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) Ruth and Oliver lose power for four days. After it comes back on, Ruth checks her email, but she still has nothing from Dr. Leistiko. She returns to the academic archive where she found the excerpt from the article on Jiko’s fiction, and she clicks on a link to pay and order the complete article. However, to Ruth’s disappointment, this prompts a message that says that the article has been removed from the journal’s database. Ruth screams out, “No!”
Ruth has experienced some lucky coincidences as she searches for the Yasutanis, but they seem to be amounting to nothing, which frustrates her. As Ruth has noted earlier, she isn’t very patient—the same sense of impatience that makes her unhappy with the island also trickles into her search for the Yasutanis.
Themes
(2) Outside the house, the Jungle Crow hears Ruth screaming, “No!” The crow shrugs.
This brief passage seems to confirm that the Jungle Crow is a supernatural being, since it shrugs like a person might when it hears Ruth’s scream. The bird’s reaction suggests that it doesn’t think the reason for Ruth’s unhappiness is important or pertinent to the reason for it being in Canada.
Themes
