kamikaze Flashcards
1
Q
“dark shoals of fishes flashing”
A
- juxtaposition
- emphasises contrast / light and shade
- emphasises a metaphor for life
2
Q
“her father embarked at sunrise with a flask of water, a samurai sword”
A
- repeated “s” sound, sibilance, gives the phrase a sense of peace which is reflected by the peace the father is supposed to find in death
- “sunrise” symbolises the country of japan and divinity
- “water”, symbol of purity, he is purifying himself by sacrificing his life
3
Q
“embarked”
A
- it references the site of the boat that the grandfather’s boat that reminds him of what its like to be a fisherman, and persuades him not to kill other sailors on the sea
- the child wants to realise that the enemy is just like him
4
Q
“like a huge flag waved first one way then the other in a figure of 8”
A
- “flag” represents patriotism and the sacrifice the father must make for his country
- “first one way then the other”, shows the father’s internal conflict
- “figure of 8”, shows the father’s never ending internal confliction
5
Q
“loose silver of whitebait”
A
- “loose silver” biblical allusion to the betrayal of judas for 30 pieces of silver through the representation of silver in the west as betrayal
- shows the father’s betrayal of his country
6
Q
“the dark prince, muscular, dangerous”
A
- “dark prince”, represents the Japanese royal family who are condemning these men to sacrifice themselves
- symbolises the subversive act that the father has done by not killing himself
- he is punished by society because what he has done is “dangerous”, but his decision was “muscular”
7
Q
“only we children still chattered and laughed”
A
- showed they still remembered and loved their father
- line break from positive to negative emphasises the change in emotion
8
Q
“till gradually, we too learned to be silent”
A
- “gradually”, shows how unnatural it was for the children to disown their father
- “learned”, suggests it was totally unnatural
9
Q
“and sometimes, she said, he must have wondered which had been the better way to die”
A
- “must have wondered” suggests she has never spoken to her father about his decision despite him living many years afterwards
- “which had been the better way to die”, metaphorical, suggests he had emotionally died within the family
