A side effect of living is death…a side effect of being human is caring about it. It’s no surprise that death plagues the minds of humanity. Turning on the TV, opening up a magazine, or reading a book there’s constant talk of police brutality, bombings of other countries, first world disasters, terrorist attacks, murders, and suicides. However, if there was no talk about death, then how would people’s eyes be open to the impact and importance of the deaths surrounding them? The novel A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki tackles these issues. In fact, a vital and recurring theme in the novel is Death/Suicide. Throughout the novel the theme is expressed differently through three characters who struggle with the weight and gravity of the subject in each of their own ways.
No one should be thinking of ending their life at the age of sixteen. Writing in her diary at Fifi’s Lonely Apron, the reader discovers that this is exactly what sixteen year old Nao intends to do. Trying to …show more content…
She is an author who moved from New York City to a tiny island on Canada in order to be with her husband. Ruth deals with the theme of Death/Suicide in association with her mother, who had died of Alzheimer’s. Wanting to help others who are dealing with loved one’s going through Alzheimer’s, Ruth is writing a novel about it and her experiences. However, the reader can see that this isn’t really Ruth’s main focus when it comes to her point of view in the book. Upon discovering Nao’s diary, Ruth becomes infatuated with Nao, reading it at a slow pace, doing research on what she read, and trying to discover all she can about Nao and where she is now. However, perhaps Ruth’s obsession with Nao is merely a distraction from dealing with the death of her mother that goes along with having to write her novel. Her obsession over Nao and wanting to protect/save her could derive from the fact that she couldn’t possibly have saved her own mother from
No one should be thinking of ending their life at the age of sixteen. Writing in her diary at Fifi’s Lonely Apron, the reader discovers that this is exactly what sixteen year old Nao intends to do. Trying to …show more content…
She is an author who moved from New York City to a tiny island on Canada in order to be with her husband. Ruth deals with the theme of Death/Suicide in association with her mother, who had died of Alzheimer’s. Wanting to help others who are dealing with loved one’s going through Alzheimer’s, Ruth is writing a novel about it and her experiences. However, the reader can see that this isn’t really Ruth’s main focus when it comes to her point of view in the book. Upon discovering Nao’s diary, Ruth becomes infatuated with Nao, reading it at a slow pace, doing research on what she read, and trying to discover all she can about Nao and where she is now. However, perhaps Ruth’s obsession with Nao is merely a distraction from dealing with the death of her mother that goes along with having to write her novel. Her obsession over Nao and wanting to protect/save her could derive from the fact that she couldn’t possibly have saved her own mother from