@Override
  public boolean equals(final Object o) {
    if (o == null || o.getClass() != getClass()) {
      return false;
    } else if (o == this) {
      return true;
    } else {
      final ObjectInspector other = ((ParquetHiveArrayInspector) o).arrayElementInspector;
      return other.equals(arrayElementInspector);
    }
  }
The ParquetHiveArrayInspector will inspect an ArrayWritable, considering it as an Hive array.<br>
It can also inspect a List if Hive decides to inspect the result of an inspection.
ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/io/parquet/serde/ParquetHiveArrayInspector.java