Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

The path of life is not easy. It is scattered with struggles and

hurdles which we must overcome. A rose plant is a good metaphor of

life; the flower is soft with a pleasant fragrance but the thorns are

prickly and hurt us. Likewise, life has good things like laughter,

happiness, hope but it also has some things that hurt us, obstruct us.

In Banana Yoshimoto’s novella Kitchen, Mikage Sakurai faces quandaries

in her life which hinder her. However, she fights them back with hope

and determination. She is aided by the Tanabe’s who help her to fight

her dilemmas and struggles. Each character displays a sense of

optimism, a hope for survival and the determination to fight back. In

a greater sense, this rendering gives the reader a moral teaching that

despair does not necessarily result in annihilation. They try to tell

us that we must not give up in our lives, come what may. They appear

as teachers giving us a lesson how to lead our lives. This rendering

makes us feel close to them and think of them as our own friends. This

makes them interesting and moving.

Mikage is a loner. Throughout her life, she has felt separated from

others and feels solitude. She says that despite all the love that

surrounds us, we are separated by others physically and mentally which

makes each one of us separate, alone. She has suffered great losses;

she has lost all her family members. However, after moving into the

Tanabe’s apartment, she becomes hopeful for a better life. Mikage

wonders “Wrapped in blankets….in the future” on page 16, that maybe

she hadn’t wished for all the loneliness, maybe she had been hoping to

think about the future. Here, Mikage reveals the fact that she had

completely ignored...

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...he darkest of moments and in our moments

of despair, we must try to laugh and cheer ourselves. It is a way to

become optimistic.

In conclusion, this story is of great value to any reader because it

portrays a real life story. The characters appear very real to us

because of their simplicity and unusualness. This makes us endearing

to these characters, we feel attached to them, sympathy towards them.

Each character contributes to a greater understanding of the

definition of life and the way to live. Each character is determined

that they would not fail, they would not give up; they would continue

to fight on despite any barrier, any resistance. They teach us that

death is not the end of despair, there are several others way to live

on despite being clouded by darkness and uncertainty. This makes the

reader respect the characters and feel close to them.