Kamikaze Analysis Flashcards
1
Q
Her father embarked at sunrise
with a flask of water, a samurai sword
in the cockpit, a shaven head
full of powerful incantations
A
- her father is the kamikaze pilot
- sunrise > early >
- sun also on Japanese flag - patriotic
- water is purifying
- Japanese culture glorifies the warrior who fights to his death
- cockpit > named after cock fighting until one dies > sport > not natural where men are exploited
- shaven head to purify
- incantations > religious incantations to die purified for his country
2
Q
and enough fuel for a one-way
journey into history
but half way there, she thought,
recounting it later to her children
A
- one-way > going to die as a kamikaze pilot
- the speaker is one of the children
3
Q
he must have looked far down
at the little fishing boats
strung out like bunting
on a green-blue translucent sea
A
- it’s only once he’s died that the mother can think of him again as a human being.
4
Q
- embarked at sunrise
A
- link with fishing and boats
- already uncertain about the morality of his job
- sunrise > like birth of life > signifies end of life
5
Q
- powerful incantations
A
- superstitious ideas which brainwash the Japanese pilots into sacrificing their lives.
6
Q
- history
A
- pilots are doing this to be remembered
- brainwashing again
7
Q
- strung out like bunting
A
- mimics sails of the boats
- bunting is a celebration
- pilots asked to celebrate their own deaths with a smile on their face
8
Q
- arcing in swathes like a huge flag waved first one way then the other in a figure of eight
A
- arcing like the sword > honourable soldier dying for his master
- flag of japan > patriotic. ALSO a flag of surrender > foreshadowing
- figure of eight > symbolic.
- St Boniface - symbol represents eternal life. Ironic as he’s sacrificing it.
9
Q
- swivelled towards the sun
A
- Patriotism. Questions whether he should die for his country
- His brothers > why is he the one to do it?
10
Q
Pearl-grey Pebbles
A
- pearls are valuable, pebbles are worthless
- preciousness of his life given away as if it isn’t
11
Q
- cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns
A
- cloud > sky.
- unnatural to die in this way like the cloud-marked mackerel
- feathery > flight > his flight > sounds out of place > shouldn’t kill himself
12
Q
- the loose silver of whitebait and once a tuna, the dark price, muscular, dangerous
A
- silver is valuable
- links to idea of treachery. Jesus sacrifices his life to save others, like the pilots because he is betrayed by Judas. Judas was payed 30 pieces of silver by the romans so silver symbolises betrayal. Perhaps the pilot has been betrayed
- prince allusion to the emperor, sinister, darkness.
- Not a pure way of dying
- lead to the dropping of atomic bombs
13
Q
- he must have wondered which had been the better way to die
A
- implies he’s killed himself > ending his isolation and suffering
- perhaps with a samurai sword as he has been defeated
- ritual sacrifice
- people ordered to do this by his master / family in this case.
“As though he no longer existed” - as if he should be dead already
14
Q
Soundscape - sibilance (sunrise, flask, samurai sword)
A
- treated as either sinister or as peaceful.
- sunrise = peace
- samurai sword = violent
- contrast between peaceful and violence designed to unsettle us.
- mimics the smiling kamikaze pilot’s internal conflict at going off to death
15
Q
Full of powerful
A
- fricative
- evolutionary tool to be aggressive
- own aggression at order > conflict
