Theme of Betrayal

There are essentially three types of grief in this novel, all of which Ono suffers at one point or another. One type comes from the unexpected or premature loss of a loved one. The loss of his wife and son during the war destabilize Ono, causing his narration to become unreliable. He is so unable to cope with the senseless realities of their deaths that he exaggerates, avoids and fabricates in order to either justify these deaths or minimize the damage they have done to him. A second kind of grief comes from the timely loss of a loved one. Matsuda's death causes Ono to feel pensive, but he is able to deal with the loss in a healthy way, since he knows that Matsuda lived a long and satisfied life. In fact, Matsuda's natural death allows him to contextualize the unjust deaths of Kenji and Michiko. The final, and most complicated, form of loss comes not from death but from betrayal or conflict. Ono parts with Moriyama, and even more painfully, with his favorite student Kuroda, on bad terms. The grief caused by these events is particularly difficult because the loss is a continuing event. Since Kuroda remains alive, Ono continues to hope that he might repair their relationship and regain Kuroda's friendship. When he is rebuffed, he is forced to grieve all over again for this loss and to revisit the choices that led to it. The only way that he is able to cope with this kind of grief is to, eventually, acknowledge Kuroda's right to distance himself and accept it begrudgingly.