In Thousand Cranes almost all characters exhibit clear signs of guilt. Similar to the guilt displayed in The Poisonwood Bible, the children are directly affected by the actions of their parents’ guilt. In the case of Thousand Cranes, Kikuji and Fumiko inherit the issues related to the guilty pleasures of their parents’ scandalous lifestyle. Also similar is the role of the primary example of guilt. In the case of The Poisonwood Bible the mother, Orleanna Price, feels guilty for the effects her own actions had on her children. In Thousand Cranes Mrs. Ota also feels guilt over the effects of her actions on the next generation. Mrs. Ota becomes desperate and goes to beg Kikuji for forgiveness to alleviate her guilt to little avail: “but I’ve been very unhappy. You must forgive me” (Kawabata 58).
However, a crucial difference in the way in which Kingsolver and Kawabata construed the paths of their characters arises. In The Poisonwood Bible Orleanna’s guilt is her driving force to move her through life. She feels that the grief that is so closely tied with her guilt can only be avoided by constantly moving forward:
As long as I kept moving, my grief streamed out behind me like a swimmer’s long hair in water. I knew the weight was there but it didn’t touch me. Only when I stopped did the slick, dark stuff of it come floating around my face, catching my arms and throat till I began to drown. So I just didn’t stop (Kingsolver 381).
However, in somewhat of a paradox, this constant movement to escape personal confrontation of her guilt and grief ultimately leads her to just that. By running from her guilt she began anew and by doing so she came to terms with herself and was able to return to the Congo to try to finally reach closure by marking Ruth May’s grave. While there, Ruth May finally forgives her mother and tells her to move forward with her life:
Mother, you can still hold on but forgive, forgive and give for long as long as we both shall live I forgive you, Mother. I shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their mothers. . . Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember. Think of the vine that curls from the small square plot that was once my heart. That is the only marker you need. Move on. Walk forward into the light. (Kingsolver 534).
On the other hand, in Thousand Cranes Mrs. Ota’s guilt drives her to darker means of acceptance, perhaps in reflection of the author’s own personal outlook on suffering. Throughout the novel, Mrs. Ota is constantly seeking forgiveness from Kikuji and then appears to have overcome her guilt. This incessant need for forgiveness displays that she has, like Orleanna Price, attempted to escape her agonizing guilt. However Mrs. Ota attempts to mask her guilt from the others: “’Forgive me. The things I’ve done. The things I’ve been guilty of.’ A tear spilled over from the corner of her eye.” (Kawabata 63). However, this is followed by Mrs. Ota’s own foreshadowing of her demise as she goes on to say, “I want to die. It would be so pleasant to die now.” (Kawabata 63). Ultimately, Mrs. Ota takes her own life. Fumiko and Kikuji believe that she had “died asking to be forgiven” (Kawabata 75) but Kikuji supplements Fumiko’s contention by saying that “between the living and the dead there can be no forgiving and not forgiving.” (Kawabata 77).
Though these two women share common characteristics in their cases, they choose different paths towards acceptance and forgiveness. Orleanna Price chooses to persevere and move forward while Mrs. Ota becomes too enveloped in her guilt and depression that she chooses death.
