When Yuichi and his mother, Eriko, step in to take care of her, she falls out of her depression. When Mikage lost her grandmother she is thrown into a depressive state and starts to distance herself from the world. Death is ultimately what separates Mikage and Yuichi from their family members, but it also draws them together. But although it is a more radiant theme it doesn’t make the novel dark and disturbing. This support that she receives from both her “symbolic” family and her newfound family, with Yuichi, is what ultimately allows Mikage to live a happy life.Death is also a general theme within the novel. Yoshimoto uses the kitchens to show that Mikage can find a family without the blood relationships.

Then when the Tanabe family took her in, she found comfort in their kitchen and would spend time in there seeking comfort. For starters, she spent most her days and nights in her grandmother’s kitchen because it is where she is comfortable. Mikage finds comfort from multiple kitchens within the novel. Since she claims she wants to “breathe my her last in a kitchen,” (pg 4) this highlights the importance of kitchens in Mikage’s life and therefore highlights Yoshimoto’s importance for a family in the life of an individual. One interpretation shows that family should be where an individual feels most comfortable.ĭespite no longer having a family Mikage still finds comfort in a kitchen, this alludes to the fact that she finds the kitchen to be her “symbolic” family. After her grandmother died it was ” the one place I Mikage could sleep” (pg 4) which suggests Mikage is the most comfortable within a kitchen. She also makes the claim that she loves all kitchens since all she needs is “a place where they make food” (pg 3). Get Your Custom Essay on 'Kitchen first lost her grandmother, she was launched.'

Mikage kitchen