Call it Courage

Fifteen-year-old Mafatu lives with his father, stepmother, and stepbrothers on the Polynesian atoll Hikueru. As the chief’s son, he should be known for his courage and skill, but instead, Mafatu is known for his fear.

Mafatu’s fear of the ocean stems from a traumatic experience at the age of three: he and his mother were caught in a storm while out on the reef, and his mother died. Mafatu feels he cheated Moana, the god of the sea, by surviving, but he believes Moana will eventually claim him. Mafatu’s fear of the ocean is full of irony and puts him at odds with his cultural identity. He cannot fulfill his purpose on the island as the chief’s son and a future warrior, nor can he contribute to the survival of the village, which relies on the ocean for food and resources. Mafatu’s competing nicknames—Stout Heart and the Boy Who Was Afraid—illustrate this tension.

Early in the novel, Mafatu is isolated and unhappy. His reputation as a coward keeps him from developing camaraderie with the other boys on the island, and his only companions are animals. He is not allowed to go out fishing, so he receives tasks on land—making nets and spears—that he despises. Mafatu learns to shrug off his loneliness and the taunting of his stepbrothers, but his father’s silence shames him.

Mafatu transforms himself by venturing out to sea and surviving on an uninhabited island. Mafatu may be scared, but he is an able and knowledgeable sailor, and possesses valuable survival skills. Once on the island, he knows what foods to eat, and how to make a shelter, a new canoe, and tools like fishhooks and a knife. The experience of using these skills changes Mafatu’s perspective on his jobs back in Hikueru: He becomes grateful for the menial tasks and realizes how crucial they are. Mafatu gains confidence with each act of bravery he completes. His desire to make his father proud motivates him to gather his courage and to work hard. Mafatu gains faith in Maui, the god of fisherman, as a supernatural force that protects him and helps him fight against Moana’s power.

At the novel’s end, Mafatu overcomes his fear of Moana and death, lives up to the name Stout Heart, and is able to contribute to his community. When he returns to Hikueru, the villagers’ reception illustrates how much he has changed. At first, they cannot recognize him, not only because he lost weight during his journey, but because of his newfound courage and skill, showcased by his necklace and canoe. Thanks to his extraordinary transformation, Mafatu becomes part of Hikueru’s oral tradition, which mythologizes him as a hero in the legends that each generation passes down to the next.