I KILL BUTTERFLIES (a critical literacy task) 🦋

After reading the text and having a class discussion, I think that this story is about the different perspectives Maoris and Pakeha have. In this story, I believe that the teacher comes from a better upbringing in contrast to the small family. There was subtle evidence pointing to this throughout the story including:

• The way the grandparents spoke. They spoke in short, fast sentences with incorrect grammar and minimal complex words. At first I thought they might not know English as well as the granddaughter as if they were raised in a Maori village (I noted that the author was known particularly for the use of Maori culture in her stories, the information about the author was pretty helpful). However after a short class discussion I agreed that perhaps the grandparents did not have a good upbringing and dropped out of school possibly due to poverty or the war, judging by the time period this was written in. We estimated it to be written around the 1940's-1950's. 
• The grandparents grew their own food rather than buying it. This is perhaps because they could not afford it. 
• The quote "Because you see, your teacher, she buy all her cabbages from the supermarket and that's why." The quote was useful because I was able to interpret the story further. It also supported the idea that the family is not as wealthy as the teacher. 

THE WAY I INTERPRET THE STORY
The teacher can afford to buy her cabbages from the supermarket, unlike the grandparents. She did not understand that the girl kills the butterflies to keep them away from the cabbages her grandparents use as their primary food source.
The story was written in a way to, when explored further, let the reader know that everyone has their own perspective of something and we should not discriminate against someone for it.
But in this particular case, it was the Maori family's perspective in contrast to the wealthier Pakeha teacher.