Personal Sacrifice In Spirited Away

As presented in the movie Spirited Away, Chihiro is faced with the journey of growing into adulthood. What starts as a story of a little girl faced with the difficulty of moving to a new school, turns into a coming of age story as Chihiro realizes she must conquer many challenges on her own in order to save her family. She is forced to cope with being taken away from her friend, while thrown into a new setting. When she finds herself in a new world and separated from her parents, she begins to learn the value of hard work, personal sacrifice, and responsibility which all contribute to Chihiro’s journey into adulthood.
The story begins with Chihiro, a little girl going through the struggle of moving schools and making new friends. While on a …show more content…
When she arrives, she returns the seal and tells Zeniba that Haku is badly hurt and under a spell. She learns from Zeniba that Haku’s spell can easily be broken by love. She hears a knock on the door and opens it, surprised to see Haku standing there fully recovered. The spell was broken because of their love for each other. By Chihiro taking on this journey for Haku, she demonstrates this. In the beginning of the movie, her only concern was changing her parents back and escaping the spirit world. Throughout the movie, her relationship with Haku develops. Although she does not have a what is called a “romantic” relationship with Haku, their love is demonstrated in a different way. Chihiro shows her love in a way that she cares and looks after Haku. Loving someone in this way is a very mature characteristic to have. As children, we love more selfishly in a way that benefits us. Later in life we learn the that love is not only for ourselves, but to look after the other person’s well-being. Chihiro strongly demonstrates this love for Haku by taking responsibility for the seal and undergoing the journey to return it to Zeniba, thus showing that she is