The Samurai's Garden Beauty Quotes

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it (Confucius).” In The Samurai's Garden the characters struggle with their sense of beauty in different ways, it either builds them up or tears them down. Beauty is seen through many different aspects in The Samurai’s Garden, it just depends on the eyes of the beholder. People see beauty in different ways for different reasons. For example, Matsu found beauty in nature, Stephen found beauty in simplicity, Tomoko found beauty in youth, and Sachi found beauty in life. However, there is more to life than being beautiful, as shown in The Samurai’s Garden. In The Samurai’s Garden, Gail Tsukiyama reveals that beauty does not define a person. Throughout the novel, conflict exposes the characters …show more content…
Over the course of Stephen’s stay in Tarumi, he developed from a sickly boy with tuberculosis to a strong-minded man who is not afraid to speak his mind and defends those that he loves. For example, Stephen was afraid of going to Yamaguchi at first because of the lepers but once he got to know Sachi he wasn’t afraid to look at her for who she truly is. Also Stephen stood up to his father because he was angry at him for having an affair with a Japanese women. This shows Stephen's development because at the beginning of his stay in Tarumi, Stephen would have brushed this news under the rug because he was afraid of confrontation but eventually Stephen was not afraid of the truth or protecting his family from the actions that almost tore them apart. Similarly, both Tomoko and Sachi develop but in different ways. Tomoko and Sachi each lost their physical beauty which led to Tomoko’s self destruction. However, Sachi slowly progressed and built her confidence back through the hardships she endures with her new life. For example, Tomoko decided to kill herself with her father’s fishing knife and Sachi was eventually able to move on after being nurtured by Michiko and Matsu. As a result of the love that Sachi felt, she changed from being a selfish, young girl and began to slowly heal. Throughout her healing process, Sachi developed by learning more about herself, her disease, …show more content…
A relationship that was created during Stephen's stay in Tarumi was the relationship between Keiko and Stephen. This relationship was a new and a fun love created by two young adults. Keiko and Stephen began to spend more and more time together, developing more feelings but their relationship was destined to end. Keiko was Japanese and Stephen was Chinese and the two cultures were at war with each other at the time of their short-lived romance. They would never be able to make it work due to disapproval and they both mutually ended the relationship. However, a forgotten relationship was the one of Sachi and Matsu. Sachi is able to find what is true in her heart after her new journey with leprosy begins, and finds out who is truly there for her. For example, Sachi and Matsu are brought closer together after the death of Tomoko and begin a friendship that slowly turns into love. As a result, Sachi and Matsu wanted to create a family so they attempted to have a child but the child was a stillborn bringing another loss to their lives. Throughout the novel it seems that they still love each other but the loss was to much to bear so they can not be together. Finally, a relationship that was destroyed because of Sachi losing her beauty was the relationship between Kenzo and Sachi. Throughout the course of Sachi’s development she learns to love herself as