A Tale for the Time Being

A Tale for the Time Being

by

Ruth Ozeki

Babette is a waitress at the French-maid-themed coffee shop where Nao likes to write in her diary. Nao initially says that Babette is her friend and that she lets Nao have free coffee at the café. Babette first meets Nao at the public bath, where she compliments Nao on the shape of her head after Nao shaves all her hair off. At this point in her life, Nao is very lonely. When Babette offers to take her shopping to help her pick a wig, Nao jumps at the chance to make a friend. However, Babette is actually a pimp and soon begins to insist that Nao go on “dates” with men who come to the café. Nao doesn’t want to displease her only friend, so she ends up have sex with men while Babette collects the money. While Babette is initially kind to Nao, she turns vicious when Nao says that she no longer wants to go on “dates.” She pinches Nao very hard and tells her that people like Nao “don’t deserve to have self-respect.” Babette preys on Nao’s loneliness and insecurity to exploit her. She represents the constant sexual danger that young, naïve women like Nao are in when they do not have a support system.

Babette Quotes in A Tale for the Time Being

The A Tale for the Time Being quotes below are all either spoken by Babette or refer to Babette. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Time, Impermanence, and the Present  Theme Icon
).
Part I, Chapter 3: Nao Quotes

But since these are my last days on earth, I want to write something important. […] I want to leave something real behind.

But what can I write about that’s real? Sure, I can write about all the bad shit that’s happened to me, and my feelings about my dad and my mom and my so-called friends, but I don’t particularly want to.

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Ruth, Haruki Yasutani / Nao’s Father , Jiko Yasutani, Tomoko / Nao’s Mother, Babette, Kayla
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:
Part III, Chapter 3: Nao Quotes

The pale scorpion used its pincers to flip the staghorn beetle into the air. The beetle reared up and fell over on his back, exposing his underside. The scorpion's segmented tail curled over to deliver its venomous sting. […] Yellow Scorpion stings! The staghorn beetle shuddered. In the small, bare terrarium, he had no place to hide. His spindly legs writhed and flailed in the
air, until they didn’t anymore. It looks like Staghorn Beetle is the loser, yes, he’s dying, he’s dying, he’s. . . DEAD!

Neon-colored titles flashed across the screen. Yellow Scorpion Wins!

I started to cry.

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Haruki Yasutani / Nao’s Father , Babette
Page Number: 291
Explanation and Analysis:
Part III, Chapter 5: Nao Quotes

We had a couple more dates after that, and we always did it the same way, with me wearing his suit. Once, I made him put on my school uniform, but he looked so ridiculous with his knobbly knees sticking out from under the pleats that I got angry and wanted to hit him, so I did. I was wearing his beautiful Armani, which is a cruel suit, and he stood passively in front of me, wearing my skirt and my sailor blouse, and kept his eyes fixed on the floor. His passive attitude made me even angrier, and the madder I got, the harder I wanted to hit him. […] I thought maybe I would have to kill him. But the next time my hand came toward him, he caught my wrist.

“Enough,” he said. “You’re only hurting yourself.”

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Haruki #1 Yasutani (speaker), Babette, Ryu
Page Number: 301-302
Explanation and Analysis:

It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful to her. I really was. She was my only friend, and if I couldn’t hang out at Fifi’s Lonely Apron, where could I go? My home
life was a disaster. Mom [...] was killing herself working overtime. Dad [...] was depressed like I’ve never seen him before, like he’d finally and truly lost all interest in being alive. He avoided any contact with me and Mom, which is a trick in a small two-room apartment. [...] [S]ometimes, if I happened to pass him in the narrow hallway and catch his eye, his face would twitch and start to crumple with the weight of his shame, and I had to turn my head away because I couldn’t bear to see it.

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Haruki Yasutani / Nao’s Father , Tomoko / Nao’s Mother, Babette
Page Number: 303-304
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Tale for the Time Being LitChart as a printable PDF.
A Tale for the Time Being PDF

Babette Quotes in A Tale for the Time Being

The A Tale for the Time Being quotes below are all either spoken by Babette or refer to Babette. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Time, Impermanence, and the Present  Theme Icon
).
Part I, Chapter 3: Nao Quotes

But since these are my last days on earth, I want to write something important. […] I want to leave something real behind.

But what can I write about that’s real? Sure, I can write about all the bad shit that’s happened to me, and my feelings about my dad and my mom and my so-called friends, but I don’t particularly want to.

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Ruth, Haruki Yasutani / Nao’s Father , Jiko Yasutani, Tomoko / Nao’s Mother, Babette, Kayla
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:
Part III, Chapter 3: Nao Quotes

The pale scorpion used its pincers to flip the staghorn beetle into the air. The beetle reared up and fell over on his back, exposing his underside. The scorpion's segmented tail curled over to deliver its venomous sting. […] Yellow Scorpion stings! The staghorn beetle shuddered. In the small, bare terrarium, he had no place to hide. His spindly legs writhed and flailed in the
air, until they didn’t anymore. It looks like Staghorn Beetle is the loser, yes, he’s dying, he’s dying, he’s. . . DEAD!

Neon-colored titles flashed across the screen. Yellow Scorpion Wins!

I started to cry.

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Haruki Yasutani / Nao’s Father , Babette
Page Number: 291
Explanation and Analysis:
Part III, Chapter 5: Nao Quotes

We had a couple more dates after that, and we always did it the same way, with me wearing his suit. Once, I made him put on my school uniform, but he looked so ridiculous with his knobbly knees sticking out from under the pleats that I got angry and wanted to hit him, so I did. I was wearing his beautiful Armani, which is a cruel suit, and he stood passively in front of me, wearing my skirt and my sailor blouse, and kept his eyes fixed on the floor. His passive attitude made me even angrier, and the madder I got, the harder I wanted to hit him. […] I thought maybe I would have to kill him. But the next time my hand came toward him, he caught my wrist.

“Enough,” he said. “You’re only hurting yourself.”

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Haruki #1 Yasutani (speaker), Babette, Ryu
Page Number: 301-302
Explanation and Analysis:

It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful to her. I really was. She was my only friend, and if I couldn’t hang out at Fifi’s Lonely Apron, where could I go? My home
life was a disaster. Mom [...] was killing herself working overtime. Dad [...] was depressed like I’ve never seen him before, like he’d finally and truly lost all interest in being alive. He avoided any contact with me and Mom, which is a trick in a small two-room apartment. [...] [S]ometimes, if I happened to pass him in the narrow hallway and catch his eye, his face would twitch and start to crumple with the weight of his shame, and I had to turn my head away because I couldn’t bear to see it.

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Haruki Yasutani / Nao’s Father , Tomoko / Nao’s Mother, Babette
Page Number: 303-304
Explanation and Analysis: