Isolation In The Samurai's Garden

One may not realize it, but isolation is the imprisonment behind the barrier you build. In this exotic story a 20 year old Stephen is been moved from Hong Kong to Tarumi due to his tuberculosis . As Stephen arrives, he explores the lifestyle of Tarumi and examines the life of lepers compared to his. During his stay in Tarumi, he makes a warm unique friendship with almost a adjacent life as his own, Sachi. A leper who had isolated herself and found yet another home at Yamaguchi “the village of lepers”. Throughout the story Stephen and Sachi display the difficulty of isolation from loved ones, yet still finding peace, calmness and joy in the present. In The Samurai’s Garden Gail Tsukiyama utilizes the isolation of Stephen and Sachi to communicate the main theme that, disease can force one to

By conquering the past, Sachi a victim of leprosy shows how she overcome fear of being the diseased one, by finding tranquility . A curious Stephen is persistent about knowing Sachi’s past and the events that led to her isolation. Sachi “unhampered by shame” after so many years of keeping in the past, begins telling her story and the hardship of first leaving Tarumi. “ I ran away from Tarumi, as if it were the diseased one” (137). Sachi is running away from shame, the shame she got through dishonoring her family, the shame for not honoring her life like Tomoko, a lady no different than Sachi who once was also diseased but choose to free her soul through seppuku. Sachi chose her life over freeing her own soul of the misery. Leprosy either meant death or isolation, and Sachi choose isolation. Leprosy is what led Sachi to separate from her loved ones , and forced her into isolation and leprosy is how she ended up in Yamaguchi also known as “the village of lepers”. As Sachi continues with her