Research Paper on:
Time Spiral in Potiki by Patricia Grace

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expansion which effectively transcends any mortal barriers placed upon its passage. Patricia Grace recognizes this fact in her award-winning novel Potiki, illustrating how there exist significant differences between how  time is perceived with regard to cultural memories and that which is perceived on what can be termed "now time." This sense of distinct timelessness -- which is in  direct opposition to the rigid structure of its passage outside of the spiral realm - has best been experienced through cultural transcendence; however, it is not within a conscious state  that this encounter ultimately occurs, but rather it happens when ones soul is still enough from the inside of oneself in order to allow such a remarkable and rejuvenating transpiration  to take place. It is at this point where the limitations of time rise above all perceived boundaries, clearly illustrated by Graces approach to the severe limitations of mortal  existence as compared with the endurance of narratives. "In this way the ancestors are known and remembered. But the carver may not be known or remembered, except by  a few" (Grace 8). The reader can readily surmise from Graces approach that "several instances of cultural diversity take on a different hue  when viewed from a narrative perspective" (Howard 187), inasmuch as there is currently a conflict that exists between two views of how the mind works, with one of these views  representing the manner by which humans process information: the computations view. The other view is the way in which the mind uses stories and collections of stories to help  interpret and understand the ambiguities routinely faced in life known as the cultural view. "The telling and re-telling of stories sustains, enlarges, and de?nes our view of the world