Kamikaze

Question 1

Who wrote Kamikaze

Answer 1

Beatrice Garland

Question 2

Kamikaze - context

Answer 2

Kamikaze pilots were suicide bombers that crashed into ships
They were Japanese and did this for honour

It means ‘divine wind’ suggesting a greater purpose

Question 3

Kamikaze - summary

Answer 3

Told from the perspective of the daughter of a kamikaze pilot who returned from his mission
We are told the rejection he faces as a consequence of not killing himself

We see the daughters feelings and regret as she imagines her father thoughts

Question 4

Kamikaze tones

Answer 4

Regret
Reflection
Suffering
Guilt
Sympathy
Sadness

Question 5

Kamikaze quotes

Answer 5

‘Embarked at sunrise’ → positivity / hope / new beginnings
‘samurai sword’ → cultural reference / identity

‘one-way journey into history’ → honour, sacrifice. Line break symbolises hik moving foward

‘Dark shoals of fish’ - sinister side of what he is doing

‘Fathers boat safe’ → childhood imagery, juxtaposes the danger of the plane

‘A tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.’ → danger of nature + masculine themes linking to war. The period suggests his journey is over

‘we too learned to be silent’ → innocence removed

‘He must have wondered which had been the better way to die’ → conflict in the father, his pain and suffering
Shows the narrator guilt over abandoning him

Question 6

Structure - Kamikaze

Answer 6

Structured into controlled stanzas of 6 lines, reflecting the obedience of a soldier.

This idea is juxtaposed through enjambment, throughout the poem suggesting the father is thinking freely