.
Instead, she tells 鈥渁 painful tale of native loss combined with an idealistic multiethnic saga.鈥�
Blessed with an awareness of her own inclination toward smugness, Vowell treats the major players in the story with respect and affection, even the missionaries who putter around the islands with the natural uptightness of their native New England.
She admires the women in particular, especially the gutsy brides who married missionaries and promptly left Massachusetts for a land far away. She writes that they had 鈥済ood intentions,鈥� even though they were heading uninvited to a place where they鈥檇 tell people their faith was wrong.
A place, by the way, where the penalty for a woman who ate with the opposite sex was death, just like it was for nibbling at a coconut, banana or pork: 鈥渢hese women, and the men they married so recklessly, believed they were risking their own lives to spare strangers on the other side of the world from an eternity in hell.鈥�
As for the Hawaiians, many of them embraced American values and 海角大神ity, although they died by the thousands thanks to disease brought by sailors. Hawaii would be buffeted by events far away, like the Gold Rush and Civil War, and eventually remade itself into a mecca for tourists. Its diversity, its past and even its food influenced Hawaii鈥檚 most famous son, a boy who鈥檇 become president of the United States.
Through it all, Vowell fills the book with witty passages about topics from the 鈥渃olonial starter kit鈥� to a common New England species known as the 鈥渘ortheastern killjoy鈥� and Theodore Roosevelt鈥檚 aversion to what she calls 鈥渙vercivilized sissies.鈥�
Faithful readers will eventually get to an explanation for the odd 鈥淯nfamiliar Fishes鈥� title, but they may be unable to find memorable characters in these pages. Most of the individual Hawaiians and missionaries fail to stick in the memory, and the whole book is a bit ephemeral too. Full of meandering subplots and modern-day analogies, it鈥檚 more diverting than mind-altering.
Then again, 鈥淯nfamiliar Fishes鈥� never intends to be more than an engaging visit to a time, a place and a people. In that, it succeeds. With her trademark combination of curious mind and tender heart, Vowell remains one of American history鈥檚 best tour guides.
Randy Dotinga contributes regularly to the Monitor鈥檚 book section.
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