Written in 1986, wild pork and watercress, by Barry crump, is the story of Ricky Baker. Ricky is 12 years and 3 weeks old, a quarter-Maori Boy. Told in first person narrative, Ricky tells his story with humour.

Ricky is a victim of racism and the NZ social welfare system. He continues to run away from authority, and tells us he is treated differently because of his dark skin.

We learn that Ricky is misunderstood, people are too quick to make assumptions about him. Ricky is actually very clever, and a fast learner.

Ricky is finally sent to live with his aunt Bella and uncle Hec on a run down farm by a river far inland from Gisborne. ‘The Faulkners’ farm was up a valley beside a river called Apopo, and everything about the place was old and falling to bits. Aunt Bella is loving and accepting, she treats Ricky like her son. Uncle Hec is a man of few words who can be grumpy. “He can talk the talk but not walk the walk”. He is a Lazy farmer.

Chapter 10

Crump uses Ricky bakers narrators point of view to give authentic New Zealand voice to the story… Barry Crump uses language features such as colloquial language, idioms and metaphors to create a ‘typical’ NZ voice in the story. He he uses simple adjectives to describe things in the story for example,”little clearing”. He also uses idioms for example,”