poetry

Question 1

what is kamikaze about?

Answer 1

• A daughter reflecting on the life of, and her relationship with her father who was a kamikaze pilot in the second world war.
• Her father turned back and did not carry out his suicide mission, upon returning he was shunned by and isolated from his community.
• He was shamed for cowardice and not dying in support of his country.

Question 2

kamikaze stanza summary

Answer 2

• 1 = his father is departing on his kamikaze mission, he is prepared with water and a samurai sword. in his head he is repeating affirmations encouraging him to carry out the mission.
• 2 = she is telling the story to her children which prompts her to think about what he must have been thinking about as he looked down at the fishing boats on the sea.
• 3 = beneath the boat her father sees a school of fish and their silvery bodies moving around in the water
• 4 = this triggers a childhood memory of him stacking rocks with his brothers to see whose would withstand the waves the best. these same waves would return his father’s fishing boat home safely.
• 5 = the daughter mentally acknowledges that this would be her grandfather’s boat. the narration switches back to the pilot’s memory and speaks of the different kinds of fish that would return with his father as his boat came to the store.
• 6 = the pilot returns home and does not fulfil his mission. upon his return, his wife does not speak, nor look at him. he is treated if he does not exist by everyone except his children.
• 7 = eventually, even the children learn to also ignore him. the speaker (his daughter) reflects on the fact that her father must’ve wondered whether it was better to die via a suicide mission or social isolation.

Question 3

kamikaze context

Answer 3

• Beatrice Garland is a british poet; thus she was not writing based on her own experience. this is typical of her work, as it often involves immersing herself within someone else’s perspective.
• Japan was brought into WW2 in 1940 when it signed a contract with Germany. The war ended 5 years later with the surrender of Japan in response to America’s use of the atomic bomb.
• Japan’s military attitudes were founded on codes of honour and self-sacrifice, these stemmed from the tradition of the samurai warrior making the sword a pertinent symbol within the poem.
• These social and military codes were so deeply ingrained into society that they controlled people’s behaviour even towards their loved ones. typically, kamikaze pilots were volunteers which conveys how firmly people believed in these values, enough to sacrifice their own lives.
• by the end of the war, the Japanese army did not have enough volunteers to embark on the kamikaze suicide mission thus they had to recruit unwilling men, often their only motivation to carry out the mission would be the public shame upon their return - something which is explored within garland’s poem.

Question 4

kamikaze patriotism quote

Answer 4

“full of powerful incantations” - stanza 1

Question 5

kamikaze patriotism “full of powerful incantations” analysis

Answer 5

• patriotism is portrayed as an indoctrinating force, the phrase “full of powerful incantations” in a literal sense references the prayers and affirmations that would’ve been repeated in support of these pilots.
• it could also suggest that the pilot was under a spell. it portrays the influence of propaganda as hypnotic and bewitching. this is contextually important as Japanese soldiers were taught that self-sacrifice was the only means by which they could win the war.