Genre
Adventure, tragedy
Setting and Context
WWII in Japan.
Narrator and Point of View
First-person perspective by flashbacks of the past.
Tone and Mood
Accusatory tone or confusion about Hata's own emotions.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Hata is the protagonist while war and death are the possible antagonists.
Major Conflict
Hata's regretting of K's death and the hallucinations he has from the past.
Climax
K dies and Hata regrets that.
Foreshadowing
Hata's falling in love with K foreshadows the tragic end that he will later face as she is a sex slave.
Understatement
Working to treat sex slaves understates that Hata can never think of loving one of them the thing which happens later.
Allusions
There is an indirect allusion to the American icon Benjamin Franklin which shows the contrast between the Japanese name 'Hata' which is a shortcut for a longer last name which is 'Kurohata.'
In doing this, the author wants to separate the two identities and create a public appearance of a successful Asian immigrant. Hiding the rest of his last name indicates that he wanted to hide something in the past of his life.
Imagery
The first imagery is the lack of freedom and control as Hata didn't choose to go to treat sex slaves in WWII and cannot control that.
Another one is Horror and rape by the soldiers to the women they capture at war.
We also have the decay of society at wartime as people had no humanity in their deeds during the war.
Paradox
The paradox between Hata's desire not to work as a doctor for sex slaves and his falling in love with a sex slave.
Parallelism
Hata's regretting of K's death is parallel with his behaviors towards his adopted daughter.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The 'suburban foliage' refers to the peace that people need in their lives in a time full of war and killing.
'cloister' is part of the Christian beliefs which refers to that people should turn to God again.
Personification
'the privying hills.... make one feel' which indicates that hills are like human beings can feel and sense.
