56 pages • 1 hour read
Banana YoshimotoKitchen
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Kitchens
Kitchens represent happiness for Mikage. When she is overwhelmed by death, kitchens represent the place in the home that symbolizes life. When Mikage’s grandmother dies, Mikage sleeps in the kitchen and feels better. When she moves in with the Tanabes, she sleeps on a couch near the kitchen and falls in love with their lived-in kitchen. When she has a breakdown on a bus one evening, she runs into an alley and is made happy again by the sounds coming from a kitchen. Kitchens symbolize a space with creative life force, a power that fights against all the death around her.
Hitoshi’s Bell
Hitoshi’s bell was given to him by Satsuki and he kept it with him all the time. Satsuki says it got to the point where she could hear the bell even when he was not around. Bells symbolize awareness, and act as harbingers of such awareness. The bell Satsuki gave Hitoshi belonged to her cat, and would have indicated where the cat was at all times. In a sense, it was a way for the cat to be found, or for its presence to be known. When Hitoshi reappears, his appearance is preceded by the bell chiming, thus highlighting awareness for Satsuki: her dead lover has been found and she is in his presence once again.
Yumiko’s School Uniform
When Hiiragi’s girlfriend, Yumiko, dies, he wears her school uniform in public. Though this shocks most people, including Satsuki, it symbolizes his attachment to Yumiko. It also highlights that he is unable to let go of Yumiko. This physical reminder is needed by Hiiragi to feel “sane.” When Yumiko reappears, she takes the uniform with her, indicating that Hiiragi should move on and let her move on. In a sense, the uniform was holding him and Yumiko back, allowing neither of them to move on. It is also symbolic as a coping mechanism.
Jogging
Like Yumiko’s school uniform, Satsuki’s jogging is a coping mechanism; it allows her to occupy her time. Satsuki takes a break during her jogging to have tea by the river and bridge where Hitoshi died. Jogging represents a way for Satsuki to dull her pain. It is also significant in that her jogging leads her to meeting Urara, who later helps her to see Hitoshi once again and to say goodbye.
