In this article, after looking at the custom of polygamy in Papua New Guinea, at its origins, and the reason for its continued existence, I consider the representation of polygamy and its associated violence in several works of fiction: a short story in Tok Pisin and two educational novels and a short story in English. The authors of these works (two PNG men, a PNG woman, and an American woman who grew up in the country with her missionary family) give their readers a portrait of the way polygamy has been practiced both in a pre-Christian and in a contemporary context. They often underline the violence inherent in a relationship in which women have to compete to keep their position in the marriage (and so their status in society) as wife-or the favorite wife-of a big man. Finally, I show how the representation of violence against and among women in these works serves different purposes: while some authors aim to move the readers to compassion toward the victims and denounce polygamy as the cause, others seem more oriented toward discouraging women from becoming involved with polygamous men in the first place, rather than identifying polygamous men as the cause of the violence.