The Twisted Jungle Gym:  Many critics identify the jungle gym as the most powerful image in the film. The twisted structure was created as a result of the bomb and serves as a memorial for those lost. The structure also symbolizes how the event twisted and destroyed the lives of so many families. The memorial emotionally reunites the survivors with the victims. It also serves as a place of reconciliation and reunion between Clark, whose father lost track of family after the bomb, and his Japanese family. This reconciliation occurs across generations connecting the kids with their lost Grandfather and their Japanese American Cousin. The same is true for Clark who learns about the Uncle he will never know yet connects him with the next generation.

    The Eye in the Sky:        This graphic representation of an eye inside the bomb blast is a re-creation of the image that haunted Kane's brother. She tells her grandkids about how he became obsessed with this image and repeatedly drew it. A lot of negative criticism about the film centered on the use of this image and the belief Kurosawa took unrealistic liberties here. They believe it fails to capture the magnitude of the event. I believe Kurosawa's intention was to imply some sort of divine judgment, not against people as Kane makes clear, but rather against governments and the use of war in resolving disputes

   The Rose and the Woman Walking into the Storm:  The rose is a repeated theme in the work and gains importance throughout the film. It begins with a song played on an organ about the heart of a rose. The organ has a broken key, which Kane's grandson vows to fix. The rose image makes a visual appearance in the scene at the Buddhist temple. Clark and ___ watch a parade of ants heading into the heart of the rose while elders chant inside the temple. The rose also seems to represent a transgenerational progression and perhaps the return of Clark's branch of the family to Japan. This final scene is seen by some as an epiphany and it occurs without dialogue. Kane's painful memories have caused her to relive the day of the bomb. Kurosawa saw the scene as the woman running into the storm as though into the heart of a red rose (Richie). In the final moments her umbrella is inverted into the shape of a flower. 

A Pale View of Hills  

  Mother/Daughter:  Keiko’s recent death causes Etsuko to remember Sachiko after so many years. Etsuko states she never knew her well and their “friendship was no more than a matter of some several weeks one summer many years ago (Ishiguro 11).” The mother/daughter story of Sachiko and Mariko is used to represent the relationship of Etsuko and Keiko. Ishiguro revealed in an interview his intention in the pivotal seen on the bridge in which the narrator, Etsuko, suddenly addresses Mariko in the first person as if she were her mother. The whole point of the story was really about Etsuko, whether Sachiko and Mariko existed or not does not matter, their story is meant to symbolize Etsuko/Keiko and the guilt Etsuko feels about taking Keiko to England (Mason). 

    The Swinging Girl/The Rope/The Hanging Girl: Etsuko dreams about a girl she recently saw playing on a swing. She states, “At first it had seemed a perfectly innocent dream (Ishiguro, 47).” Etsuko says the dream had less to due with the girl in the park than from having recently remembered Sachiko. She associates the girl who calls out to two nearby women initially with Mariko. This association is extended to the mysterious rope that Mariko repeatedly asks Etsuko why she is holding. In this way Etsuko sees herself holding the rope that causes Keiko’s death. We also learn about child murders that had taken place in Nagasaki and a young girl who had been found hung. Etsuko uses these images to deflect the pain of imagining Keiko “hanging in her room for day on end (Ishiguro, 43).”

    The River:  One critic applied a mythological interpretation to associate the river near Sachiko’s cottage with the River Styx (Shafer).  He believes Ishiguro uses the river as a transition between life and death. Scenes like the smiling woman Mariko observed drowned her infant, the imaginary women across the bridge, and the drowning of the cats are all pointed to as emphasizing its connection with death. Etsuko believes she sees this imaginary women/river god when she sees Mariko’s aunt approaching the cottage. When Mariko crosses the river it is as if she has passed from this world; she appears dead on the bank and is cold to the touch.  

You are Here: Different Images and Their Interpretations 
URL of this webpage: http://www.cocc.edu/wr316ca/boonen/TermProject/differentimages.htm
Last Updated: 02 July 2002 
© Boone Nicholson, 2002
This webpage was created by a student enrolled in Oregon State University-Cascades Writing 316-E, Spring 2002, and is intended only for educational use.  The contribution of Central Oregon Community College, which provides web space and server support for this website, is gratefully acknowledged.
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