Sample Quiz Responses to Shizuko's Daughter

QUIZZES

Folks please read the sample quizzes below. I wanted to share another round of quiz examples that contained excellent responses. 

1. Yuki has a variety of sensory memories. Smells, sights, tastes and sounds trigger both happy and unhappy memories. Describe three of the memories, and explain how they shed light on the relationship between mother and daughter.

2. Hanae also is affected by sights, smells and sounds that trigger mostly negative emotions. Describe three of those sensory images and explain how they shed light on her relationship with either Hideki or Yuki.

From Breann:

Throughout the novel Shizuko’s Daughter by Kyoko Mori, the narrative style is third person. Since the main character’s, Yuki, mother dies in the very beginning we only see things from her perspective for a chapter. This does not mean though that Yuki is not reminded of her and she often has intense, vivid, flashbacks of her mother that are triggered by Yuki’s sense of smell, sight, taste, and sound. Though it is often difficult to describe the memories as particular happy or unhappy, the reactions from these senses shed light on the relationship between Yuki and Shizuko without the latter being in the present narration of the novel.

After the tragedy of Shizuko’s suicide, Yuki begins to be reminded of her mother through just about every smell, touch, sight, or taste that she experiences. In the very beginning, at the wedding of her father and Hanae, Yuki sees the concert hall in which she recalls her mother’s attendance of her first recitals at age six. Yuki sees the hall, remembers the pieces that she played, and while Yuki went to “get fresh air and look at the ships” her mother slipped past her and bought her a bouquet of “pink roses.” Yuki recalls her mother’s “white dress, the roses a blur of pink and green,” even the arch of her mother’s back, “as not to crush the roses between them,” (29). Yuki uses sensory words that trigger the type of tender love that Yuki’s mother gave her, the pink roses a blur of beauty in her mother’s hand, the feeling of the cautious hug so that the roses would not be crushed. We see the care that Shizuko takes in showing her love for her daughter and the proud moment she got to experience for Yuki’s recital. 

As Yuki gets older, the memories continue to be vivid, but we see with more maturity comes more questions of her mother’s absence. We see this type of thought especially when Yuki is in her homemaking class as a junior and volunteers to gather leaves for the class. As Yuki snips the red Japanese leaves, each “smaller than a child hands, had a perfect web work of veins,” (111). The action of cutting these delicate small leaves reminds Yuki of a flashback of her and her mother. Before getting to that though, I think it is important to recognize this catalyst to the memory. Yuki comparing the small leaves to a child’s hand and the patterns as veins is significant itself. Yuki lost her mother when she was younger, many of her memories are of her and her mother when she was only a child. The way in which Yuki describes the leaves is almost a subconscious reminder of the leaves once being a great experience as a child, one that she shared with her mother. The loss of that childhood and those amazing times with her mother is such as Yuki clipping these childlike leaves and collecting them, taking them from the growth of the tree. The memory is a happy one, it is rich as Yuki recalls the red leaves like fire, though her and her mother are not burnt from them. Then, the taste of the maple leaves that are dunked into batter and then hot oil. Yuki and her mother attempt to explain the taste, her coming up with, ““It’s like eating air, delicious mountain air,” Yuki adding that she thinks it tastes as “maybe a wind…I’m eating a south wind,” (112). Yuki and her mother seem to rely on their senses as communication, they even explain the taste of things in a way that we feel the south wind on our skin and imagine a biting but delicious mountain air. All of this makes Yuki ponder what it would be like if her mother were there to help her homemaking, comparing how she would treat her mother to how the girls In her grade treat theirs. Yuki is seeing not just the emotional toll that her mother leaving has brought her, but a lack of guidance as she makes way into being a woman. 

Much of the last chapter told from the perspective of Yuki is an abundance of memories all loaded with senses that make the reader feel they are in the moments that Yuki was once in. The sketchbook that Yuki’s father sends her as a sort of gift over her grandfather’s death. Yuki sees her mother’s beautiful drawings compiled to create memories of her childhood while also understanding much about her adult life being an effect from her childhood. We are explained Yuki as a small girl in a straw hat feeding pigeons, Yuki could almost “feel the tight weave of that straw hat” (191). Yuki continues to relive her life through her mother’s careful sketches and watercolors, remembering the “grainy taste of the wooden building blocks,”, and hearing strangers comment on Yuki being a “mama’s girl,” and how lucky she was to have her (193). Yuki agrees with this, she was lucky to have her mother and that she is aware everyone noticed how much they loved one another. Once Yuki turns to see how her father is sketched by her mother as “slightly sullen but almost comical, endearing even,” as if her mother always chose to remember her father for the things that he did to make her laugh, or the flowers that were given to apologize. Flipping through the book it is sensory overload for Yuki, “sticking her nose against the curved glass of the fishbowl,” how she was frightened of cows “large white faces,” and the sound of her mother’s laughter as she gasps that Yuki is too much (195). The last photo is the most important though, a photo of her hands holding daisies, “It looked like a wash of bright light surrounding the scene” (195). From this point Yuki seems to have an epiphany, that her mother always wanted her to see beyond the unhappiness and to let the happiness of life to be the focus. This really ties together much of the story, Yuki understands that her mother always wanted happiness to be what Yuki experienced, even scenes of sadness were painted to reflect the light. Yuki then let’s herself be loved and cherished finally, as her mother hoped she would even in her absence. 

It is difficult to only pick a couple of sensory scenes that reflect happiness or unhappiness, because often they are all mingled. The memories of Yuki’s mother bring her happiness because they are so vivid all senses are normally touched. On the other side, they are unhappy because Yuki will never have her mother again. Mori heaps imagery in this novel, reflecting what a young girl may feel after losing her mother. Yuki and her mother though had such a loving relationship with one another, a relationship that often made the world around her bright. Through the progression of the book we see how these sensory memories evoke nostalgia, confusion, and then wisdom. Whether it is through pink roses as a congratulatory gift for a young daughter’s recital, tasting a delicacy of maple leaves, or sifting through you’re entire childhood sketched by a mother’s beautiful hand; we understand Yuki’s journey through sight, touch, taste, and smell. 

From Susan:

As the second wife of Hideki, Hanae finds that Shizuko's death has given the family a bad reputation, and that by destroying or throwing out everything of Shizuko's, Hanae will be the better remembered and better loved wife. Shizuko's possessions are a constant reminder to Hanae that she is second-best; Shizuko was the first wife, and the home and possessions were all used by her. One particular object that riles Hanae is Shizuko's tea set; having "thrown out and replaced everything else in the kitchen to avoid cooking and serving with another woman's plates and utensils" (90), Hanae seems to believe that the tea set is the only thing that stands between her and Hideki, and that if she destroys it, Hideki's wife with Shizuko will no longer be remembered. However, Hideki "had looked at the china for a long time, hesitating...'Good pottery like this should be passed on as heirlooms...from mother to daughter" (91). At this, Hanae becomes frustrated at her husband, angry that he is still thinking of his first wife and that her memory still means something to him, rather than siding with Hanae and letting her destroy the tea set. Even after Hideki tells her that she can put the tea set in the attic with other things saved for Yuki, Hanae refuses, as "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 woman's tea set might cause her to have any special feelings" (92). However, Hideki is right; Hanae is still unsettled by Shizuko's tea set, a reminder that she is still intruding upon this house and family.

Hanae firmly believes that keeping a clean house is essential for a neat and tidy life, as noted in "Grievances," where Hanae begins her daily routine and notes that "it was important to clean every day" (89). Even in doing household chores, Hanae tries to better herself over the memory of Shizuko, condescendingly noting that "Some women, she thought...let their houses get dirty for two, three weeks before they got around to cleaning. Yuki's mother, Shizuko, must have been that kind of woman" (89). It is at this point that Hanae seems slightly obsessive about trying to be 'better' than Shizuko ever was at being a housewife, and that by cleaning everything to perfection, Hanae can be remembered as a perfect housewife, whereas Shizuko appears lazy. In a way, Hanae becomes obsessive-compulsive about making the home clean and neat, transforming it into the ideal home in her mind. By scrubbing and scouring every surface with precision, Hanae thinks that she will wash away the memory of Shizuko and her apparent inadequacy as a housewife, and that Hideki will applaud her for being perfect. However, Hideki seems not to take notice of Hanae's efforts, particularly when he comes home to find her "cramming this tea set into a box to carry to the dump" (90).

In "Silent Spring," Hideki comes home to find eight cardboard boxes stacked up near his door. When he asks Hanae why the boxes are there, Hanae "stopped her hand for a minute and looked up; she did not turn around to face him" (149) as she tells him that they are things that Yuki left behind in the attic and that they should be thrown out. From her body language, Hanae chooses not to look at her husband or address him directly; she turns her back to him, unwilling to look at him or the boxes by the door, as both remind her of her inadequacy as a second wife and stepmother. Hanae still believes that by destroying these boxes and the items inside, she can destroy the memories of the past. Her curt manner and disdain for Shizuko and Yuki's "clutter" in the attic implies that "Hanae would never mention his first wife, Shizuko, by name, but every time she was mentioned indirectly, there was an awkwardness" (150). Hanae is haunted by Shizuko and her memory, and fails to realize that she cannot change or destroy the past, even if she burns the house down. Hideki becomes an obstacle to Hanae; he continues to be silent as the turmoil in his home brews between Hanae and Yuki, and he shows no passionate love for either of them.

From Alexis:

I really enjoyed this book because of how elaborately the author (Kyoko Mori) describes things; the detail with which she seems to so easily spin a tale is absolutely amazing. That being said, I took plenty of notes on the many times she caught my senses.

"Then she looked up and breathed in the colors. She would drown out the wailing chant with their brilliance." (p.36)

This quote makes me think of how differently Shizuko and Yuki saw the world. While everyone else seems wrapped up in what others thought of them, the two of them had a completely different point of view. Shizuko was an artist- she wore bright colors and enjoyed the beauty of the things around her- quite the opposite of Hanae, her replacement. Hanae is consumed by the idea of social propriety so it makes sense that she doesn't understand Yuki. Yuki is essentially Shizuko because Shizuko was the one who raised her; Shizuko was her closest friend- and she didn't strongly enstill any traditional cultural beliefs in her daughter. Eventually, that would be to Yuki's disadvantage, but (in the long run) it would lead her to find her true love and her path in life.

The evidence that their similarities run deep can be found in statements like this one- color is not something to be manipulated, rather it is something to be in awe of. 

"[The rain] was coming down with enough force to shatter the fragile cups of flowers. The bruised petals would scatter over the asphalt walkways... the silver bowl of the drinking fountain." (p.32)

There are a lot of flower references and descriptions in this book, but this one was the most interesting to me. Not only does the author make a boring drinking fountain sound beautiful, she gives us a dazzling visual of flowers in their most delicate time. In rain, flowers sometimes aren't strong enough to handle the weight. I think that is comparable to Shizuko; she was strong for a long time, but eventually the weight of the rain became too much for her and she was shattered just like the 'fragile cups of flowers' that the author describes. However, there are several references in the book to a hardier kind of flower than can live even in the toughest of circumstances: violas. Shizuko says "Even if no one takes care of the yard, they will bloom and multiply on their own."

I think that this is the point where Shizuko knows that, when she dies, Hideki will not care for Yuki the way he should. Yet, she still believes that Yuki will be strong enough (like a Viola) to become her own person despite the neglect.

"She wished she could eat the flowers, thousands of pink trumpets, and suffocate with their sweetness." (p.60)

This one was just very eerie to me because of the word 'suffocate'. Shizuko did not necessarily kill herself my asphyxiation, but the concept of killing herself by slowing disabling her lungs and brain... that's very comparable to suffocation. Suffocation by sweetness, I imagine, is much more pleasant, but the statement itself is very chilling. On a lighter note, the vibrancy of the 'pink trumpets' and the mention at the utter astonishing number of them shows a sense of awe and wonder in itself. And who wouldn't want to eat something so pleasant to the eye?

I've come to realize that many of the scenarios that Mori illustrates through Yuki's eyes have to do with how beautiful nature is. There is essentially an entire chapter dedicated to describing flowers in Masa's garden, and I think that is intentionally done. Shizuko and Yuki cannot find beauty in their daily routines, so they look to nature to provide them with the vibrancy and color they need to keep going on. In a world of dark shades of grays and browns, nature is their way of escaping; art is their way of escaping. Shizuko and Yuki are both very creative people who are very misunderstood by the society that they live in.

From Emily:

Yuki has many memories of her mother and herself, which include sight, smells, tastes and sounds that remind her of her mother; both unhappy and happy memories. 

     The first memory I'm going to talk about is the the day of Shizuko's funeral. The smell of the mothballs reminds Yuki not only of her mother, but also death. The first time mothballs are mentioned is when Aunt Aya is packing up Shizuko's clothes into boxes. "Her aunt poured out a handful of mothballs into each box and closed the lid on her mother's clothes. Yuki imagined the smell of mothballs and dust filtering through them in the dark"(8). This whole chapter about death is an unhappy memory for Yuki. Everything around Yuki reminds her of her mother. Especially the smells in this chapter. Another smell that is prominent to Yuki, is the smell of her mother in general. "Yuki breathed in the faint smell of sawdust from the boxes. The soft silks and cottons Aya was putting away still smelled of her mother. They were mostly shades of green and blue"(8). This can be a happy memory or a sad memory. Happy in the way that Yuki can still feel her presence through her smell in the house, but also sad because it is so soon after the death of Shizuko. Another smell that is an unhappy memory is the smell of gas. "Her mother was no longer breathing, and Yuki was not sure exactly when her breath had stopped. Now, a day later, the smell of gas seemed to cling to Yuki's clothes, her hair. She washed her hair over and over to get it out, but it lingered"(10). The smell of gas makes Yuki remember how she had found her mother the previous day, and Yuki blamed herself for her mother's death; if she would have came home when she was suppose to from piano lessons, then maybe this tragedy wouldn't have happened. 

     The second memory is when her father gets remarried to Hanae. Through the imagery in this chapter, smells, sights, tastes and sounds trigger unhappy memories for Yuki. The first taste is on the first page of this chapter. "Yuki hesitated a moment with her hand on the door. She could still taste the sourness of the tangerines she had eaten on the train"(15). This shows the reader that the bitter taste in Yuki's mouth is from the fruit she had ate, but it's also bitterness towards her father's new bride. Nobody could replace her mother, and Yuki stands firm in that.The wedding itself was absolutely hell for Yuki. Through the whole scene, the reader can just see Yuki getting more and more sick watching her father marry someone else. Yuki tries to go to a happy place to escape her pain, so she thinks about the picture from her father and mother's wedding. "She pressed them harder against her purse and tried to picture her parents standing in front of the temple gate. Through the open gate, in the background, she could imagine the green leaves of the trees in the temple garden. The wedding had taken place in May. She could almost smell the wisteria blossoms on the other side of the temple buildings, in the arbors near the pond. The breezes of May would carry their scent all the way to the temple gate"(25). She remembered these things even though she wasn't even there, and wondered if her father even remembered these memories. This memory was a happy one for Yuki, even though she was in the midst of her father's re-marriage. The last memory in this chapter is triggered by Yuki breaking the bowl of wine. "Yuki brought her heels down with all her weight, dropping the bowl and shattering it against the tabletop-just as, on the morning of the funeral, her father had shattered her mother's rice bowl against the doorsteps so her ghost would not haunt his household or anyone in it"(26). This is an unhappy memory for Yuki, because it symbolized to her that her father was ready to move on already, so soon after Shizuko's death, when Yuki knew that it would be impossible for herself to move on in any way.

    The third memory I'm going to elaborate on is when Yuki receives her mother's sketchbook from her father, two days after her grandfather passed away. There is so many senses shown through the sketchbook, like the different colors of the watercolors that Shizuko had used, and the flowers pressed between the pages. The sketchbook triggers so many happy memories for Yuki. "She remembered the grainy taste of the wooden building blocks, the pink cap she had wanted to wear even in the summer, the pier where she had seen ships for the first time. Then she came to a group of watercolors from a vacation she could remember well, when they spent a weekend at a friends cottage in the mountains near Kobe"(191). These memories were so precious to Yuki because she remembered her parents happy, and most important, her mother being happy. The sketchbook reminded Yuki of a time where her mother was happy, and alive. 

     Mori uses descriptive adjectives and sensory scenes to show how important sight, taste, sounds and smells were to Yuki. These helped her to remember her mother, no matter if it was a good memory or a bad. Because of these senses, Yuki will never forget her mother.

From Spring 2018, anonymous

Much of the reader's insight into the thoughts and emotions going through Hanae's mind comes from Chapter 8, the only chapter written from her perspective. When Hanae goes into the bathroom to begin cleaning it, she sees Yuki's hair all over the floor: "Hanae knelt down and ran her fingers over the bathroom floor to pick up the strands of hair that accumulated every day. They were too fine for the broom; wet rags made them stick harder to the tiles. Most of the hair, Hanae saw, was Yuki’s" (Mori 95). This passage is notable for how strongly Hanae's feelings towards the hair on the floor reflect her feelings towards her stepdaughter. It's noted that there's no easy way to get rid of the hair. It can't be swept or mopped up, and even after it's all picked up by hand, the bathroom floor will likely be covered again within a week's time. It's a constant reminder of Yuki that can't be gotten rid of no matter how long Hanae spends cleaning the bathroom, just as Yuki herself is a constant reminder of Hideki's previous wife that can't be gotten rid of no matter how many old things Hanae throws out. This passage also points out Hanae's disgust when she first had to start dealing with the hair: "During their first month together, Hanae had been sickened by the sight of long, tangled hair, in the bathroom, the hallway, even the kitchen" (Mori 95). These feelings closely mirror her anger and contempt for Yuki. She is often disgusted by the way Yuki acts, sometimes berating Hideki for not disciplining her more harshly for it. It is again pointed out here that the hair was everywhere; there was nowhere Hanae could escape to without being reminded of Hideki's previous relationship. Hanae's relentless cleaning and desperation to throw as many reminders of the past away as possible are likely fueled on by these feelings.

Another sensory experience pointed out later in the chapter is right after Hanae pushes Yuki down the stairwell: "Then suddenly, Yuki leaned her head against the wall and began to cry. Her shoulders were heaving up and down, choked-up moans escaping her mouth. She didn’t even cover her face with her hands as most girls would. She did nothing to restrain the gasping noise of her breaths. There, Hanae thought, again was a sign of violent temper, craziness" (Mori 105). The phrase "as most girls would" is important here because it's a common theme throughout the chapter and of Hanae's character in general. It also offers us insight into why exactly Hanae feels so much spite for Yuki. Just hearing the way she cries, and how it's different from what's considered normal or socially acceptable, is enough for Hanae to believe that Yuki is deranged. From this we can see that Hanae very strictly adheres to the idea that people have to act a certain way. While Yuki's thoughts often trail off into descriptions of nature and beauty, almost all of Hanae's throughout this chapter are punctuated with observations of how someone in the household isn't acting properly. She even makes note of how the way Yuki closes her door marks her as someone different from other girls: "Hanae heard her go into her room and shut the door. She didn’t slam it as any other girl might have done. She shut it quietly, deliberately" (Mori 106). The fact that Hanae picks out such a seemingly trivial detail and considers how it's not the typical thing to do speaks a lot about her thought process and why she clashes so sharply with Yuki, someone who cares much less about what other people think of her. As difficult as it is to feel any sympathy for Hanae, her hyper-attentiveness to doing things the "proper" way and her obsession with social acceptance likely aren't even her fault. It comes off more as a sign of how much pressure there is in Japanese culture to be normal and act proper. It's not hard to believe that her mindset was drilled into her head with so much ferocity that she can't help feeling contempt and anger when she doesn't see the same thing happening between Hideki and his daughter.

The attic is pointed out as being something that constantly weighs on Hanae's mind. Even with how much the cleans the rest of the house, at this point in the story she still couldn't bring herself to do anything with the attic:

Hanae remembered the first time she went up there, at the end of her first day’s cleaning. She had simply stood in the middle of the attic and stared. . . There were so many boxes she didn’t know where to start. It was irritating to see Yuki’s name repeated in the woman’s handwriting, see the order in which everything had been arranged, the logic of it. Hanae couldn’t stay in the attic for more than five minutes without thinking of the eight long years she herself had spent seeing Hideki only in secret. . . The thought made her so angry that soon Hanae gave up the idea of cleaning the attic and avoided going there at all. (Mori 96-97)

The attic is the biggest reminder of Hideki's previous marriage, so much so that Hanae can't go up there without feeling overwhelmed by the sight of it. She can push Yuki away, and she can push the thoughts of the affair she took part in away, but she can't push away all of the tangible reminders of Hideki's past family in the attic without first digging through it with her bare hands. Despite cleaning the rest of the house thoroughly, Hanae will sometimes think of how "The house never felt completely clean" (Mori 97). This feeling doesn't just come from the fact that the attic is filled with dust and old, unused items. The attic, and Hanae's aversion towards it, are a sign of how Hideki's past relationship and their affair hang over her head, both in a literal and a figurative sense. Despite how much she cleans the house, there will always be a place filled with dust and junk. In the same way, despite how much she pushes Yuki away and how many of Shizuko's things she throws out, Hanae's mind will never truly forgot of how Hideki had gone on and raised a family without her, and how she had been seeing him behind Shizuko's back for years.