Traits Kept Kai Quotes

What Traits Kept Kai and the People Around Him Alive?
In the novel, Up from the Sea, by Leza Lowitz, we are set in a small costal village in Japan during the 2011 earthquakes and tsunamis, we see what traits Kai, and his close ones around him need to survive. We are met with the main protagonist Kai, a young teenage boy who is orphaned during the disaster. We explore the aftermath of the tsunami, from the perspective of a town that doesn’t even reach media attention. With the support of other characters that surround Kai, we see this broken boy, find himself and travel to New York to find his father. We see how the traits of others, affect, and alter Kai’s journey significantly, and how they allow him to survive all his hardships throughout

They had their own demons to overcome, Kai the tsunami and its aftermath, and his dad, his addictions and rehab. Resilience isn’t measured by how large or difficult the situation, but by how you act during them, and though Kai and his dad’s demons aren’t at all the same, they both had to be resilient. We see kai’s resilience is tested when he loses so many of his loved ones and his home. He reaches his lowest and tries to let it all go, but Taro Nashi saves him, and he is finally able to see with clarity, on going to New York and he remembers what his mum always stood for, “She taught me to persevere… throw a rock in the ocean, and an oyster may grow.” – Kai Page 156. Even though Kai’s dad left him, all he wanted was to get better for Kai, he fell apart and he wouldn’t face Kai until he got out of the deep hole, he dug himself. His path was vastly different from Kai’s but that doesn’t mean it was any easier to cross. When Kai and his dad reunite at the end of the novel he explains that he went to rehab and that he tried to get better, for Kai, “I’m sorry it took so long, I came as soon as I could… He says he went to rehab… he couldn’t face me, couldn’t face himself… I lost you once, couldn’t lose you again.” Lowitz shows through Kai and his dad, that a little resilience can go a

Keiko’s hope could be defined as always believing more, that no matter how devasting the circumstance or situation, good will always prevail. Keiko constant hope and support towards Kai is what leads him to New York, “You have to go, for both of us.” – Keiko Page 123. When Kai meets up with the 9/11 kids in New York, their voice, and their stories are empowering to Kai, they validate his fear, and bring him hope, “If you weren’t scared, you wouldn’t be human, you wouldn’t be brave.” – Tom Page 197. After evaluating the information, you see that Lowitz wanted to show that being scared doesn’t mean having no hope, everybody stumbles from time to time, loses their way, but hope will lead them back. Hope saved Kai, it saved Keiko, it saved everyone who had to experience the terrors that were the 2011 tsunamis, Up from the Sea shows that hope will always overthrow fear, fear doesn’t work as long as you have