Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Tale for the Time Being, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Time, Impermanence, and the Present
The Difficulty of Communication
Life vs. Death
Coincidences and Connections
Sexual Perversion and Violence
Summary
Analysis
(1) Several people turned up at the temple for the Obon ceremony. Jiko sat in a golden throne in the altar room, and after a lot of chanting and praying, she began to read out a long scroll that listed the names of the dead family and friends of the parishioners. Nao found it boring at first, but then she suddenly felt like the names were alive. This made her feel less alone and less afraid of dying.
Since the dead are remembered with love and affection, they seem to exist even in the present. The dead have transformed into memories, but the fact that they still live on in their loved one’s hearts lets Nao know that she shouldn’t fear change, particularly death.
Themes
Nao played the big ceremonial drum during the ceremony—Muji had trained her for this, and Nao had practiced hard. Nao liked playing the drum. She says that she could pay attention to every moment of time when she drummed, since she had to get the rhythm exactly right. By drumming, she “resolved [her] childhood obsession with now,” because the drum turned the present moment into sound.
Nao had been struggling her whole life to get a grasp on the present moment—the “now.” At Jiko’s temple, she finally managed to do this by playing the drum, which was a kind of meditation for Nao. Like sitting zazen, drumming helped Nao connect with the present and let go of her past and future.
Themes
(2) After the ceremony, Nao saw that the door to Jiko’s study was open, and she went inside to investigate. She saw an old man kneeling before the family altar and crying. Nao noticed that Jiko was in the room too, kneeling quietly in a corner. Nao felt guilty about being there and tried to sneak out quietly, but she suddenly heard Haruki #1’s voice.
At the Obon ceremony, Nao saw people who celebrated and remembered their dead friends and relatives. But here, she saw that death also resulted in great sorrow.
Themes
On the altar, there was a box wrapped in a white cloth. Previously, Muji told Nao that it held Haruki #1’s remains. Nao had said that this didn’t “make any sense,” because his remains must be the bottom of the sea—but Muji hadn’t given her any answers. Now, Haruki #1 asked Nao if she knew what was in the box. Nao said that she knew, and he echoed her thoughts—“No sense. No sense at all…” Then, Haruki #1 disappeared. Nao managed to slip out quietly too.
Haruki #1 echoes the reaction that Nao had when she first found out about the white box, which highlights the connection between them.
Themes
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(3) The Obon festival lasted for four days. After all the visitors left, Jiko, Muji, and Nao visited all the parishioners’ houses to do Buddhist services in front of all the family altars. By now, Nao had read Haruki #1’s letter and sneaked off every night to wait for him by the temple gate—but he never returned.
Nao is impatient to see Haruki #1 again, which is similar to how Ruth is impatient to solve the mystery of Nao’s whereabouts. In both cases, their impatience yields no results. Given Jiko’s expertise as a spiritual guide, she’s likely to have the answers about Haruki #1 that Nao is looking for.
Themes
(4) Soon, Nao’s summer vacation was almost done, which she was very sad about. Muji and Jiko threw her a farewell party with pizza and chocolates. Later that night, Nao told Jiko about seeing Haruki #1’s ghost and then taking his letter out of the frame and reading it. Jiko told Nao how the student soldiers were beaten and bullied by their officers, who despised them. This made Nao felt insignificant, because the bullying she faced from her classmates paled in comparison to what her uncle must have gone through.
Nao turned to Jiko with her questions about Haruki #1, and Jiko was able to provide answers. Haruki #1 was a student soldier—which meant that he was a university student before he was forced to enroll in the army—and his officers perceived him as an outsider. They despised him for this, in much the same way that Nao’s classmates disliked her and bullied her for being a foreigner.
Themes
Nao asked to know if Haruki #1 hated Americans, and Jiko replied that he only hated war and the thought of killing others. She explained that he had no choice in the matter—he was drafted against his will. Jiko had cried when his notice came, but Haruki #1 was merely amused that he of all people would have to be a warrior.
Haruki #1 seemed to have been wise beyond his years, much like Ruth finds Nao to be mature and insightful for her age. Additionally, Haruki #1 was forced to deal with having his life uprooted, just like Nao and her father were.
Themes
One of Haruki #1’s classmates had given a speech proudly proclaiming that he did not expect to return alive. Haruki #1 and the other 25,000 student soldiers knew they would die. However, the boy who gave the speech survived, and Jiko said that he now comes to the temple every year at Obon to apologize. Nao realized that this was the old man she’d seen in Jiko’s study. Nao asked Jiko what was in the white box, and Jiko looked tired as she said it was empty.
Haruki #1’s classmate who returned alive carried was guilty, because his friends and classmates died while he was spared. He could no longer enjoy the life he had, which is why he shows up at Obon to show his respects.
Themes
(5) The next day, Nao returned to the study to replace Haruki #1’s letter. Since she was very curious about the contents of the white box, she opened it and saw that it was empty except for a tiny slip of paper. Jiko appeared at the door, and she said that she had been very surprised when she opened the box for the first time and saw the paper. It had just one word printed on it: “Remains.” This is what the Naval Authority sent when they had nothing else to send. Jiko had found it quite funny and had laughed. Her daughters worried that she had lost her mind, but Jiko said that Haruki #1 would have seen the humor in it too.
Jiko found it amusing that she was sent a piece of paper instead of Haruki #1’s remains, and she was confident that Haruki #1 would have found it funny too. The two of them were very close and shared a similar sense of humor. Given the similarities between Haruki #1 and Nao, perhaps this is why Jiko considers Nao a kindred spirit.
Themes
Jiko handed Nao a freezer bag full of letters written by Haruki #1, and she told her that she could keep them and read them, along with the letter she’d found in the photo frame. Nao was excited, because Haruki #1 was her “new hero.” Jiko also gave her Haruki #1’sold watch, and she made Nao promise to wind it every day and never let it stop.
The lunch box that Ruth found was placed inside a freezer bag, which is likely the same one that contained Haruki #1’s. Haruki #1’s old watch is a symbol of passing time, and by asking Nao to promise to keep it wound and running, Jiko wanted her to always remember that time was rushing by. Given that Ruth is the one in possession of the watch now, she’ll likely take this reminder to heart as she reads it in Nao’s diary.
Themes
Nao’s father arrived that afternoon to pick her up. He told her that they could stop at Disneyland on their way back home. Nao knew that crowded places were really hard for him and that he must have been preparing for this for weeks. However, she no longer wanted to go and told him so, which seemed to disappoint him. Nao wrote that the idea of Disneyland seemed childish and frivolous to her after meeting a real hero like Haruki #1.
Nao felt changed after meeting Haruki #1 and hearing his story of courage and sacrifice. By idolizing a ghost, Nao ended up not recognizing the hero in her present: her father, who seems to have worked hard to improve himself over the summer.
Themes
