Spiritual recovery in Yoshimoto Banana's works

Yuko Ogawa, Purdue University

Abstract

My thesis chronologically examined how Yoshimoto Banana develops her theme of spiritual recovery. In the first chapter, I discussed her earliest works: Kitchen (1987) and "Newlywed" (1993). Kitchen is a story about a protagonist who faces the death of her last blood relative and gradually regains her spiritual energy after meeting some caring individuals. The protagonist discovers blessing moments in her everyday reality that inspires the encouragement of her recovery. Kitchen shows the prototype for Banana's themes. I looked at how Banana deals with the same topic with an earlier adaptation in "Newlywed". "Newlywed" is a story about a protagonist, who experiences the symbolic death of his mind and accomplishes his spiritual rebirth through a conversation with a mysterious figure he encounters in the train. The protagonist, who has been married for about one month meets an old homeless man in the train. The homeless man all of a sudden transforms into a beautiful woman, keeps asking questions that rattle the protagonist's subconscious, and makes him realize hidden problems. By having the conversation with the mysterious figure, the protagonist attains his spiritual recovery and decides to go home in the end. In the second chapter, I examined Amrita (1994), which is the most important novel among Banana's works in the 90s. Because of the way she deals with the theme of spiritual recovery, I argued that Amrita is the conclusive achievement in the first stage. The protagonist of this novel becomes lonely after the death of her younger sister. The loneliness deepens with the memory loss caused by the fall and the concussion. Thus, she is transferred into the borderline realm of life and death where she lives her crisis in "half-dead" spiritual form. However, her crisis opens the door for the reexamination of her everyday life and the steady progression of spiritual reincarnation. Thus, in Amrita Banana writes about the process of one's spiritual recovery used commonly in Banana's earlier stories. In the third chapter, I discussed Ōkoku 1 (2002) as an articulate opener to the second stage of Banana's works, which exhibits her new interest in writing novels. Banana develops an ecology-driven, life's philosophy and examines the foundation of everyday beauty in the human and nature relationship. Feeling lonely after leaving the mountains, the protagonist keeps talking to the cacti that she brought along. Her knowledge of the connection she had with nature helps her cope with learning how to survive in the city. The story emphasizes the importance of the protagonist's connection with nature's life force. The emphasis on nature's life force, a vast energy of wild mountain lives, especially those of trees and plants, has never been put in her works in the first stage. In Ōkoku 1, the memories of precious moments in her mountain days are the basis of the protagonist's sense of joy of life. The joys in everyday life, which her earlier heroines have captured, are now given their foundation: Everyday blessings come from the human reconnection with nature. Thus, Banana begins to stress the importance of rediscovering the joy of belonging in nature from the publication of Ōkoku 1.

Degree

M.A.

Advisors

Sekine, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Asian literature|Spirituality

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