The Samurai's Garden Gail Tsukiyama The Samurai's Garden written by Gail Tsukiyama. The Samurai's Garden takes place is both the crowded streets of Hong Kong and a small coastal village in Japan, during the time when Japan's Imperial Army was invading China in the late 1930's. The book follows a 20-year-old man named Steven, who is sent from Hong Kong, to his deceased grandfather's beach house in a coastal Japanese village to recuperate from Tuberculosis.
In the book Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, many diseases present themselves and show the reader how they affect each character. Tuberculosis, leprosy, and many mental diseases take a toll on almost every character. One of the main characters, Stephen, suffers from tuberculosis and another main character, Sachi, suffers from leprosy. Along with leprosy, she suffers from depression and self-confidence issues. When one suffers from any outward image altering disease, suicide often offers itself as honorable or a way of freeing their family of the disease or other sins.
It has often been said that once you spend enough time with someone and create a strong bond with them, you end up becoming very close and considering them family. What has also been said is that we find friendships when we need it most. As important as family is in real life, it is often shown that in literature, authors use this concept to offer a clear understanding on how close an individual can get to someone within months. Barbara Kingsolver demonstrates the importance of family through Taylor in her novel The Bean Trees, as she creates strong relationships on her way through life.
This is significant to the book because Henry is a Chinese boy in love with a Japanese girl named Keiko. Not only are there conflicts between Keiko and Henry, but also Henry and his father, and Henry and his son, Marty. Within the novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford, there are several conflicts between characters which the setting aids in shaping Henry into the man he is by the end. An illustration of this would be the relationship between Henry and his father. Henry’s father helps further shape Henry as a character throughout the novel using conflict.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, “Friendship can play a key role in helping someone live with or recover from a mental health problem and overcome the isolation that often comes with it.” This displays how amity is an important factor when people are facing with obstacles in their lives. In the novel, The Samurai’s Garden, Gail Tsukiyama portrays the same idea through the character, Sachi who is an old woman with leprosy. Sachi becomes friend with Matsu, a house caretaker of the main character. Later on, she befriends Michiko, another woman with the same disease.
The book “Forged by Fire” by Sharon M. Draper is a book with many themes and lessons we all can learn. One of the themes that this essay will talk about will be about loyalty. For one thing, loyalty is a strong feeling because it’s something that comes from inside of a person to have faith in someone. Also the fact that we’re all loyal to someone, someone who’s special in our lives and plays a major role in our lives that drags us to support them no matter what. In this book, Gerald gets abused by his drunk, ferocious father whom he absolutely abominates.
Japan’s rich history of power, wealth, and influence had many remarkable eras. One of the more notable periods in Japanese history was that of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1868). The Tokugawa Period was talked about in Musui’s Story, an autobiographical book, written by Kokichi Katsu. (Katsu ix) Katsu wrote Musui’s Story for three main reasons: to share how he had transformed from a low-ranking samurai to a well-known hero, to show his sense of self, and to serve as a cautionary tale for his descendants.
Relationships are an integral part of our lives and play a significant role in shaping our experiences and perspectives. This is evident in both the movie 'Hoosiers' and the novel 'Slam,' where relationships are explored through various characters and their interactions. In 'Hoosiers,' we see how the relationships between Coach Norman Dale and his players and the relationships among the players themselves shape the team's journey to the state basketball championship. Similarly, in 'Slam,' we witness the impact of relationships on the protagonist's life, particularly his relationship with his girlfriend and mother. In this essay, we will examine how these two works of art explore the theme of relationships and how they shape the characters' journeys.
One major theme authors universally write their stories around concern the power of human relationships. Though writers may take different paths to communicate this, the strength that comes from these unique connections that exist between individuals resonates with everyone. Authors clearly articulate through a myriad of rhetorical devices that maintaining relationships is a fundamental part in personal growth and allows for a stronger sense of self. In finding companionship and comradery. people become capable of evolving and arriving at better understandings of who they are.
An analogous relationship is witnessed in The Kite Runner. Hassan’s very first word ‘Amir’ gives the readers a glimpse of Hassan’s loyalty towards the protagonist. Some might say Hassan
From the Kamakura Period of the late twelfth century to the Meiji Restoration in the nineteenth century, the samurai have held prominent positions as noble warriors in Japanese society. They have come to be famous in modern, Western pop culture as the fierce, stoic guards of feudal Japan, but their practices and rituals extended beyond wielding katanas and donning impressive armor. Samurai practices were rich and complex, with strict codes, ritual suicide, and a history of influencing culture and politics (“Samurai”). Samurai code was influenced by traditional Japanese culture, Zen Buddhism, and Confucianism. Bushido, or “Way of the Warrior,” was the code of conduct the samurai class were expected to uphold.
There are many times humans act differently because of someone else. The outlooks of human behaviors depend on the negative or positive influences that surround a person. People act the way they are because of the external forces that affect them. Likewise throughout history, many authors and poets create their work of literatures based on the external forces. Often times, the message that these authors and poets reveals not only has universal themes, but also can connect to people’s life stories.
The book, “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell discusses the effect of relationships in the introduction. What would be the key component in sustaining a healthy life? The “Roseto Mystery” solves the question of why the people of Roseto were reported of rarely having heart disease under the age of 65. Their diet had no correlation to the healthy life they lived, but was caused by the effects of the close community relationships. Connecting to relationships, personally in my life I have been affected by positive relationships.
The novel “things fall apart” is about the fatal demise of Okonkwo and the igbo culture of Umuofia. Okonkwo is well known and respected leader in his community, who is successful in everything he does, such as wrestling and farming. He is quick with his hands and takes pride in his accomplishments. Okonkwo’s family relationship makes him a sympathetic character because of his support and an unsympathetic character because of his cruelty. In many ways Okonkwo showed that he had no sympathy for others , However at times he could be sympathetic.
In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, there are many instances where relationships are built. An example of this is in Max’s story “The Word Shaker.” where he symbolized his and Liesel’s friendship. “They became good friends, and when the man was sick, the word shaker allowed a single teardrop to fall on his face. The tear was made of friendship—a single word—and it dried and became a seed, and when next the girl was in the forest, she planted that seed among the other trees.
