Instructor Forum Response Shizuko's Daughter
Forum Commentary Shizuko’s Daughter
I have been looking at your forums and I have been pleased to see some some moving insights into Yuki’s character and into analyzing the imagery we see in Mori’s text. Truly with Mori’s work we could structure entire essays around the analysis of one image and apply it as a larger metaphor for our characters. I appreciated those posts that took this analysis seriously and delved into detail looking at particular scenes, images, and moments of dialogue from the book. They reflect some spot-on analytical thinking and are a pleasure to read.
As we move from submitting Paper 2 and then thinking about the final project many of you will be working on an option for project three that includes writing on four of our books this semester. I hope that you will use these forum posts to help develop your ideas. Go back into these discussions and think about what important themes came up and what you would want to draw into your analysis and creative writing entries. The liberating aspect of this final is the freedom you have to tailor your writing genre to specific books. There are so many options for what you could do. I am eager to see what ideas come up and I think that taking some additional time reading, or rereading, through forum discussions can be so fruitful.
I am going to keep my comments to a minimum here, still take a moment to look through these thoughtful and insightful posts. I spent some time pulling out thought-provoking commentary and detailed analytical criticism.
There have been I noticed on occasion a few shorter secondary (and sometimes first) responses. I understand how busy everyone is, and one underdeveloped post is not weighted that heavily. If however, you have noticed that you are receiving frequently lower forum grades take some time to read the examples below. Pay attention to the time invested in these responses and the specific textual support that is referenced, cited, and explored. I want everyone to finish off the semester with a strong round of forum grades.
I wanted to highlight this simple, but fascinating (and motivating), quote of a former student, Hannah—
“I can hurt for another lap" is what sticks out to me the most. This tells me that Yuki was willing to suffer to reach something. That she understood that sometimes pain is worth it because it allows you to reach something bigger than the pain. I have often felt this way, in running and in life. I think Yuki had the ability to keep her eyes on the goal and that gave her the strength to carry on when things were hard. I can't say for sure what Yuki's goal in life was that ultimately kept her going but I speculate that on top of just a normal will to live she wanted to outlast her mother.”
Now read these thoughtful forums examples. There is some excellent stuff from previous semesters you can draw from for ideas--
1) In what way does guilt play a role in the emotions or actions of the characters in this story?
From Arian:
Guilt is a big underlying theme in this story. Shizuko herself feels guilty that her daughter will most likely find her body and what Yuki will have to hear from others about her death. She attempts to make up for it in the note she writes her. “In spite of this, she wrote, please believe that I love you. People will tell you that I've done this because I did not love you. Don’t listen to them. When you grow up to be a strong women you will know this was for the best. My only concern now is that you will be the first to find me. I’m sorry” (Mori 6). She justifies her choice to kill herself so she does not feel guilty about leaving her daughter. “This is the best I can do for her, she thought, to leave her and save her from my unhappiness, from growing up to be like me” (6).
Hanae, Yuki’s stepmother, turns her own guilt into anger. She has guilt from having an affair with a man whose wife then kills herself and she has guilt from moving into the family’s home and displacing his daughter Yuki. She attempts to explain away her guilt to Yuki on the wedding day. “’There shouldn’t be any hard feelings between us, [. . .] You’ll probably hear people say all kinds of bad things about me because I was married to your father so soon after your mother’s tragic death. They may even say that I’ve always had my eye on him-that I drove your mother to her death. You know how people talk’” (16-17). She does her best to rid herself of the uncomfortable feelings by pushing away everything that makes her feel guilty. When she is forced to face Yuki or the fact that her husband had a previous wife she channels her feelings (guilt, jealousy, displacement) into one emotion, anger. “Hanae had thrown out and replaced everything else in the kitchen to avoid cooking and serving with another woman’s plates and utensils” (90). A tea set is saved for Yuki as an inheritance piece from her mother. Hanae wants to throw it away as well but Hideki, Yuki’s father, asks her not to. “Besides, she could not put it out of her sight after her husband had made such a feeble, awkward attempt at saving her feelings-repeating twice that she need not see it herself, as though the dead women’s tea set might cause her to have any special feelings. [. . .] Still, seeing it again this afternoon made Hanae feel as though a piece of metal was lodged in her rib cage” (92-93).
Hideki manages to avoid guilt (or any emotion for that matter) but makes a couple of gestures when the feeling breaks through. The china once again showcases this, “He had looked at the china for a long time, hesitating. Finally, he said, ‘Were you going to throw these away?’ [. . .] ‘Maybe you should save them. They were her best tea set.’ He frowned slightly as he said this, never mentioning his dead wife by name. [. . .] ‘Good pottery like this should be passed on as heirlooms, ‘Hideki said. ‘From mother to daughter. You could put them away if you don’t want to see them yourself’” (91). When Yuki leaves home for college her father burns the remainder of her things, he finally looks a little deeper at his buried feelings. “Most of the time, he wanted nothing to do with her. The thought of Yuki, as far as he could remember, brought him a useless sense of guilt-guilt for her mother’s unhappiness, guilt for her eventual suicide, for which, Hideki knew, Yuki held him responsible. After that, there was guilt for his remarriage, for keeping her away from her mother’s family [. . .]” (156). Yuki’s father justifies his thoughts and actions by convincing himself that guilt is useless and only the happiness of his second wife matters. His image is important and if this second marriage doesn’t work out he will be looked upon as a poor business man and will need to resign. As much as he would like to believe emotions are useless they still dominate his life through the emotions of others. He does, out of guilt, chose to save his deceased wife’s sketch book and send it to Yuki. I feel sorry for him, he is so lost in his robotic way of existence that memories elude him, so does the beauty of the world. He is out of touch, he can’t even identify trouble unless it is shouting in his face.
Yuki deals with guilt as well, but for her it is due to a lack of a relationship with her mother’s family. When her grandfather dies this emotion consumes her. “I should have seen him more often, she kept repeating to herself. [. . .] Why didn’t I spend more time with him then and before? She thought; I should have visited him no matter what my father said” (178). In Yuki’s case this guilt benefits her. It helps her to see the importance in love and the relationships she has the opportunity to cultivate in her life. I love the symbolism in the end of the story. The stubborn, sullen little boy (Yuki’s cousin) who refuses things in life due to fear or discomfort. The grandmother Masa finally convinces him to try the slide in the back. Sure enough he finds the joy in it, but doesn’t claim that joy until he is left to his own reflection.
2) Kyoki Mori often includes symbolic gestures in her stories (actions which have meanings beyond the obvious). These gestures often allow a character to show an emotion or send a message to another character without saying anything. Identify one or more of these gestures and discuss the implications.
From Forest:
A great deal of Mori’s novel invokes the use of symbolic gestures to convey emotion through actions, rather than words. Symbolism often speaks at a louder volume than words. One of the first uses of a symbolic gesture I noticed was at Yuki’s father’s wedding. A ceremonial sake in a earthenware bowl was passed to all of the guests, including Yuki (26). When the sake reaches Yuki, she intentionally drops it and breaks it on the table. This is a symbolic reference to when her father shattered Shizuko’s rice bowl against the doorsteps “so her ghost would not haunt his household or anyone in it.” (26) The intentional shattering of the sake bowl is outwardly symbolic to not only the reader, but also to the characters within the story.
A more intimate example of symbolism is found on the same page, but is portrayed through means of a kind of internal monologue. “The bowl felt heavy in her hands. As she lifted it slowly toward her mouth, the pungent smell of sake made her want to cough. She closed her eyes tight against the smell. In a blur, she saw her mother standing in front of the temple gate in her white wedding dress among wisteria blossoms and the spring breeze, her body a soft weight against the black sleeve. Mama, I can’t do it, she thought, I can’t let him forget.” The weight of the heavy bowl can be equated to the emotional weight Yuki feels in the moment. The “pungent smell of sake made her want to cough” speaks to the toxicity of the situation Yuki has found herself thrown into, she is disgusted with her father
From Andrea:
During the last hours of her life, Shizuko tries to take set things in order for Yuki. “She had meant to finish the skirt … There was so much she had planned to do - she had even meant to clean out her closet and drawers, throw away some things and pack the rest to be saved for Yuki or given away to relatives … Unable to continue with her packing, she had moved about the house, straightening the vases and pictures in the living room, cleaning the windows in the kitchen, polishing the mirror in her room” (4-5). Shizuko had the idea that by cleaning up things around the house, she would be taking care of Yuki - as if by putting things in order she would clean up the mess she would be making of Yuki’s life. As if making her a skirt and putting away clothes that she could wear when she was older would be providing what she needed for life.
Yuki brings her mother, in the form of Shizuko’s wedding picture, in a purse made by Shizuko, to the wedding of her father and step-mother. “After the second flight of stairs, Yuki slowed down to a walk and clapped the purse against her chest. Inside the purse, she was carrying a small picture from her mother’s wedding” (19). She hugs her mother to her chest as she runs away from her step-mother before the wedding and then when she meets with her aunt, “She set her purse on the empty chair next to her” (20). Once again, this is Yuki bringing her mother to the table and sitting her down next to her. This helps Yuki not feel so alone.
When Shizuko was alive, she dressed Yuki in bright colors in a celebration of her love for her daughter. “Her mother was always like that - tying big ribbons round Yuki’s hair, knitting her sweaters in bright red or purple or turquoise, colors that made her stand out” (44). But after her mother dies, Yuki mourns her loss by cutting her hair. “Since her mother’s death, she had her hair cut so short that from the back, people often thought she was a boy” (44). There was no one who was watching for her, cheering her on, so there was no point in wearing the ribbons in her hair. Not only was Yuki mourning the loss of her mother, she began to fade away. “Yuki took off her shoes and climbed up the stairs holding her breath, trying not to make any noise” (72). It was safer for her to be quiet and invisible in her new living situation. “As usual, Yuki’s room was clean … She did this every morning before going to school … Hanae tried the desk drawers. As always, they were locked” (95). Yuki is not only staying out of Hanae’s way by being quiet, but also keeping Hanae out of her life by keeping her room spotless to the point of being impersonal and locked up.
3) In what ways do the expectations or taboos within the Japanese culture create problems not just for Yuki, but for other characters in the story?
From Kelsea:
“I believe one of the biggest expectation of the Japanese culture that was limiting to Yuki was that she had to respect her spineless father and evil new step mother. She is forced to live with them when they marry each other, but Yuki knows they had been having an affair long before her mother died, and that the affair was a large factor in her mother's suicide. She isn't allowed to speak ill of her parents with any adults, even though her home life is incredibly horrific, and emotionally damaging. Her new step mother is horrible to Yuki and throws out/burns most of Yuki's physical memories of her mother. She also blames Yuki for any bad thing that could happen, and is angry with Yuki for being upset about her mother's death. She doesn't allow Yuki time to mourn properly--no one really does.
I think one thing that also really affected Yuki's life is what divorce was like for Japanese families, and that this was almost a taboo issue. Perhaps if her mother had been certain that she could have taken Yuki with her after divorcing her father, then she might not have killed herself, providing Yuki with an entirely different life. But her parents hadn't been able to discuss divorce, her father was an emotionless prick, and her mother couldn't handle being cheated on for years by the man she had stood beside in sickness and in health. It's weird to think that if this story had taken place in the United States, then maybe Yuki's mother would be alive and would have left her father for cheating, and the step mom and father could have lived miserably together until she left him too. Yuki's life could have been a lot better if her father hadn't forced a new mother on her a year after her own mom had passed away, or if she had a supportive, loving family taking care of her during her adolescent years (when guidance is most important).”
From Arian:
…..Agreed, there were responsibilities Hanae undertook (no matter how poorly) due to what was traditional in her society. She always worried what "they" will be saying about her. Hanae tryed her best to give an outer impression of a normal life blaming Yuki for trying to make her look bad. "' They're thinking that I drove her away from her own house because I was a bad stepmother. Anyone can tell she left all of a sudden, without telling us much. They'll see how she never comes back even for short visits. They'll say it was all my fault'" (150-151).
I felt one of the reasons Shizuko killed herself was due to her feeling trapped. Yuki was her greatest love. If she would've chosen to put her happiness first ahead of her life with her daughter, and leave Yuki's father, she wouldn't have been able to take Yuki with her. It is Japanese tradition that the father keep the child. "' When a couple gets divorced,' Shizuko answered, 'the children usually remain with the father [. . .] the mother almost always winds up alone'" (121-122). This would've been to painful for her mother.
Mr. Kimura an old childhood friend of Shizuko who attempts to reignite their friendship tells Yuki, "'Your mother called me later that night and said it was the last time she would call or see me. She said she was too unhappy to be my friend, it wouldn't be right. I tried to persuade her to let me see her now and then, just as a friend. but she wouldn't change her mind.'" Yuki replies, "'Yes. She couldn't be your friend because of me'" (138-139). It would be nice to think this would've worked out differently had Shizuko chosen Mr. Kimura but she would've shamed her husband. Even in America where divorce is common, it is never easy, and many times the parents use the children to hurt one another. I believe Shizuko was afraid of this and couldn't bear the thought of losing Yuki, she would remain miserable no matter what choice she made. Instead of staying around and raising Yuki with her depressed, weak attitude she thought Yuki had a better chance at being strong if her influence was gone.
4) Although Shizuko and Yuki are very close, they do not have identical personality traits. In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different? What traits identify Yuki as a survivor?
From Hannah:
I think that Shizuko and Yuki were alike in quite a few ways. I saw both of them at different times being naturally spunky and independent and thinking outside of the traditional norms. For example when Shizuko's mother thinks she has a done a good thing for her daughter by arranging a good marriage for her she has another thing coming. Shizuko is furious that she would have to marry someone she does not love or even know. Her mother, thinking she won't do it, tells her that if she won't marry the man then she must bring the wedding gifts back and tell them in person. But Shizuko is determined, "your mother got up early before anyone else was awake to stop her, walked to the landowner's house, returned the gifts, and told them that if she ever wanted to get married, she would find her own husband." (22) And she preceded to get a job to help her family out and then to eventually find her own husband and marry for love. Now that marriage didn't end well for her, but she went for what she wanted and believed in for herself and I saw Yuki doing the same thing as she grew up without her mother. She had her hair cut short which was not normal for girls her age, she continued wearing her more childish clothes even though her new step mother hated them and wanted her to wear more sophisticated things and she often spoke her mind when it would have been more traditional to hold her tongue. It was a littler harder for me to get a sense for how they were different but I think that overall Yuki was more tomboyish than her mother.
I think Yuki's determination in her running is one of the things that identifies her as a survivor. I could relate to her thoughts when she kicked in to higher gear a bit too early in her race but wouldn't let that stop her from winning. "By the time she was beginning the last lap, her shoulders hurt - sharp pains like knife points. She was breathing hard, very hard by now. Only another lap, she told herself, I can hurt for another lap. She no longer heard anyone behind her. She couldn't tell if they were too far back or if the loudness of her own breathing and heartbeat deafened her." (48) "I can hurt for another lap" is what sticks out to me the most. This tells me that Yuki was willing to suffer to reach something. That she understood that sometimes pain is worth it because it allows you to reach something bigger than the pain. I have often felt this way, in running and in life. I think Yuki had the ability to keep her eyes on the goal and that gave her the strength to carry on when things were hard. I can't say for sure what Yuki's goal in life was that ultimately kept her going but I speculate that on top of just a normal will to live she wanted to outlast her mother. Of course she had already outlasted her mother since her mother was already gone but I mean this in a different way. She wanted to live a full life, while her mother had ended hers prematurely. I know she hasn't explicitly stated this (at least not yet) but I think it could be one of her underlying driving forces. She definitely has some anger towards her mother for taking her own life and leaving her like that. Maybe Yuki wants to survive to prove to her mother that survival is possible. “
From Amanda:
“I agree that both Shizuko and Yuki are defiant and the examples you provided were great ones to demonstrate their defiance. You mentioned that Yuki was honest and I also see where Shizuko was very honest as well. I would add to your comments in regard to Shizuko that she was truthful even in her final moments. Shizuko originally writes a final letter to her husband wishing him to be happy which she ends up tearing up because she doesn’t want to lie. She said, “I cannot say that. That is a lie. I cannot, must not, tell a lie now” (7). Therefore, she left no note at all, signifying that she didn’t have much care left for her husband after how he had treated her. Another example in the book of Yuki’s honesty was when she thought, “It was better to be silent than to lie or be insincere. She couldn’t thank him unless she felt real gratitude toward him” (195) about her father sending her mother’s sketchbook. There are multiple places in the story of both Shizuko and Yuki’s honestly.
At this point in the book, I haven’t quite determined if I feel Shizuko has lost her fire. That would be a common thought to have being that she committed suicide, but I wonder if it is the exact opposite actually. Often I’ve heard that suicide victims feel that their dying is better for those around them. Had Shizuko divorced her husband she would most likely had to leave Yuki with her father while she returned to her parents as that was the norm in their culture. Perhaps she felt that her being dead, rather than her being alive and not being able to see Yuki often or live with her, would be easier on Yuki. Potentially that would have made Yuki feel more abandoned than she did. Or maybe it was a way of acting out against her husband and his actions as he could no longer hurt her. He couldn’t have that control over her any longer. I’m just not sure at this point, but it definitely makes me question the real reasons behind her decision. That being said, I find it harder to find ways they were not alike than were as her decision to commit suicide could be a defiant act as well.
As far as Yuki being a survivor; it’s clear she is. I think she buries a lot of her emotions in regard to her mother’s death and she stays extremely busy so that she isn’t distracted with her feelings of her mother. I’m not sure she ever really copes with her mother dying. She had a breakthrough years after her mother’s death at her grandmother’s house when she finally talks about the day her mother died. Often though, she gets caught up in her everyday life. I agree with your statement that Yuki finds strength from wanting to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. When looking through her mother’s sketchbook she is thinking, “This is how my mother saw me, she thought, such a happy child” (191). She wanted to be that happy child for her mother. She wanted to live, and at this point in the story love despite losing her mother.”
5) What passages in the story stood out for you because of the language of imagery?
From Meri:
“Yuki looked away from them at the webwork of branches above her, the sky so far behind them like an endless pit she could fall into backward. She tried to imagine the persimmons in the fall, bright orange bells on bare branches, promises of untasted sweetness. But she had never seen them, only in photographs (142-143).”
This passage always stands out to me whenever I read it. There is just something about the imagery, specifically when she mentions the braches and the night sky behind them that brings to life our own universal memories of stargazing. I think every one of us has found ourselves in this position at least once. When we are alone in the darkness and gazing up at the sky and stars, considering our lives and our choices, reminiscing or regretting, there is a particular clarity to being so small in such a big world. I think we can all relate to this feeling but I do not do it justice with my words whereas Kyoko Mori has a gift of being able to paint emotion with beauty and ease. I do not know if it is the Japanese cultural or Mori’s own personal style that influences her structure and phrasing, but I noticed that she writes, “She could fall into backward.” It might just be me, but had I written that line I would have most likely phrased it as, “She could fall backwards into.” Kyoko’s wording reflects the proper culture of Japan that so often serves as a limitation to Yuki. Lastly, not only were the last two lines written beautifully, with the persimmons being likened to bells on bare branches and given the human ability to promise, it can also serve as an excellent analogy.
Right before the passage I quoted, Yuki was speaking with Mr. Kimura about his marriage to her Aunt Aya, her mother and love in general. Yuki says that she believes love eventually comes to nothing one way or the other. Mr. Kimura tells her that he used to feel that wat, but it had changed for him as he’s gotten to be forty-five and forty-six and he believes it’s worth it all the same. This leaves her pondering, “Yuki tried to imagine it- herself at forty-five feeling that love was worthwhile. It was difficult. All she could think of was herself now running around the track, a fast lap, a slow lap, endlessly, while the others fell in love (142).”
These two passages are direct reflections of each other. Yuki tries to imagine herself at forty-five feeling that love is a worthwhile and beautiful thing (she tried to imagine the persimmons in the fall, bright orange bells on bare branches) that can make things feel so much better (promises of untasted sweetness). But all she can see is herself now running around the track (but she had never seen them) while the others fell in love (only in photographs).”
From Esther:
Yuki is responsible for most of the imagery in the novel. Reading the novel mostly through her eyes was a beautiful experience. She sees things differently. A pine tree is a “fox in a wedding dress”(138). A fillet of fish is “packed like fallen peony petals, pinkish white”(129). A purple iris looks like “long spikes like flames on candles…She thought of jumping over their purple fire.”(40) Her perspective is what makes this story interesting. The other details, her mother’s suicide, her stepmother’s disregard of her, and her father’s infidelity, though painful, could have happened to any character. But they happened to Yuki and she had the ability to describe her emotions through imagery. Her imagination functioned as escapism for her; she was able to control the world, to shape it in her own way.
And what makes her situation so different is that she doesn’t have a close advocate…she had one, her mother, but then she lost her. No one really understands her. Her aunt and grandmother care for her, but they don’t really understand. Her aunt writes, “I look forward to you letters every month, but I do not write back out of respect for your father’s wishes,”(114). It is a passive sort of love, one that won’t take risks for Yuki. And Yuki’s friend, Sachiko, doesn’t want to continue their friendship past the summer, Sachiko had said that she would see her later, but “she didn’t really mean it. They would never meet again.”(69) Sachiko was the first person, besides her mother, that Sachiko really cared deeply about and she was ultimately rejected.
So Yuki has herself and her thoughts. She is constantly drawn back to her memories of her mother because she was the one that understood her imagery. They ate maple leaves together and decided that they tasted like “delicious mountain air” and “a south wind”(107). And when Yuki becomes embarrassed when a friend is changing a baby in front of her, her mother doesn’t chide her like her stepmother and even her grandmother do. Her mother only laughs and says “Oh, Yuki,” lovingly (117). If Yuki hadn’t been blessed with her mother in her childhood, she would have been a different person. It made her what she was, even in adulthood. Losing her mother made her fight to keep the child that her mother had made her.
From Andrea:
….I too enjoyed the imagery of the cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms (Sakura) are important in the Japanese culture. Japanese people celebrate the blossoming of the cherry trees with tours and picnics much like we in Northern Michigan take fall color tours. The cherry blossom represents the beauty and fragility of life which, like the lifespan of the cherry blossom, is fleeting. Did you notice that Mori uses the imagery of cherry blossoms more than once? First in the quote that you shared, “She was watching Yuki chasing the white cherry blossom petals that were blowing about in the wind. They were coming down like confetti. Yuki ran around and around the tree in her pink spring dress and caught the petals midair” (1-2). That this image is from the dream that Shizuko has the afternoon before she commits suicide is a very powerful image especially if you understand the symbolism of the cherry blossom. The image of the cherry blossom is used again to represent Shizuko’s fragile and short life as she tears up the note to her husband and takes her last breaths. “Shizuko held the note near her face for another moment, making sure that it was the one she wanted, and then tore it into tiny bits. Sick for breath she tossed up the bits of paper and watched them come down like confetti, like the white petals of cherry blossoms”(7). Once again the cherry blossoms are compared to confetti. Confetti is used in celebrations, so I think Mori is using the imagery to celebrate Shizuko’s fragile life.
Another strong imagery that is symbolic of life is the iris. In Japan, the iris represents a warrior spirit or bravery. Mori uses the imagery and symbolism of the iris throughout the novel but most powerfully when Yuki notices that the irises continue blooming even after her mother dies. “Her mother had thought that Yuki, too, would go on without her” (42). Yuki has a warrior spirit and is incredibly brave but in this moment feels more like the irises in that, “Irises flowered sparingly, unlike roses and peonies that bloomed all at once and shed. When the irises faded, they shriveled into themselves like punctured balloons and dried up; not a petal fell to the ground” (42). I love the imagery of the punctured balloon drying up. Yuki can relate to the iris because she feels like she has been punctured and is deflated and dry inside. She will bloom sparingly, if at all. Mori’s imagery is very powerful in the book Shizuko’s Daughter and makes the reading more enjoyable.
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1) The chapter called "Homemaking" is an interesting one mixed with memories of the past as well as school events. Why is this chapter important in developing Yuki's character? Are there other chapters that are equally significant?
From Kaylee:
"Homemaking" is an important chapter that highlights many aspects of Yuki's character that result from her mother's death. Yuki lacks many "homemaking" skills - such as cooking and sewing - due to her lack of a supportive maternal figure. "Yuki wondered if she would be better at homemaking if her mother were still alive" (113). She struggles with this and is treated poorly by her homemaking teacher. Because she does not have that support and inclination for the typical women's duties, she feels alienated from her peers. "Still, she wouldn't have asked her mother for help and then criticized her the way her friends did" (113). This demonstrates her uniqueness from her culture. The loss of her mother gives her an insightful maturity which sets her apart from other teenagers. And though she's not the greatest cook, she is a talented artist. Her love for art is another example of how she's different from the norm of her culture. "When the batter hardened, the pan looked like the craters of the moon. Yuki took it to her advanced painting class. She painted the ruined pan against a background of a perfectly set table and called it Homemaking" (110). Using art as a means of expression and coping allows Yuki to remain sane and content despite the adversities she faces. "Yuki decided to remember and draw the clothes her mother had made for her. She was afraid that all the things that had happened to her in the last three years might crowd up her mind and erase her memories about her mother, the way you could record over something by mistake on a tape recorder" (114).
Yuki's connection to nature and her mother is clearly illustrated in this chapter. As she gathered foliage for her class, the smells of nature reminded her of memories with her mother. "Their smell reminded her of the delicious mountain air she and her mother had eaten" (115). Yuki feels connected to her mother through nature, and this connection is a source of comfort for Yuki. It is also a glimpse into her insightful personality. This is also evident by her aversion to the frog dissection - not necessarily because she is squeamish, but because she believes in the integrity of nature. The frogs should not be defiled if nothing is to gain from them.As she releases the frogs, she feels another connection to her mother through the scent of the formaldehyde. Her disobedience to her teacher and sabotage of the lab is another example of her disregard for her culture.
From Arian:
This chapter shows how Yuki is constantly haunted by her mother’s memory and how the adult world is unwilling to see her pain or her situation. The fact that neither of her teachers takes the time to question Yuki’s feelings or home life makes the teachers appear cold and removed. Their attitudes make more sense when we realize her culture focuses on collectivism not the individual. It’s as if they are disappointed in Yuki for standing out and causing ripples in their classrooms. They expect her to put the morale of the classroom ahead of her internal feelings. But Yuki is suffering with her loss of a companion and best friend. The constant reminders of her mother are hard for her; she has no one to talk to about her feelings. She disposes of the formaldehyde frogs as a way to dispose of the thoughts of her mother’s death.
“She lifted the lid off the jar. The smell of formaldehyde gagged her. It wasn’t the same smell that she remembered from her mother’s funeral. Still it reminded her of standing outside the crematorium while her mother’s body was burned. [. . .] Her insides ached as though she was holding something that had sharp edges. [. . .] She leaned out the window, flung out her arms, tipped the jar upside down and held it there. The dead frogs fell out of the jar into the space between the wall and the bushes. [. . .] She emptied the leaves into the jar. [. . .] . . she sprinted toward the woods for more maple leaves like clustered flames, pine needles that smelled of mountain air. [. . .] Still, she would return in time to fill the tables with color. She began to smile as she ran” (112).
Yuki is attempting to bring the beauty of nature into the world around her in order to help push away the pain. The maple leaves and pine bring back a loving memory of time she spent with her mother. It is important to see Yuki’s feelings towards her mother because it helps us understand how she can go on and how she is able to see the artfulness of the world in spite of all the sadness and pain. We see how she copes and still cherishes her mother’s memory. In chap. 7, Yellow Mittens and Early Violets, we are witness to Yuki’s anger and pain caused by her mother’s death. In this chapter she is with her grandparents who love her dearly. Yuki is most comfortable here so her grandparents are the ones who Yuki chooses to unleash her pain on. “’I’ve been so awful,’ Yuki said, turning back to Masa, ‘ever since Mama died. I don’t know why. It’s like I just can’t stop being that way. Everything seems so terrible, I don’t know what to do except be awful myself. [. . .] I get mad at everything and everyone, even you. I don’t know what for. But I do love you and Grandpa’” (87). There are memories of better days from Yuki’s childhood in this chapter too. Here they are used to show us Yuki’s strong will and spirit so we can see why her mother thought Yuki would be able to survive her death. This also shows us the parallel in Yuki’s personality to her mother’s. They were both wild at heart as children. Both of these chapters give us hope for Yuki, we see her trying to break from her sorrow. I loved the end of Yellow Mittens, “Masa closed her eyes and held her tighter. Yuki’s cheek was warm against her shoulder and her hair smelled of sunlight and early spring” (88). Warm, sunlight and spring are words that enlist hope and comfort.
From Andrea:
The chapter entitled “Homemaking” in Kyoko Mori’s novel Shizuko’s Daughter, is one of my favorites. The reader really gets to see inside Yuki’s character. Her personality really shines through. In this chapter, we learn of more adult disappointment in Yuki. When Yuki doesn’t want to dissect a frog, her science teacher, Mr. Wada says, “I’m sorry you have gotten to be a high school junior without learning to enjoy the scientific process. … I’m disappointed. I always thought you were a good student” (103, 104). In her Homemaking class, “…everyone in the class agreed that Miss Sakai had a special dislike for Yuki” (105). Although, she is surrounded by adult disapproval, Yuki continues to express her individuality and creativeness. When sent out to get colorful leaves for the table setting, instead of making sure she returned in time to get credit for her work, Yuki takes a side trip to the biology lab and dumps the frogs out the window, replacing them with the leaves and pine needles she has collected. And although she would be late returning to Homemaking class and fail the day’s lesson, “Still, she would return in time to fill the tables with color. She began to smile as she ran” (112). Yuki had found a way to get out of dissecting the frog but also was able to use her artistic gift to decorate the tables in class.
My favorite scene is when the cupcake batter overflows in the oven; Yuki creates a sketch. “When the batter hardened, the pan looked like the craters of the moon. Yuki took it to her advanced painting class. She painted the ruined pan against the background of a perfectly set table and called it Homemaking” (105). To me this symbolizes Yuki’s life. She takes something that is considered a failure in one class and makes it into a piece of art that is honored in another. “Her art teacher hung the painting in the hallway where he displayed the best work by his students every term” (105). The burnt pan amongst the perfectly set table parallels her life which is perfectly set by her step-mother but is actually a disaster.
This chapter of the novel illustrates Yuki’s spunk and athleticism, her creativity and resilience. It also contains two of my favorite images. It includes the memory of when Yuki and her mother take a trip to the mountain northeast of Kobe and at the bottom they purchase battered and fried maple leaves. “She and her mother shared a plate of them, all the time trying to describe to each other what they tasted like. Finally, her mother said, ‘It’s like eating air, delicious mountain air.’ ‘Or maybe a wind’ Yuki said. ‘I’m eating a south wind’” (107). Also when Yuki is making sketches of the clothes and other items from her mother and she remembers a dress she had forgotten, “One afternoon, a dress she had forgotten about came flying out of nowhere into her memory while she was shelving books. It came to her with its ruby red sleeves open wide, the row of buttons shining down the front” (109). The dress came to her, like her mother would, with arms wide open ready to embrace her. Lovely.
The other chapter that stands out as really developing Yuki’s character, is the chapter entitled “Winter Sky” (128). In this chapter, we learn of Yuki’s dislike of eating fish (for reasons similar to dissecting frogs and which leads to her vegetarianism) and her relationship with her mother’s family. “Yuki wouldn’t be able to eat the fish, and Uncle Saburo would make fun of her the way he had made fun of her squeamishness all her life, those times he had gone fishing for bass or pike and she had refused to eat any of them” (129). We hear the longing in her thoughts, “Her grandparents’ house seemed more familiar now then her father’s, where her stepmother had replaced everything” (130). We also see her strength and hear her anger as she discusses where she wants to go to college. “‘I couldn’t care less about the reputation,’ Yuki said to her grandmother. … ‘I couldn’t go to the national university or any other school in Kobe because my father and his wife wouldn’t let me move out of their house then” (133). And when it becomes known that she has not spoken with her father about this choice, she states “‘What does it matter to you?’ Yuki said, ‘or to me? In a month I’ll be gone to Nagasaki and I’ll never hear from them or write to them’” (134).
This is the first time we see the depth of her anger at her home situation bubble over and it is strong and shocking, not just to her grandmother, but to the reader too! It’s a powerful scene which is resolved when Mr. Kimura, her mother’s friend and aunt’s new husband, brings her jacket outside where Yuki has retreated after the college discussion. They discuss Mr. Kimura’s relationship with Shizuko. Mr. Kimura addresses the sadness of Shizuko’s passing when he states, “‘I wanted you to be at my wedding because I wouldn’t have met Aya if it wasn’t for you. Your bringing us together was the one good thing that came out of so much sadness. I’m glad you came’” (139). So rarely, since her mother’s death, has anyone let Yuki know that she was valued and that her mother was missed. The imagery that best illustrates Yuki’s feelings at this time is, “All she could think of was herself now running around the track, a fast lap, a slow lap, endlessly, while the others fell in love” (142). The futility and hopelessness of life tears at the readers heart at this image.
2) During the story, Yuki seems to have only two close friendships, one with Sachiko and one with Isamu. Why does she feel drawn to these individuals? Why does she seem to avoid other relationships?
From Esther:
Because of the way that the novel is written, in flashbacks, the reader is able to experience Yuki’s relationship with her mother. It is clear by the focus on this relationship that it is both a past and present relationship. For this reason, I would argue that Yuki’s mother is really her closest friend, even though she has died. Yuki’s memories of her give her strength and comfort. It is a closer, more intimate connection than even Yuki’s relationship with Isamu. Even when she opens up to Isamu as a boyfriend, it still isn’t the same as her openness with her mother. Consider this passage: “I’m glad you said you would go on without me. You are a strong person. That’s good.” She leaned forward slowly and hugged her. Yuki hugged her back hard. “I don’t want to talk about how you won’t be here someday,” she said, her voice muffled against her mother’s hair.” (40)
Yuki displays an openness and physical expression with her mother that she is hesitant to show even with Isamu. When he kisses her wrist, for example, she jerks away (185) and doesn’t allow herself to embrace him. She avoids this relationship because she was so close to her mother and she was wounded so much by her death. Though, her memories comfort her, her best friend (her mother) isn’t actually present. She doesn’t want to trust someone that much again.
As for Sachiko, I question whether it was a true friendship. It seemed to be more of a one-sided attraction on Yuki’s end. Sachiko appreciated Yuki because of her running talent, but the relationship faded after Sachiko’s mother asked about Yuki’s mother and she wasn’t completely honest about it. This fact haunts Yuki, and she fantasizes about if it would be different if she had told the truth: “Sachiko and her mother didn’t get up from the table and say, “No, you must stay,” the way people did when a guest was about to leave. They sat in silence. Yuki ran out of the house…she was never asked back.”(71) And later, when Yuki asks Sachiko to continue running together even after the summer, Sachiko refuses. In terms of Yuki’s perspective, she did care about Sachiko, but Sachiko didn’t feel the same way. She is drawn to Sachiko because of her talent and her self-possessed nature, in the same way that she is attracted to Isamu because of his talent with photography. Unlike Sachiko, however, Isamu truly cares for Yuki and is there to support her.
From Andrea:
I agree with Esther that Shizuko was Yuki’s closest friend and with Tia that, after her mother’s death, Yuki was unable to allow herself to be vulnerable enough to have a close friend. In memories from her early life, Yuki never has another friend besides her mother. Is this because the mother daughter relationship was so all encompassing or is this just part of Yuki’s personality? Yuki is a bright, creative girl and her classmates seem to like and support her, as seen by their response when she is struggling in her homemaking class and, “Now everyone in the class agreed that Miss Sakai had a special dislike for Yuki” (105). Yuki’s classmates appreciated and respected her gifts, so when she asks to get decorations from the woods for the table setting, another student says, “‘She’ll be good with colors, don’t you think? She’s an artist. Besides, she can get to the woods and back faster than any of us. She runs faster than any other girl in the whole city.’ ‘Yes,’ another girl said. ‘If you send someone else, our tempura could be stone cold before they come back.’ A ripple of laughter went through the class” (106). Yuki could have had intimate friends if she wasn’t, by this time especially, so afraid of being open to that type of relationship.
When Yuki first sees Sachiko, she notices her long thick hair, her beautiful long neck, and the gracefulness with which she runs the hurdles. Yuki thinks, “If she would only talk to me, Yuki thought again. Then I would be happy for the rest of today, and perhaps even longer” (46). Sachiko actually knew Yuki’s name and about her life as evidenced by her statement, “‘My friends said that they admired you a lot because you’ve done so well in everything even though… your mother’s passed away and your father and stepmother never come to see you run or make speeches or anything’” (51). They were running partners but Yuki wanted something more, “She tried to think of a way to tell Sachiko that they should continue meeting every week - but what could they do together besides running? … Yuki sometimes went to movies with friends, but never with just one of them. … Even if she could think of something they might do together, she wouldn’t know how to bring it up in the half hour they would be running” (58). Once again, Yuki notices that she is able to be go out with a group of friends but doesn’t know how to take a friendship to the level of intimacy. This may lead some to think that Yuki might want a romantic relationship with Sachiko but in reality, she just wants to be close to someone - Yuki has no relationship in her life in which she is accepted for who she is and in which she can be vulnerable and share her hurts and her dreams.
The reason Yuki struggles in her relationship with Isamu is that she is afraid to open up and be vulnerable with another person, especially after having been hurt so many times and so deeply in the past. When Isamu first tells Yuki of his interest in her she silently moves away from him but, because the real desire of her heart is to have a deeper relationship with another person, Yuki takes the risk and, “‘I’ll call you after work!’ she shouted. ‘I’ll see you later’” (186). She begins to open herself up to the risk of a relationship and the deep hurt that she experienced when her mother died. Yuki crosses the final barrier towards an intimate relationship with Isamu as she considers her grandmother’s grief at the loss of her husband, “Maybe she would have been better off, Yuki thought, if she hadn’t loved him in the first place, if she had been alone all along. Still, even while she was witnessing her grandmother’s grief, Yuki kept thinking of Isamu” (193). Following this reflection, Yuki is able to come to the conclusion that, “She [Yuki’s mother] would want me [Yuki] to look beyond her unhappiness” (194). Yuki has processed enough of the grief over her mother’s death that she is able to move into a new, intimate, and fulfilling relationship.
3) Unlike A Step From Heaven, this story is written in third person. The narrator gives insight into the minds of the father, Hideki, the stepmother, Hanae, the grandmother and grandfather, and even Shizuko. Which passages or scenes, written from the perspectives of these other characters, made you feel more or less sympathetic to these individuals? How do these scenes add to your understanding of the cultural attitudes that surround these characters?
From Meri:
While almost every passage, regardless of whose perspective it is from, makes me feel less sympathetic to Hanae, there were a few specific ones that really hit the nail on the head for me.
“There shouldn’t be any hard feelings between us,” the bride was saying. “You’ll probably hear people say all kinds of bad things about me because I was married to your father so soon after your mother’s tragic death. They may even say that I’ve always had my eye on him- that I drove your mother to her death. You know how people talk (16-17).”
Perhaps this wouldn’t bother me as much if I didn’t know from later on in the book that she had been having an affair with Hidecki, despite telling Yuki that there had been nothing between them. I do not condone cheating and I am absolute in that. I believe faithfulness and honesty are a must in all relationships. One can choose to leave their significant other without betraying them first, regardless of how it might look to someone else or what is acceptable in their culture. One can also choose to put the energy they invest in their affair and the hiding of it into working on their current committed relationship. We all have choices, and while monogamy may pose a difficulty at some point, it is a conscious decision to cheat. It is unacceptable. I also believe it is low, cruel and disgusting to make moves toward an individual you know is taken. Hanae is a manipulative woman and she is both cold and calculating. You’ll notice in her above conversation with Yuki, whom she had only just met, she casually mentions Shizuko’s death as if it is nothing more than [passing conversation. She does this twice and it is only a year after Shizuko’s death. She is more concerned with the opinions of others and making sure that they do not influence Yuki in a way that she will not like.
Later on, after Hanae had gone to the doctor’s office about having a child and was told she was unable, her thoughts again revealed her to be a repulsive and selfish woman, “Everyone admired Yuki- so bright, so talented. Hanae was sick of the compliments- compliments that implied that she was fortunate to have such an exceptional step-daughter. Above all, she was sick of not being able to contradict them. She had to thank the admirers with a smile and let on that she and Yuki hardly spoke to each other (95).”
Not only do I not feel sympathy for someone who consciously wrecks a home, I also do not care for manipulative and self-serving people. These passages, along with any and all of Hanae’s story we are privy to in the book, not only lessen my sympathy for her but erases the possibility of me ever feeling any.
4) Kyoko Mori uses flowers and objects in nature over and over again to give insight into an emotion. In fact, the chapter titles seem to often focus more on weather, flowers, and seasons than they do on anything else. Why is this style effective? What other aspects of her style seem important?
From Autumn:
…..I would like to add to this thought on the descriptive talent that Mori possesses, while I would completely agree with your conclusion about these moments bringing out the life in the story for the readers I would like to look also at how it might relate to the way in which Mori wanted to portray her characters.
For instance, in the moment when the fish was being described in great detail it was Yuki who was being referred to as the one pondering on the way in which it would be cooked (129), this shows how Yuki is very perceptive even in the things that she dislikes in the world and I believe that Mori set it up this way on purpose. Where instead of simply describing scenery to the audience she describes the ways in which each character sees these objects and sceneries in their own ways. Yuki being the main character of course had the most explanation to the things she saw and the connections that she makes with every thought to flowers and nature. Such as the moment that Yuki saw the azalea bushes and their sweetness on the inside if one were to simply taste it (55). This was not something that the reader would be able to connect between Yuki's thought and her character, however upon looking closer it can be seen that that is exactly what it is.
The way that Yuki thinks about the sweetness of the flowers and how they take a great care to brush the pollen off in order to taste it, these are especially important because they represent the things that Yuki is striving to find in her life. Her mother being brought up in memory from this is no coincidence either. I believe that Mori aligns the descriptions of scenery and nature up just so in a way that gives the reader another insight as to the true emotions that is going on within Yuki and all of the other characters.
5. What connections do you find between this story and others we have read? What else would you like to discuss related to Shizuko's Daughter?
From Kelsea:
One subject that seems pretty repeated across the books and in the different characters is having a rough childhood, or a bad relationship with their parents, but pushing towards success and happiness in the end, despite what has happened in their younger years. It seems almost taboo for these kids to talk about what is happening in their home lives, and everyone seems very reserved when it comes to talking about their situations with their parents. For example, Yuki doesn't talk with anyone of her friends about her mother's suicide, or her father's new wife. Yuki spends most of her time at school or doing school-related events, working on homework or art, or just locked in her room. She does not talk or hardly eat with her family and only briefly mentions her mother's suicide to her friend Sachiko and Sachiko's mother, and they all sat in silence, not knowing what to say. Topics like this weren't to be talked about. Yuki ran out without talking anymore. Reflecting on that situation, Yuki wishes she had said "my mother died because she was unhappy...it was no accident. She meant to die....I want to work hard and be happy for her because that's what she wanted. I promised her I'd go on. I want to live and be a good person" (76).
Another example of a book that has this theme of "silence and success" would be Barefoot Heart, because Elva never once told anyone at school or any of her friends about her living conditions or her mother's freak-outs, or that her father was distant and not warm or loving. Even if she had said something, they probably wouldn't have helped her. This was just kind of the way the Mexican families lived during this time, and it wasn't talked about that their living conditions weren't ideal. White kids and the Mexican migrants didn't really become friends because they lived on different parts of town. In the end of this book, Elva gets an amazing cooporate job and makes tons of money, then comes back to her childhood home and it is no longer there. She is a business woman who put herself through college and goes to fancy golf clubs and goes shopping for expensive vehicles, and goes home to look at the shack she and her large family had lived in. It was just interesting in this situation to see how she reflected on her childhood as a successful adult.
Even when I was in school, I had bad living conditions, unmet needs, and was put into situations children shouldn't be exposed to. However, I didn't tell other adults, school administrators, or my friends what I was experiencing out of fear of being judged, just like Yuki and Elva. During my teen years, I felt much like Jason in Godless, because of the way my family chose to raise me and the ideals they felt were necessary for me to have. I didn't really have a healthy, safe place to talk about my fanatically religious family and neither did Jason. Religion can be related with restriction to a young mind who is challenging what they are told. As much as I wanted to, I never spoke out about my parents and their forcing me to go to church (until I was 17 begging not to go, kicking or screaming, or with tears rolling down my face). I felt oppressed in a lot of ways, and I was very like Yuki, very kept to myself at home. I often locked myself in my room and didn't eat meals with my family. My real father was never in my life, and my mom had me at 17. She remarried and had another child by the time I was 4, so I was in a somewhat similar situation to Yuki. I had to accept a new parent into my life and listen to his rules and ideals for my life, even though I was angry at the dad I never had a relationship with, and angry with this person who was now my "dad" telling me what to do and how to live my life. This situation is a little different than Yuki's however, because my new dad would never take away pictures or memorabilia of my biological father, and would never force me not to be sad or think about my other parent (like Yuki's new step mother did with her).
From Tiffany:
The connections that I find between this story and others we have read is the focus upon the culture of an individual and how their life is impacted by this culture. Each novel focuses in on a young adolescent individual who is battling what is expected of them and how they go about their journey trying to understand themselves and set them apart from the rest of society. Hazel in the novel The Fault in Our Stars doesn’t want to be defined by her cancer and tries to live a life of normality that isn’t being restricted by the fact that she has a terminal diagnosis. With the help of her friend Augustus, Hazel goes against what is expected of someone who has cancer, and travels to another country and accomplishes tasks that she has been told she couldn’t do. In the instance of the novel Monster, Steve Harmon experiences the stigma that is held against young adolescent black males, that they are a monster to society. Harmon experiences difficulty in trying to establish his own personality throughout this experience in his life because he starts to believe that he truly must be a monster like everyone is saying. “It was me who wasn’t sure. It was me who lay on the cot wondering if I was fooling myself” (148). Within our most recent novel, Shizuko’s Daughter, she is faced with a very traumatic situation with the death of her mother and the Japanese culture plays an effect with how her future will unfold. For example, the culture required that Shizuko return to the home of her father after only a year of mourning. Shizuko is very unhappy with this because she knows that her father was unfaithful to her mother, and the articles that her mother had throughout the house or created for Shizuko was tossed away by her new step mother. I believe that each individual holds a relationship with their culture that they are within, yet each individual holds the power to go against or follow this said culture.
After review of these novels it made me realize that I am blessed with a wonderful family, I am healthy, I am able to receive a higher education, and I have a well-paying job. I don't really know what it's like to live within destitute streets, and I was given a first-hand account of what it is like to live within poverty of an inner city. I am blessed in knowing that I have two wonderful parents who give everything that they can and push me each and everyday to be the best person that I can be . Working in the hospital with a well-paying job that allows me to drive a reliable vehicle, I have noticed the hardships faced by families and individuals who are impacted by a terminal diagnosis. And because of my personal interaction with individuals, I have chosen to major in physician assistant studies. With this major I hope to change the stigma held against death and dying within America. I hope that I can heal those who need my help, and I have the ability to comfort those who become diagnosed with a terminal illness, and see all individuals no matter their color or race that they are entitled to every opportunity. How can we network together as individuals and set aside our differences so that we can collaborate all of the great minds of this Earth to make a positive impact on the lives of all man kind? It all begins with you, and your ability to constantly be questioning and learning ; in order to try to make a difference.
From Tara:
I find the connection to be between these stories we have read to be family values and also struggle. They two things come together also in how the family survives the struggle shows the families character and closeness. In the stories we have read we see these families that have gone through a devastating hardship but usually end up on top. In this case Yuki and everyone goes through the pain of losing her mother. I feel that this book mostly sticks to Yuki pain and struggle to deal with her mothers death. While there are others that have to grieve the loss of her i feel that it hits Yuki the most. She actually is the one to discover her mothers body, her mother left her a letter explaining why. Yuki has to come to terms of why her mother would chose the route of suicide over life. To people who go through with it suicide is a freeing thing of letting go of your troubles and hoping for peace after death. For those they leave behind its a struggle of wondering if their is something that you could have done to stop it. Maybe if you had smiled at her more or told her you loved her more she wouldn't have felt the need to take her own life. But none of that would have helped, people who commit suicide rarely do it because of someone else but of what they don't like inside them. While some would say that Shizuko committed suicide to escape from her husband i think she was escaping from the person she became because she was with him. This is the women who walked away from an arranged marriage because she wanted to marry for live. I think that the shell of the person she had become is who she wanted to escape from.
So while a lot of the other stories are about families facing physical violence, Yuki's battle is against her own mind. Of how to try to figure out why she did it. To try to understand why she felt she had to. In the end i think that Yuki kind of came to understanding of why her mother did it. She began to see the reasons her mother just though everyone would be better with her gone. Which is another big reason for suicide, you feel that the world wouldn't change if you were gone, that you wouldn't make an impact; that no one would even notice you were gone.