Potiki

Hemi is Roimata's husband and father to their four children. He has been brought up as a member of the Tamihana tribe and, aside from his years spent working in a factory, has little experience of or interest in the outside world. Having left school at the age of 15 to work on the land, and entrusted by his people with the special knowledge of the land that has been passed down from Maori generation to generation, Hemi is the patriarch of the whanau. He sees it as his role to provide not only for his immediate family but for the whole whanau, and ensure that no one from the community has to look outside it for survival and happiness, which many have had to do in the past. As he acknowledges in Chapter 22, "it was all leaning on him" (150).

Hemi is the driving force behind the revival of his people's traditional, farming-based livelihood, as well as its greatest advocate. He regards losing his job as an opportunity to begin working on the land again and create a self-sufficient community for his family and people, free from the tyranny of "working for a boss where you stayed poor […] and made someone else rich" (147). He also sees it as his duty to hold his community and its values intact while the outside world is rapidly changing and constantly looking to the future. Hemi's mantra is: "Everything we need is here," which sums up his belief in the capacity of the whanau to meet the needs—both physical and spiritual—of his people. Roimata describes Hemi as "rooted to the earth as a tree is" (23). This description reflects not only his deep affinity for the land, but also his quiet dependability and strength.

Aside from his strong belief in the power of the land, the other essential aspect of life, as far as Hemi is concerned, is people. As he notes in Chapter 22, when reflecting on the strength his community has shown in response to the attacks of the land developers, as well as on the support offered to them by outsiders, "people always turned up when you need them most" (147). He believes that people are like the land: "Care for it and it cares for you" (176). He holds on to this belief in people even when it has been shaken by the repugnant behavior of the land developers. Instead of venting his anger, like Tangi does, he seeks solace and comfort in the land and quietly internalizes his feelings. Although Hemi feels at odds with his daughter's desire to "match fire with fire" (149), by the end of the novel he is ready and willing to support his children in court and consequently stand up for injustice.

Roimata is Hemi's wife and mother to their four children. She is one of the main narrative voices of the novel and recounts the significant events of her lifetime. We learn little about Roimata the individual in the novel, as she narrates events principally from the point of view of her role as mother and wife, as well as that of mouthpiece for the collective experiences of her people. Even her childhood is defined by Hemi, whom she has loved since the age of 5. Indeed, following twelve years away from home, we see her returning in Chapter 3, and seeking, in Hemi, security and relief from her feelings of loneliness and loss: " Only he could free me from raging forever between earth and sky" (23).

The above quote is a reference to the mythological story of the primal parents Rangi, the sky father, and Papatuanuku, the earth mother, whose children had to live in the dark space between their tight embrace until they were forced apart. Apart from being indicative of her love for Hemi, this also suggests that Roimata, like her husband, feels that life outside the Maori community has little meaning and therefore wishes to return to the familiarity of her roots. It is significant that Roimata tells us nothing of the twelve years she has spent away from home; her only focus is returning. On the morning before she returns home, Roimata bathes in the sea, describing it as "a discarding, or a renewal, like the washing of hands that takes leave of death and turns one toward the living" (26), which signifies the beginning of a new and meaningful life with Hemi.

From this point on in the narrative, Roimata becomes a wife who is committed to supporting her husband in his dreams of growing and reestablishing the self-sufficiency of the whanau, as well as a caring mother who devotes her time to educating her children using the Maori tradition of storytelling as a vehicle. Not only does she support her husband, but she shares his belief that the whanau can provide them and their people with everything they need: "We found our own universe to be as large and as extensive as any other universe that there is" (104). She describes herself on more than one occasion as "an ever-watcher of the sky" (174), conscious that Hemi, by contrast, looks to the earth. Aside from being a further reference to Rangi and Papa, whose love for each other causes each of them to look towards the other, this also suggests that she is curious, open-minded and, above all, hopeful. As she says, watchers wait and believe that "what is not seen will one day be seen" (174) and that "the earth will give its gifts and that the sky will too" (174). This encapsulates her role in the novel as someone who shares in the experiences that are narrated, but is also an observer who provides a commentary on the effects of the events on the lives of her people while wondering what lies ahead.

Tangi is Hemi and Romata's second child. One of first things we learn about her is that she is hot-tempered and confrontational, hence Roimata's description of her as "sharp-edged as the sea rocks" (15). This is also the characteristic that Toko refers to when he says: "No one can escape from her" (48). The first time that we actually see Tangi in action is when, to Roimata's dismay, she angrily shouts at Mary when she is giving birth to Toko in the sea and then snatches the baby from her, without showing the slightest ounce of concern for Mary. Although Roimata regrets having sent Tangi to bring Mary home, it is thanks to her that Toko survives his birth. Tangi is well aware of her defiant attitude, which she confesses to her dead grandmother at the burial ground, and it is this defiance that later on makes her the voice of protest against the injustices and crimes committed against her people by the property developers. She is not afraid to voice her feelings to the Dollarman at the meetings about the developments and, unlike her father, she desires to seek revenge for the flooding and the fire. As Hemi notes, she sees "the strength of a bending branch to be not in its resilience, but in its ability to spring back and strike" (152).

Unlike Hemi, who internalizes and suppresses his feelings, it is important for Tangi to follow her heart and stand up for what she believes in; for Tangi, it is essential that, above all, she remains true to herself. Unable to tolerate her people's submissiveness in response to the flooding and fire, she leaves the whanau and cuts off all contact with her family. When Toko dies, however, she is unable to remain silent any longer and approaches the workers to tell them about what has happened to her brother, galvanizing them into taking action against their employers. It is also Tangi, along with James, who resolves to take legal action against her brother's murderers, which we learn about at the end of the novel. Her independence is demonstrated by her refusal to submit to attempts by others to subjugate people, which Hemi acknowledges when he says of his daughter, "Tangimoana acts alone" (161). However, there is also a vulnerability about Tangi, which she reveals when she rejects Pena's love but admits that, at the same time, she needs him.

Granny Tamihana is Hemi’s aunt and a constant presence throughout the novel, featuring in all of the major events that affect her family and community. She has a particularly strong relationship with both Mary and Toko, who find comfort and companionship in her company. The most striking aspect of Granny Tamihana’s character is the resilience she displays following the fire, which is the second disaster to befall her community. Whereas the other members of the whanau are broken by this latest misfortune and too distraught to function, Granny Tamihana single-handedly begins the preparations for the reception of the visitors who have come to help in the aftermath of the fire. As Toko notes while observing her efforts to cater for the visitors, what she really represents, disguised behind her apparent cheerfulness, is “a life of loss and sorrow” (140). She has not only lost some of her closest relatives, including a brother, husband, children and grandchildren, but she has also had to bear the hardship and repression imposed on her people by the post-colonial government of her country, which regard the Maori as a subservient and inferior race, and as a commodity of which they are able to take advantage. She therefore comes to represent the history of struggle against the western oppressor endured by her people and, having learned the lesson of the futility of anger at the time of her brother’s death, she not only finds strength in herself to carry on in the face of adversity but inspires a fighting spirit in others, too.

James is the eldest child of Hemi and Roimata. As Roimata points out, he is quiet, patient, careful and sure, like his father. As the eldest child, he bears the greatest responsibility, which Toko highlights when he comments that James must have single-handedly overseen the process of smoking Toko's big fish: "He could always do grown-up things" (53). Although James does not feature heavily in many of the narrated episodes, he fulfills an important social role as the apprentice of an ageing carver, learning a dying skill on behalf of the whanau, which enables him to help the Te Ope people to rebuild their houses. Moreover, it is James who, as his people’s carver, carves the poupou of Toko, honoring his dead brother and giving him a place of prominence in his people’s history.

Manu is the youngest child of Hemi and Roimata. He is characterized by his sensitivity to noise, his tendency to sleepwalk, and his nightmares; he frequently wakes up crying from the last of these. He dislikes his first experiences of school and has a habit of running home during the morning, complaining that the other children "fizz like bees" and claiming to be afraid of disappearing into the "cracks in the floor" (37). Given that he is so timid and sensitive, Hemi and Roimata decide to educate him at home. As a young child, Manu develops a close attachment to his brother, Toko, which is reciprocated, and the two become inseparable. Manu has a premonition of Toko's impending murder one night when he falls asleep in the doorway of the meeting house and dreams of fire. This foreshadows the night that Toko is killed while searching for his brother, whose somnambulism has lead him to the meeting house. Manu, whom Roimata and Hemi nickname "the little bird" (162), due to his fragility, is overcome with sorrow following Toko's death, but finds comforts in the poupou of Toko his brother carves. The friendship between Manu and Toko is symbolized by the carved little bird that sits on the wooden figure's shoulder.

Mary is Hemi's sister. Although Mary's condition is not explained explicitly, there are clues early on in the novel that suggest she has a learning disability. These include Roimata's protectiveness of her, her comments on Mary's inability to break any of the Ten Commandments, as well as the fact that she does not attend lessons at school like the other children. This is confirmed, as the novel progresses, by the fact that her only dialogue is limited to childlike and repetitive comments, such as "beautiful and nice" (20).

Mary's adult life revolves around her care of the meeting house, which she dutifully dusts and polishes on a daily basis, and her work helping Granny Tamihana in preparing food for the whanau. Mary plays a key role in the story as Toko's mother, although the relationship between these two characters does not appear to go far beyond their biological connection. How she became pregnant remains somewhat of a mystery until the moment James carves a figure of Toko underneath Mary’s favorite loving-man poupou, whose remains she uncovered from the burned debris of the original house, in the manner a grief-stricken wife or lover would do. It appears, therefore, that Toko is the product of the love between Mary and the loving-man poupou, who, in Chapter 2, "put their arms round each other holding each other closely" (22). Mary's character therefore mirrors that of the Virgin Mary, as the way Toko is conceived calls to mind the Immaculate Conception of Jesus.

Matiu and Timoti are of Maori descent; however, they are among the members of the community who have sought to make a living outside of the whanau, in the belief that working for someone else is more lucrative than being self-employed. They represent the demographic of Maori people who have somewhat lost touch with their roots and, having both spent time in prison, are also on the fringes of western society. They are first introduced into the story when the development work begins and James informs his family that they form part of the team of construction workers. They are nevertheless welcomed into the whanau by Hemi, who does not regard their employment with the building contractors as a betrayal. They prove that their allegiance truly does lie with the Maori community when they inform the community of the attempts of the developers to sabotage the Maori land. Later, when they hear of how Toko was killed, they quit their jobs.

Stan is Hemi's brother. He features briefly in one or two of the episodes of the Part 1 of the novel; for example, he tries to locate the lost placenta after Toko's birth and helps to smoke the conger eel in Toko's big fish story. His main role, however, is spokesperson for his people in their meetings with the land developers. He eloquently and firmly counters the arguments Dolman uses to persuade the people that the development would be to their benefit, making his community proud of him.

Dolman represents the mercenary values behind capitalism, earning him the nickname among the Maori community of “Dollarman.” He holds several meetings with the community in which he tries to persuade them that the proposals to turn their land into a resort would attract tourism and create jobs and, therefore, would be to their advantage. However, he fails to understand or accept that, unlike the people operating in his world, the Maori people attach infinitely more value to the sanctity of their land and their ancestry over money and, therefore, cannot be bought. To the Dollarman, however, nothing matters more than the goal of money, which is why Toko detects "hate and anger" (102) on the Dollarman’s face, as he observes the representatives of the “broken race” (102) who stand in his way.

The Carver who builds the original meeting house for his people is less of a character and more of a symbol of Maori heritage. As his poupou depicts, he "spent his life bent in two" (11), dedicating himself solely to the art form of carving houses and figures for his people to record their ancestry. The long blade of the chisel held against his pelvis represents his penis, which in turn is carved into the shape of a man, symbolizing his ability to render life from wood and immortalize his ancestors through his trade. He passes his knowledge and storytelling ability on to Toko who, as his offspring, later occupies the empty space beneath the carver’s feet.

Reuben fulfills the same role for his people and Tangi does for hers. He is the voice of resistance of the Te Ope people, who lost their land to unscrupulous governments and property developers. Unlike the other members of his tribe, who seem inclined to accept their lot, Reuben is determined to fight to win his people's land back. He sets up camp on the land, refusing to move, despite being arrested, and eventually manages to win a legal case to secure the land. Consequently, when the Tamihanas face a similar struggle, Reuben, his family and his people offer the Tamihanas a great deal of support in the rebuilding of their meeting house and in their fight against injustice.

Rupena is Reuben's grandfather. He was instrumental in the Te Ope people's original protest against the government's seizure of their land. Despite losing his generation's fight against the government over the loss of their land, he encourages Reuben to read the letters he had written setting out his people’s grievances so that he can learn about the Te Ope people's struggle and perhaps reignite the cause.

Joe Billy is the man who Mary's family suspect of being Toko's biological father. He comes to the beach every summer to camp and is friendly with James, Tangi and Mary, but is never seen again after Toko's birth. Hemi and Stan try to track him down but to no avail, and it is later reported in the paper that he has been found dead. Joe Billy provides a scapegoat on which to pin the blame for Mary's pregnancy, creating an even bigger dramatic effect for the reader when Toko's true origins are revealed.