Chorus Of Mushrooms Stylistic Analysis

Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms is a novel based on three generations of Japanese Canadian women: Naoe, Keiko, and Muriel, who are experiencing an identity crisis. Naoe, an elder in the home, is an anguished woman who attempts to come to terms with her immigration to Canada, while Keiko, Naoe’s daughter, struggles to assimilate into the Canadian culture leaving her Japanese heritage behind. Muriel, (Naoe refers to her as Murasaki), is Keiko’s daughter who is born in Canada. Growing up, Murasaki witnesses Naoe’s and Keiko’s troubled relationship. Because Murasaki feels divided between Naoe’s Japanese heritage and Keiko’s Canadian culture, she develops a sense of confusion around her identity. In the novel, food works as a binding agent for all three women, who by consuming Japanese food, reach a sense of self-resolution. Initially, in Chorus of Mushrooms, the concept of food works as a medium that isolates Naoe, Murasaki, and Keiko from each …show more content…
They realize that one does not have to forfeit one culture over another to fit in – rather this is counterproductive. Initially, the three women do not believe the above, but there are attempts to bridge this gap between the two cultures by Naoe and Murasaki. For example, Murasaki is a representation of what Naoe detests within their household, yet this does not hinder both women from forming a connection with each other. In the novel, Murasaki and Naoe often communicate with each other through squid and sake. This is illustrated in the scene in which they both hide in Naoe’s room and savor sake:
I [Murasaki] could still taste the sake lingering in my mouth…Obachan [Naoe] smacked her lips…but it’s really appropriate to smack lips. It’s like a symbolic gesture of respect to what you’ve consumed…Smack, smack! (Obachan) Smack, smack, (Me) (Goto