Bomb Fever and South Point Summary and Analysis

Hunter grows increasingly irritable, frustrated by the continued poor weather. He feels betrayed by the people who promised him that Kona weather would be sunny and mild. In retribution, Hunter celebrates Christmas Eve by detonating a large cluster of firecrackers on the doorstep of a neighboring charter fisherman. The bomb detonates prematurely and with more force than Hunter had intended. The many firecrackers within continue to blast for several seconds, the occupants of the house screaming in terror. Hunter is horrified and ridden with guilt; the joke has gone too far.

Hunter recalls the Hawaiian story of the "Law of the Splintered Oar." During a series of inter-island wars, King Kamehammeha himself took to raiding peaceful coasts. One day, a fisherman defended himself by hitting the king upside the head with an oar...