The Cook Character Analysis

The cook is one of Dr. Sadao Hoki and Hana’s servants. She is critical of her “young master,” implying that she is more loyal to Sadao’s father, even though he is dead. Like the gardener, the cook has worked in the household since Sadao was a little boy. She believes Sadao to be arrogant and undiscerning in the way he employs his talents, “so proud of his skill to save life that he saves any life.” Besides their unflinching loyalty to Sadao’s father, the cook and the gardener are also linked in their loyalty to the “old Japanese way” of doing things—seen, for instance, through the way that the cook kills a live fowl for dinner and carefully saves the blood for the gardener to use, since “Blood is the best of fertilisers.” Condemning Sadao and Hana’s decision to save Tom and nurse the white man back to health, the cook tearfully quits and leaves the household with Yumi and the gardener. The servants swiftly return once Tom is gone, however, suggesting that they are deeply rooted to the household.