Divine Wind: Missunderstood

Ida Penrose is a character who displayed emotional suffering after her life was severely disrupted. Ida is the mother of Hartley and the wife of Michael Penrose.  Ida is all out of sorts living in Broome as her native home is England.”You could say that, unlike the rest of us, she did not have red dirt, mangroves or pearls in her blood”. This was quoted by Hart when describing his mother.  Ida simply didn’t fit in Broome and although her decision to leave was hard on Hart and his family in hindsight Hart can understand his mother’s feelings.  She longed for England and she built English style gardens and made her children read English books. ”We knew Ida wanted only to feel less at odds with the world in which she found herself.  She had no-one to talk too and no-one wanted to listen.”   Ida’s racial views also put a great strain on her family; she scorned Hart and Alice for talking to Mitsy and the divers on Michael’s luggers.

Mitsy Sennosuke is another character which displays emotional suffering throughout the novel. Mitsy is an Australian of Japanese background but her heart lies in Japan. With the Japanese invading the Pacific islands, Mitsy along with many other Japanese in Broome were getting racially vilified as Australians were scared of being invaded. This was a hard time in Misty’s life as she struggles between her native home and her current home as told by this quote. ” Next year is the 2600th anniversary of the Empire. We’ve taken up a collection to send home.” Home? Alice said, raising her eyebrows. Mitsy scowled. You know what I mean”. The strain of the war puts a huge load on Mitsy’s life, the death of her father, slandering by the locals and frustration from Hart when the Japanese sunk the boat Alice was working on and presumed dead. “I felt a spurt of burning tears and said to Mitsy, You Bitch”. The war is an extremely awkward time for Mitsy as her friends are joining the army to fight the “Japs”. It’s like her friends are going to war with her as well.  She is stuck in the middle not sure what side she is on, even though she was born and spent her whole life in Australia.

In conclusion, the emotional suffering of Mitsy and Ida affect their decisions further in the novel.   Ida decides to return home to England where unfortunately she gets killed by Luftwaffe bombing raids in London. Mitsy decides along with her mother Sadako to go and live in a Japanese Internment Camp in Tatura, Victoria to escape the way they have been treated by the locals. Hopefully for Mitsy, she can return back to Broome and continue her relationship with Hart and live through the prejudice now the war is over. “They will shout at Mitsy. It won’t be easy. We may not make it.