Kamikaze

• 'Her father embarked at sunrise'

  • Verb: Suggests being ready, prepared and determined to begin the course of action he is destined for.
  • It is ironic that the father begins his journey with this grand plan because it all changes.
  • Noun: The dawn of a new day, symbolising new possibilities and opportunities.
  • It is ironic that the father begins in this way, because this optimism very quickly fades away.
• 'with a flask of water, a samurai sword'

  • Symbolic of Japanese culture; represents dignity, honour, masculinity and loyalty to one’s country.
  • It is lie the father has pledged himself to his country and is worthy of carrying the symbolic weapon.
• 'in the cockpit, a shaven head full of powerful incantations'

  • On one level, it could be that the soldier is carrying sacred Japanese prayers/the national anthem/ in his mind, driving him towards making the sacrifice.
  • However, this could also be the first hint that the soldier isn’t acting entirely on his own accord ; it could be that he’s been under a spell and influenced by patriotic propaganda.
• 'and enough fuel for a one-way journey into history'

  • Metaphor + Hyperbole: suggests that the speaker’s father is going to do something so extraordinary and memorable that his journey is going to ensure his prominence.
  • Adjective: reveals that the speaker’s father does not intend on making a return trip.
• '// but half way there, she thought, recounting it later to her children,'

  Enjambment: The break in the line alongside the conjunction represents the turning point in the poem; he is losing confidence and courage and therefore second-guesses his decision.
• 'he must have looked far down at the little fishing boats strung out like bunting'

  • Simile: The boats are decorating the sea; ironic as he is supposed to be aiming for big enemy ships, not admiring little fishing boats.
  • On another level, bunting is used during festivities, so the simile suggests a celebration (at the soldiers’ sacrificing for their country), however this is contrasted with what the soldier eventually does.
  • AO3: Fishing boats are symbolic of nurturing and sustaining life; ironic that he sees this whilst preparing to meet his end.
• 'on a green-blue translucent sea'

  Colours: The vibrancy of the sea is a pull factor for the soldier; the beauty of nature entices him to go back on his word.
• '//and beneath them, arcing in swathes'

  • Verb: Contradicts the soldier’s ‘one way journey’.
  • Perhaps he noticed the freedom of movement that the fish had and it made him rethink the decision he made to sacrifice his life.
  • They represent what he used to have and what he won’t have anymore and it triggers a sense of doubt in him.
• 'like a huge flag waved first one way/ then the other in a figure of eight,'

  • Simile: The flag is a symbol of national identity and here, the flag is symbolic of freedom (for the fish are curving and spinning however they want).
  • The number 8 is also symbolic of infinity, for it is a never-ending circle.
  • Again, these are all painful reminds of the freedom and time that the soldier doesn’t have.
  • Furthermore, 8 is considered a lucky number in Japan because it is nearly homophonous to the word "Prosperity" (繁栄 han'ei)
• 'the dark shoals of fishes /flashing silver as their bellies/ swiveled towards the sun'

  • Sibilance: The repetitive “s” sounds mimic the fish whizzing and weaving through the sea. The soldier yearns for the freedom that the fishes have.
  • Irony: the fishes resemble the samurai sword the soldier is supposed to be carrying as a symbol of his honour, however his focus and attention is elsewhere.
• '//and remembered how he /and his brothers waiting on the shore'

  Shift in Focus: to what the daughter thinks the soldier’s memories would have been – it is still not from his point of view.
• 'built cairns of pearl-grey pebbles/ to see whose withstood longest'

  It is imagined that the memory of him playing childish games with his brothers influenced his turning back; innocence.
• 'the turbulent inrush of breakers /bringing their father’s boat safe'

  • Irony: The daughter imagines that her father remembered how, despite being tempestuous, the sea bought back his father from fishing.
  • This is a far-cry from the soldier’s reality, where he will not return home safely, so again we see the soldier longing for things is he about to give up, giving insight into why he turned back.
• 'yes, grandfather’s boat – safe/ to the shore, salt-sodden, awash'

  Repetition: hints at the pilot’s mindset – perhaps he didn’t want his child to go through the pain of losing him. It also emphasises how unsafe he feels.
• 'with cloud-marked mackerel,/ black crabs, feathery prawns,/ the loose silver of whitebait and once' 


  Use idea about the father being successful .
• 'a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.'

  Adjectives: serve as a reminder that there is still danger in nature, however this is juxtaposed by the end-stopped last line which mirrors the end of the pilots journey, where he choses life and nature over death.
• 'And though he came back/ my mother never spoke again /in his presence, nor did she meet his eyes /and the neighbours too, they treated him /as though he no longer existed,'

  • Simile: The father is ignored, shunned from society, completely ostracised.
  • It is like he is ghost that no one can see or hear, erased from the memory and hearts of the adults around him.
  • The shame is so profound and their disgust so deep that they pretend he is invisible.
• 'only we children still chattered and laughed'

  Verbs: With their childish innocence, the childrens’ behaviour contrasts the adults’; they do not have any prejudice, nor do they harbour any hatred for their father.
• 'till gradually we too learned/ to be silent, to live as though /he had never returned, that this /was no longer the father we loved.'

  Exploring and criticising the destructive results of patriotism: on civilians as well as soldiers.

  By choosing to preserve life (his own and those he would have killed), his family become ashamed of him to the point that he does figuratively "die" anyway.
• 'And sometimes, she said, he must have wondered which had been the better way to die.'

  Irony: a final note of sadness: the pilot - if now dead - never got the life back that he chose to preserve.