Nao And Ruth Character Analysis

5.) Is there a way in which Nao and Ruth form two halves of the same character? In the novel A Tale for the Time Being Ruth Ozeki writes about a woman and a high school aged girl. The two characters are Nao, the high school aged Japanese girl and Ruth the American writer. Nao wrote a diary that ended up washing up on an American shore line and in the possession of Ruth. Immediately, we find out that both Nao and Ruth are writers. Through reading Nao’s diary we learn that Nao expected someone special to find her diary. She wrote the diary to connect with someone who feels that the diary was written just for them so in this case Nao wants Ruth to believe that the diary was specifically written for her. When Ruth reads Nao’s diary that is when the two characters are linked together as a whole because Ruth is able to connect with Nao and feel her emotions and place herself in Nao’s shoes. To portray this connection Ozeki writes “ Ruth closed her eyes. In her mind, she could picture Nao, sitting by herself in a darkened kitchen, waiting for her mother to bring her father home from the police station. …show more content…
My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you. A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you and me , and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be” (1) This shows Nao thinks of herself as an in the moment kind of person and I think that is a really important aspect of living well. Again, living well is being happy with what you have and by being a time being Nao is living for another day and being happy that she has been blessed with another day to be alive and well. I also think that going into detail about what a time being is encourages readers to live for the moment which is essential to