Genre
Asian-American literature
Setting and Context
Tarumi, Japan in an unspecified time period.
Narrator and Point of View
An unnamed, third-person omniscient narrator.
Tone and Mood
The tone is moving; the mood is happy and emotional.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Stephen is the protagonist; the China-Japan war is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
The major conflict of the novel occurs when Stephen leaves Hong Kong, where he has grown up, and moves to a small coastal fishing village in Japan called Tarumi.
Climax
The climax of the story is reached when Keiko's brother is sadly killed while fighting for his country, Japan, in the war against the Chinese.
Foreshadowing
The death of Keiko is foreshadowed by the brutal war tactics used by the Chinese.
Understatement
The role of moving at times of political unrest is understated throughout the novel.
Allusions
The story alludes to the daily life of an immigrant in Japan at the time of the war.
Imagery
The imagery of violent and destructive fighting is present in the novel.
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the love that Stephen feels for Keiko and the love that he feels for Hong Kong as he misses it deeply.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The collapsing walls are a metonym for the destruction of the Japanese people.
Personification
N/A
