Manipulating Time

            Time is a funny thing, especially for those of us who read.  Much like the character of Ruth in Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being, I tend to get wrapped up easily in stories, particularly when I find them interesting. Ruth struggles to find the lines between past and present as she becomes more engrossed. Ozeki paints a beautiful, shifting image of time in her novel, but the final third is truly fascinating in terms of the presentation of events.  The story bursts through the boundaries of time, uniting past and present to create a unique yet united perspective on the human condition and the importance of connections.

            One of the most interesting parts of the novel is the interruption of narration.  Almost the entire novel is split between Nao and Ruth, switching between the perspectives of a teenage girl and an adult woman.  However, a unique interruption occurs with the letters of Haruki #1.  His letters to his mother somehow ended up with Nao’s diary, and so Ruth is left to read them.  One of his final letters contains a striking message regarding his decision to die as a kamikaze pilot. He writes, “Choosing this death gives me tremendous consolation. It gives meaning to my life and profound satisfaction to my filial heart. If the extra compensation feeds you and my sisters, and helps them find good husbands, that will be enough for me” (Ozeki 256).  This quote makes some interesting points on the nature of agency and time.  While suicide is commonly referenced throughout the novel, this particular reference does not necessarily regard it as a choice of despair.  Instead, Haruki #1 finds comfort in his impending death because of the impact it has on his relationship with his family. He is making a sacrifice for the preservation of the people he loves, placing their existence above his own.  Haruki’s decision also bears an interesting implication about the nature of time.  He knows that his life is coming to an end, and he cannot escape it; he is effectively running out of time on this earth.  To find some fulfillment in the end, he takes control of time by choosing death. Although he does not have true agency as a soldier in a war he does not support, he at least has the power to decide his own death.

            Haruki #1’s decision to commit suicide as a kamikaze allows him to take some sort of control of time, a force in the world that most often seems to be outside of human control.  His story interrupts the already nonlinear narrative of Ozeki’s novel, but this interruption is absolutely essential to the telling of the story.  This story from the past unites the less distant past and the present, filling in essential details that connect the lives of the characters while also providing in depth insight on the perceptions of time and our agency in it.