Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

948 Words4 Pages
In the novella “Kitchen” written by Banana Yoshimoto, there are several themes that are developed throughout the story, but of them, the strongest theme which defines the plot would be the theme of “Grief and Loss”. The author presents the main character Mikage Sakurai overcoming her grief and loss together with the Tanabe’s, revealing her inner conflicts. As the story progresses, Yoshimoto discloses that one of the ways to overcome grief and loss would be to tackle them with hope, determination, and optimism. Yoshimoto also mentions that accepting despair would not lead to misery but to a moral growth for a better prospect. This is an essential idea that can be applied to everyone as despair is part of the life’s journey through which people can learn moral and spiritual lessons. The author’s use of literary features, including foreshadowing, characterization, and symbolism are subtle but effective, and it is used to reveal the author’s comments about the theme, “Grief and Loss”. The novella opens with Mikage trapped in despair after losing her only relative, her grandmother. She finds herself surrounded by death, completely overwhelmed by grief. However, after she moves in to the Tanabe’s apartment, she eventually accepts her grief and loss. At this point, Yoshimoto already starts foreshadowing Mikage’s recovery from despair as Tanabe’s apartment is symbolic of hope and happiness. One of the evidence of this can be seen on page 17 from the quote “The entire apartment was filled with light, like a sunroom”. The apartment is described as a place full of light, plants and comfort. The light implies a suggestion of hope, delight, and warmth, while the plant being the symbol of beauty and life. Furthermore, through the whole novel, it can be seen that Yoshimoto puts emphasis on the idea of “Comfort” countless of times. “But here was a kitchen, some plants,
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