Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life

Since Toby’s departure, Tommo has felt “the profoundest melancholy” (118). He has no real company, and the pain in his leg persists. Increasingly, he feels as though he is genuinely trapped in the village. Tommo visits the Ti with the chiefs. They hear a rumor that a ship has appeared in the bay. Tommo is thrilled, hoping that Toby might be aboard. Mehevi notices Tommo’s happiness, and his own expression turns more severe. Despite his injury, Tommo tries to walk out of the Ti. He wants to see if he can spot Toby. Mehevi instructs him to sit down. Kory-Kory tries to calm Tommo by bringing him a plate of food and a tobacco pipe. Tommo, however, now recognizes that he is completely trapped with the Typees, powerless to escape, and begins to integrate into the local culture. He wears Typee-style clothing, placing his own clothes in a small bundle that he stores in the roof of the house where he sleeps. When he tightens his Typee clothing with a needle and thread, the locals laugh at him. They are intrigued by his razor, which he uses to shave the head of a warrior named Narmonee.

Tommo’s leg begins to heal. The recovery allows him to explore the village and the surrounding valley, though Kory-Kory and Fayaway typically follow him everywhere. Tommo is never “permitted to be alone” (124). He feels restricted; when he wants to go to the ocean, he is denied permission. The more he wanders through the valley, however, the more he believes that life on the Polynesian islands is much happier than life in Europe. While they have fewer people and less intellectualism, he reasons, nature provides for all the people’s needs. By contrast, he begins to see that Western civilization has as many downsides as benefits. Tommo is even less averse to the idea of cannibalism, an admittedly violent and terrible act but one that he compares to the barbarity of Europeans, who have been known to disembowel people as a punishment for certain crimes. Tommo no longer sees the Polynesians as “savages.” Typees, he notes, are more honest and fair than most Americans. The villagers never seem to argue. Tommo wonders whether sending Marquesas missionaries to America rather than vice versa would improve the world. While sleeping one day in Ti, he is woken by a loud noise and recognizes the sound of musket fire. Everyone flees except Kory-Kory and Tommo. The Typees, Tommo learns, are involved in a small fight against the Happars. Other than a few minor wounds, the Typees emerge victorious. They return to the village to celebrate.

As Tommo’s injury heals, he feels more at home in the valley. He bathes each morning alongside the women. When he tries to wrestle with them, they wriggle free and use their superior swimming skills to evade him. The women are not allowed to use the canoes, but Tommo can paddle around the bay. With special permission, he takes “the beauteous Fayaway” (132) out in a canoe. With the calico cloth taken from the ship, Tommo fashions a dress and gifts it to Fayaway. One day, he is laying on his mat when loud shouts from the villagers rouse him. They herald the arrival of a man named Marnoo. Marnoo is a handsome young man whose back is covered in tattoos. Villagers surround him as he enters the house where Tommo lives. The locals seem devoted to him, and Tommo is slightly jealous that the attention once given to him is now lavished on Marnoo. He struggles to understand Marnoo, who surprises Tommo by speaking English. Marnoo reveals that his special status on the island grants him “access to all the valleys” (140) on it. He recalls his youth, when he was taken to Australia on a ship. This is where he learned English. Tommo tries to ask about Toby and his own chances of leaving the village but is interrupted by the arrival of the chiefs, including Mehevi. They are angry to see Tommo talking to Marnoo, knowing that Tommo is talking about leaving their village. A short time later, Marnoo cuts all contact with Tommo and leaves the village, leaving Tommo disappointed.

Following Marnoo’s departure, Tommo notes a sense of anger directed at him by the chiefs, including Mehevi. He also notices a begrudging attitude from Kory-Kory. Two months have passed since he arrived in the village. His leg is completely healed. One day, he fashions a pipe from a stick of bamboo and gives it as a toy to a local boy. The boy plays with the “pop-gun,” and after they see what he is doing, many of the adults ask Tommo to make more. He obliges, and soon the entire village is chasing one another with these bamboo pipes. The excitement lasts nearly 10 days. By this time, Tommo has abandoned his old shoes. He places them next to his bundles in the roof of the house where he lives. When Marheyo mentions the shoes, Tommo gifts them to him. Rather than wearing them on his feet, however, Marheyo drapes the shoes around his neck like a “highly-ornamental” necklace. The Typees do not often work. One of the few chores involves cloth manufacturing, which the women typically handle. This cloth, known as tappa, is made from boiled tree branches and stretched pieces of fiber. Tommo describes the process for making tappa.

Tommo describes a typical day in the Typee village. The “unsophisticated savages” wake well after sunrise then bathe in the stream. After a small breakfast, they smoke pipes and then go about their business. They complete small chores, such as inspecting manufactured cloth or mending their homes. At noon, they nap. Then Tommo and other men head to the Ti. The male-only Ti is attended by the chiefs, where the best food is eaten while the men smoke and discuss various subjects. As night falls, they return to the village and eat poee-poee. Later, the girls dance in the moonlight, and then everyone falls asleep. To Tommo, life in the village feels like a “luxurious nap” interspersed with occasional activity.

Located far away from the village is a spring with healing properties. The locals call it Arva Wai, meaning “strong waters” (153). Tommo does not like the taste of the water from the spring. Marheyo, however, drinks it often. Near Arva Wai are large terraces made with stones. According to the villagers, the ancient peoples who once inhabited the island made these terraces. Tommo believes that people have lived in this place for thousands of years. He wonders whether the stone terraces may have had some religious purpose.