A further important theme is Hulme's utopian vision of a possible unity between Maori and Western culture in New Zealand. She does not simply "write back" against Eurocentric hegemony, but also includes Western culture in her healing vision. This is a major difference from postcolonial writers such as Chinua Achebe who write almost exclusively from the viewpoint of the colonized and reject Western philosophy. Note how Kerewin, Joe and Simon also function as metaphors/allegories in the context of postcolonial discourse: Joe could be seen as representing Maori culture, Simon represents European culture, and Kerewin represents the culture clash between the two (Kerewin is a "hybrid", part-Maori, part Pākehā). In this context, the novel's magical realism makes sense: the characters' illnesses (cancer, suicide attempt, alcoholism) can be regarded, in a figurative way, as "cultural illnesses" that are overcome in the end of the novel, when Kerewin, Joe and Simon form a sort of "patchwork family".