Value and Perception Theme Analysis

“At Hiruharama” explores the often-overlooked value of neglected or abandoned people, places, and objects. The story contends that value is determined not so much by intrinsic qualities but by perception. This idea is exemplified most explicitly during the story's climax. After Tanner helps his wife, Kitty, deliver their child, the doctor arrives and discovers a second child in what Tanner mistook for afterbirth. What Tanner perceived as garbage turned out to be, on closer inspection, a human child (who goes on to become a lawyer). This notion of finding value in what might otherwise be overlooked is underlined by the tinplate the Tanners hang in their kitchen, which reads, “Throw Nothing Away,” meaning that something of importance can often be found in the things people take for granted or fail to fully consider. Similarly, when the Tanners are looking for a place to move, they find a plot of land that has been abandoned by its past tenants, even though it contains a “standpipe giving constant clear water from an underground well”—something that the story suggests is quite priceless, despite the fact that nobody else seems to recognize its worth. The Tanners then proceed to turn that abandoned plot into a thriving homestead. Even Tanner himself is described as abandoned, an orphan who aims to become an apprentice with a wealthy family but is instead treated as a servant. When he meets his future wife, Kitty, she soon gleans that he can’t read. Instead of rejecting him based on his social standing or perceived shortcomings, though, Kitty sees a deeper, intangible value in him and encourages him to learn to read, thus illustrating the story’s implication that it’s often beneficial to refrain from writing people (or things) off before considering their potential.