Hawaii (1966) — AI Story Visualization

Plot Analysis Summary

A missionary's certainty is challenged by cultural conflict, racial exclusion, personal tragedy, and the consequences of imposed belief.

Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases

A Mission Across the Sea

A royal appeal brings missionaries toward Hawaii, while Abner must marry before he can serve. The voyage establishes his commitment to the mission.

Key Events

• A Royal Appeal for Missionaries — A Hawaiian prince appeals for Christian missionaries to travel to the islands. Characters: Reverend Thorn Location: Yale Divinity School
• Abner Joins the Mission — Abner is selected as a newly ordained missionary but must marry before departure. Characters: Abner Hale, Reverend Thorn Location: Yale Divinity School
• The Missionary Voyage — Abner sails with other missionaries toward the Hawaiian Islands. Characters: Abner Hale Location: At sea
• Arrival at Lahaina — The missionaries reach Lahaina and confront unfamiliar royal and social customs. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa Location: Lahaina, Maui

Customs of the Royal House

The missionaries arrive in Lahaina and confront royal traditions they regard as sinful. Abner remains behind to establish a church and begins serving the local population.

Key Events

• The Royal Bloodline Tradition — The missionaries learn that royal incest is used to preserve the bloodline. Characters: Malama Kanakoa Location: Lahaina royal residence
• The Lahaina Mission — Abner remains in Lahaina and begins missionary work from a grass hut. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa Location: Grass hut in Lahaina
• A Rescue from Infanticide — Abner's household rescues a baby with a facial birthmark from drowning. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Lahaina
• The Birth of a Son — After difficult labor, Abner's wife gives birth to a son. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Mission hut

Faith Meets Resistance

Abner's household rescues an infant, welcomes a first convert, and faces a jealous return from Hoxworth. Religious teaching and personal rivalry increasingly overlap.

Key Events

• Hoxworth Returns Jealous — Hoxworth discovers the marriage and threatens Abner in a jealous confrontation. Characters: Abner Hale, Rafer Hoxworth Location: Lahaina harbor
• The First Baptism — Abner baptizes his first convert, a young Hawaiian servant in his household. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Lahaina church site
• Malama Studies Christianity — Malama listens to Christian teaching but resists conversion because of royal obligations. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa Location: Royal residence
• The Sailor Curfew — Malama imposes a sailor curfew and forbids fraternization with native women. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa, Rafer Hoxworth Location: Lahaina
• The Sailors Riot — The restrictions provoke a riot among sailors and intensify the conflict around the mission. Characters: Abner Hale, Rafer Hoxworth Location: Lahaina streets

Riot and Ruin at Sea

Restrictions on sailors trigger a riot and the partial burning of the church. Hoxworth then takes revenge at sea, leaving Abner permanently lame.

Key Events

• Hoxworth Demands Departure — Hoxworth tries to persuade Abner's wife to leave the island with him, but she refuses. Characters: Abner Hale, Rafer Hoxworth Location: Lahaina
• The Church Is Burned — Sailors partially burn the church before Hawaiians drive them back to their ships. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa, Rafer Hoxworth Location: Lahaina church
• Abner Is Thrown Overboard — Hoxworth lures the young convert away and throws Abner overboard when he intervenes. Characters: Abner Hale, Rafer Hoxworth Location: At sea
• The Shark Attack — A shark attacks Abner, leaving him permanently lame. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Ocean near Lahaina

The Cost of Conversion

Racial exclusion, royal conversion, epidemic disease, and the death of Abner's wife destroy his earlier certainty. He rejects commercial land exploitation and discovers that the rescued infant has survived.

Key Events

• Keoki Is Denied Ordination — Abner reveals that racial barriers prevent the Hawaiian prince from becoming a minister. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Lahaina mission
• Malama Accepts Baptism — Malama accepts baptism and renounces her royal husband before dying. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa Location: Malama's deathbed
• The Gale Destroys the Church — A powerful gale strikes after Malama's death and destroys the church. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa Location: Lahaina church
• The Royal Wedding — A new royal ruler marries the former prince, consolidating the island succession. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa Location: Royal wedding grounds
• A Political Conversion Revealed — Abner realizes that Malama's conversion was intended to benefit her people. Characters: Abner Hale, Malama Kanakoa Location: Royal wedding grounds
• The Deformed Child Dies — A severely deformed royal child is drowned after Abner refuses to save it. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Royal residence
• The Measles Epidemic — A measles outbreak devastates the native population and kills the former prince. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Hawaiian settlement
• Jerusha's Death — Years of labor and childbearing take Abner's wife's life, leaving him devastated. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Mission hut
• Abner Rejects Land Profits — Abner refuses to profit from land seizures and is reassigned to Connecticut. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Mission meeting
• The Saved Infant Returns — Abner recognizes the disfigured infant he once saved, now returned as a potential assistant. Characters: Abner Hale Location: Abner's hut

Story Breakdown

• Missionary Calling — The Christian mission begins through a royal appeal and Abner's preparation for service.
  • Royal Appeal — A Hawaiian prince asks for Christianity to be brought to the islands.
  • Required Marriage — Abner must marry before undertaking the missionary voyage.
• Island Arrival — The missionaries reach Lahaina and encounter unfamiliar royal customs.
  • Lahaina Landing — The missionary group arrives on Maui.
  • Royal Bloodline — The royal family preserves its lineage through incestuous tradition.
• Building the Mission — Abner establishes a local mission while his household engages directly with the island population.
  • Grass Hut Church — Abner remains in Lahaina and works to build a church.
  • Infant Rescue — A baby with a facial birthmark is rescued from drowning.
• Personal Rivalry — Hoxworth's return turns an emotional triangle into a violent threat against Abner.
  • Jealous Return — Hoxworth learns that the woman he loves has married Abner.
  • Threat at Harbor — Hoxworth threatens Abner and later attempts to take his wife away.
• Sailor Rebellion — Missionary restrictions provoke the sailors and place the church at the center of open conflict.
  • Curfew Decree — Malama restricts sailors and forbids fraternization with native women.
  • Church Burning — Sailors partially burn the church before being driven away.
• Faith and Power — Christian conversion collides with racial hierarchy, royal authority, and political necessity.
  • Denied Ordination — Abner refuses to make a Hawaiian prince a minister because he is not white.
  • Deathbed Baptism — Malama accepts baptism while renouncing her traditional marriage.
• Island Catastrophe — Religious judgment and social upheaval are followed by destruction, disease, and mass death.
  • Deformed Child — A severely deformed royal child is drowned after Abner refuses help.
  • Measles Epidemic — Disease devastates the native population and kills a former royal leader.
• Abner's Transformation — Personal loss changes Abner from a rigid missionary into a defender of the Hawaiian people.
  • Wife's Death — Years of labor and childbearing lead to Abner's wife's early death.
  • Rejecting Land Profits — Abner opposes the seizure of land for settler and plantation profit.
• A Hopeful Return — Abner remains in Hawaii and receives unexpected evidence that an earlier act of compassion endured.
  • Refusing Reassignment — Abner stays in Hawaii despite being reassigned to Connecticut.
  • Saved Child Returns — The infant Abner's household rescued returns as a young man seeking to assist him.

Directed by

George Roy Hill

Key Cast

• Julie Andrews — Jerusha Bromley Hale
• Max von Sydow — Abner Hale
• Richard Harris — Rafer Hoxworth
• Gene Hackman — John Whipple
• Carroll O'Connor — Charles Bromley