Banana Yoshimoto

In the novel Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, Yoshimoto demonstrates that family is important when coping with the difficulties of life. Yoshimoto shows this through the usage of the contrast of light and dark, and the motifs of the kitchen, and food. One motif that used is food, which is used to represent the presence of family, and how that aides coping. Yoshimoto uses the motif of the kitchen to represent the ability of the family to help another family member cope. Yoshimoto uses the contrast of light

In the novel, “Kitchen”, Banana Yoshimoto portrays a story in which Mikage Sakurai comes to terms with the adversity of death and loneliness, and through the use of cooking, she experiences personal growth. The concept comfort through the kitchen and a value for cooking serve as a key sources of personal guidance as Mikage copes with the loss of several loved ones and seeks to understand her own personal desires. Throughout the novel, Mikage finds solace and comfort in the setting of the kitchen

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

merciless aspect of life is that it continues on even in the lives of significant others even after the death of the loved ones. In the novella ‘Kitchen’, the theme of alleviating the pain of losing family members is well illustrated by the author, Banana Yoshimoto. The novella, written in 1988, tells a story about a young girl, Mikage, who heals from the grief of her grandmother’s death, through and by helping her friend, Yuichi, to recover. The author seamlessly expresses significant changes in the characters

presence of gods and spirits in nature” (“URI Kids: World Religion”) Yoshimoto presents the character Mikage Sakurai because Mikage encapsulates the Shintoism core values. Mikage Sakurai, a recently orphaned teenage girl, struggles with the loss of her last living relative, her grandmother. Throughout the novel, Mikage evolves and matures into a wiser and more developed young adult. In the novella Kitchen, written by Banana Yoshimoto, she uses the motif of changing weather conditions to illustrate the

supported from someone and supports someone. In other words, each person who has the above things would support each other. In addition, the definition of belongingness represented as family and kitchens in the book, Kitchen that was written by Banana Yoshimoto, and both family and kitchens had the important role to play in establishing the identity of Mikage. In this case, Mikage’ family were grandmother, Yuichi, and Eriko, and kitchen was a place which creates energy to live. Both saved Mikage from

a lack of a definite plot. I have seen this, as both “Kitchen” and “Moonlight Shadow” focused on how Mikage and Satsuki matured through the coping of the death of their loved ones. After having our discussion on “Kitchen”, I now understand what Yoshimoto is trying to say about gender roles in Japan. For example, we talked about how after Eriko’s wife died, he had a different perspective of the world because men are known to be more assertive and “a gentleman doesn’t belong in the kitchen”. Women

In the novel Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto, Mikage’s experiences with grief develop her emotional control in conflicts within herself and others. Yoshimoto exemplifies how Mikage’s relationships dictate the capacity of her emotional control in a given situation by comparing it to that of Okuno. Mikage inputs her authority to get Okuno to listen to her point of view, and quickly realizes Okuno’s sole motivation of visiting her: “she had only come to blame me” (Yoshimoto 74). The reactions of the

Through the conversation yesterday about the book Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto my understanding of the novel was changed drastically. I felt that by everyone in the group talking and sharing their thoughts on the book really opened up my mind to different views and perspectives of the questions asked. The main question that I had a different view on after the oral was “ In what way is Eriko being transgender in Japan during this time period different from in America today? ”. Before the

Growing-Up Explored in Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen The first time I read Kitchen, I knew I was experiencing something very special. Not since my initial reading of Catcher in the Rye have I witnessed such a perceptive look at the joys and pains of growing up. These coming-of-age novels capture our attention with plots that, while twisting and turning in creative, off-beat ways, remain believable. The writers of these novels tell us their stories with a subtle style more exciting than that of