Once Were Warriors

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of rape and domestic abuse. 

Beth Heke is the protagonist of Once Were Warriors. She is the mother of six children, as well as Jake Heke’s wife of 16 years. She’s known for her beauty and her good skin “if ya don’t mind the scars from a hundred hidings” from Jake (87), but Beth is someone who feels uncomfortable standing out: “no make-up, other than lipstick, and even then she wasn’t sure if the colour suited her coppery complexion” (87). Her uncertainty about her “coppery complexion” highlights the racism that Beth and her Māori community experience in New Zealand. As a stay-at-home parent, Beth’s main occupation is to manage the household with half of Jake’s pay (and later the dole he receives from the government), a job that requires creativity and ingenuity to make ends meet. Like her husband, she has an alcohol addiction and, when drunk, often slurs her words: “tomowwow. Exaggerating Beth’s drunkenness: Tomowwow kidsth” (104). Her slurring suggests that Beth struggles to express herself, something that changes as her character develops and she becomes a community leader.

Beth believes herself to be a good mother to her children, and unlike other parents who leave their kids to fend for themselves, she meets their basic needs: “I make sure my kids come first.