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The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket

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The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket
Yasunari Kawabata

Characters: * Kiyoko – (Flat Character) “The girl’s lantern, which dangled loosely from her wrist, did not project its pattern so clearly, but still one could make out, in a trembling patch of red on the boy’s waist, the name “Kiyoko”.”

* Fujio – (Flat Character) “In the faint greenish light that fell on the girl’s breast, wasn’t the name “Fujio” clearly discernible? The boy’s lantern, which he held up alongside the girl’s insect cage, inscribed his name, cut out in the green papered aperture, onto her white cotton kimono.”

Setting: At the base of the embankment “At the base of the embankment was a bobbling cluster of beautiful varicolored lanterns, such as one might see at a festival in a remote country village.”

Conflict: The bell cricket was mistaken for a grasshopper And finally, to your clouded, wounded heart, even a true bell cricket will seem like a grasshopper. Should that day come, when it seems to you that the world is only full of grasshoppers.

Point of View: Limited First Person Point of View The story is told in First Person Point of View since the narrator is within the story, the narrator explicitly refer to himself using words and phrases involving “I”. In this case, we are able to see the point of view (including opinions, thoughts and feelings) only of the narrator and no other characters. “Walking along the tile-roofed wall of the university, I turned aside and approached the upper school.”
Theme: There are not many chances in the world to see the right person. “Even if you have the wit to look by yourself in a bush away from the other children, there are not many bell crickets in the world. Probably you will find a girl like a grasshopper whom you think is a bell cricket.”

Symbolism and Irony: The story symbolizes

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