Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

It is early autumn, and Sadako rushes home from school one afternoon with good news. She runs into the kitchen to tell her mother that she has been chosen from the bamboo class at school to be on the school relay team. If she wins the big race, she will be a shoo-in for the junior high school team next year—to be on that team is what Sadako wants more than anything else in the world. That night at dinner, Sadako is too excited to eat, and as the days pass by she can think only of the relay race. She practices every day at school and often runs all the way home. Her older brother Masahiro times her one day using their father’s watch, and Sadako’s speed surprises and impresses her whole family.

Finally, it is the day of the big race. Sadako is nervous and afraid her legs won’t work at all as she surveys the parents, families, and friends gathered to cheer her and her opponents on. Sadako tells her mother that she is afraid, and Mrs. Sasaki tells Sadako that while it is natural to be nervous, Sadako is sure to run fast once the race starts. Sadako, grateful for her parents’ love and support, takes her place at the starting line.

Sadako runs the race, and after she crosses the finish line her heart is still thumping. She feels faint and dizzy as her classmates surround her, shouting that her team has won the race. Sadako shakes her head and the dizziness goes away. All winter, Sadako continues working hard to improve her running, but sometimes after a long run she has dizzy spells. She decides not to tell her family about them—she needs to do all she can to qualify for the junior high racing team. Sadako tells herself that the dizziness will go away, but as the weeks go by it only gets worse.

On New Year’s Eve, Sadako hopes that in the New Year her dizzy spells will go away. On New Year’s Day, the Sasakis visit a local shrine. Her mother is dressed in a fine silk kimono, and she promises that as soon as their family can afford it, she will buy one for Sadako as well. As the Sasakis mingle with throngs of happy people visiting the shrine, Sadako forgets about her secret for a little while. At the end of the day, she races Masahiro home and wins easily. As she crosses the threshold into her house, she passes the good luck symbols her mother has placed at the door to protect them all in the new year, and Sadako wonders, with a beginning like this, how anything bad at all could happen in the new year.