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Chapter 8
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Kensuke’s Kingdom, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Companionship vs. Isolation
Hardship, Survival, and Adventure
Coming of Age
Nature
Memory and Escapism
Summary
Analysis
Kensuke never acknowledges Michael’s message, but Michael can tell he has “hurt [Kensuke] to the soul,” and the two are not as close as they once were. Michael mourns his friendship with Kensuke and feels guilty for betraying him. One night, Kensuke’s favorite orangutan comes to cave in distress after her child has run off. This prompts Kensuke to open up to Michael. Kensuke has been thinking of Michael’s mother and imagining how much she must miss her son, and he understands her pain because Kensuke misses his own son. Kensuke explains that he wants Michael to stay on the island, but reading the message in the bottle has made Kensuke realize that Michael wants to stay with Kensuke but also wants to go home. Kensuke accepts that Michael can’t live his entire life on the island, so he agrees to build a beacon to signal a ship for Michael.
Kensuke and Michael’s relationship is complicated by the fact that it is founded on being trapped together. They care deeply for each other, but they only came to consider each other family because they were forced together by their status as castaways. The father-son relationship that develops between the two of them prompts Kensuke to consider his own son, which in turn allows him to empathize with Michael’s parents’ grief for their missing son. The familial aspect of their relationship is strengthened by Kensuke’s acceptance that Michael must leave the island to grow into an adulthood, which echoes a parent accepting that a child must leave home.
Active
Themes
Kensuke’s words relieve Michael of his guilt. The next morning, they gather materials for the beacon, and in the afternoon they play soccer. In the following days, Kensuke tells Michael more about himself and the family he lost in Nagasaki. Michael suggests that some of Kensuke’s family might have survived the bombing, but Kensuke refuses to consider the possibility. As they continue to build the beacon, Michael is conflicted; he wants to go home, but he will miss Kensuke. He hopes he can persuade Kensuke to leave with him when the time comes, and he tells Kensuke about the outside world.
Kensuke continues to share memories of his past as a form of connection and relationship building with Michael. Their game of soccer has a similar effect, as Michael brings Kensuke into a part of his life that he mostly left behind in England. Michael also uses his memories of the world beyond the island in an attempt to persuade Kensuke to give up his self-imposed exile and rejoin society.
Active
Themes
One night, Kensuke wakes Michael up to watch hundreds of turtles hatch from their eggs and make their way to the sea. Kensuke explains that the baby turtles often die, so he comes to the beach to help them. Michael assists Kensuke in guarding the turtles and making sure they all get to the water. A few of the turtles fall prey to birds that snatch them from the water, but most of the turtles survive. Kensuke declares that he will be brave like the turtles and venture out into the unknown. He tells Michael that when Michael leaves, Kensuke will also return to Japan.
