Themes, Motifs, and Subjects in Alan Duff's Once Were Warriors

George P.Landow, Professor of English and Art History, Brown University

• Alcoholism
• Anger, Rage
• Books, Orality, and Literacy
• Chinese food and culture
• Death
• Dream, Nightmare
• Hope and Hopelessness
  • Postcolonial Premises: Refusing to Wipe the Slate Clean
  • Working Your Way Out: Building Premises for Change in Once Were Warriors
• History
  • History and Geography in Once Were Warriors
  • Failure of Language: Inarticulable Premises in Once Were Warriors
  • Merging Past and Present: Finding Strength in the Wake of Colonialism
• Gangs
• Maori tradition and language
  • The Kaumatua Explains How the Maori Lost
  • Feeling like a Chief
  • Power and Their Land
• Matters of Gender
  • Rejecting Women
  • The Acceptance of Women
  • Beth Heke and Female Strength
• Media
  • Television and Media in Duff's Once Were Warriors
  • Confronting America's Inanimate Presence (IV)
• Music
• Self help, Maori pride
• Slavery
  • The Maori and the African American in Once Were Warriors
• Violence
  • Rejecting Women