Waves/Tsunami Symbol in A Tale for the Time Being

Waves, particularly the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, symbolize the unavoidability of change. One of the novel’s themes is that everything and everyone is constantly changing, and that people’s attempts to avoid change are doomed to fail. When Ruth watches news coverage of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, she sees that the wave is immense and rapid, and that the “tiny people” people who are trying to get away from it don’t “stand a chance.” This suggests that, more generally, people are powerless against change in their lives.

When Jiko and Nao go on a picnic to the beach, Jiko asks Nao to try to attack the waves in an attempt to teach her that one can’t stop change no matter how hard one tries. Nao eventually realizes this too. After she stops trying to hit the waves with a stick, she gets tired, lies down in the water, and enjoys the feeling of the waves washing over her body. Afterward, she tells Jiko that it was a good feeling to let the ocean win, meaning that happiness lies in accepting change rather than resisting it.

Waves/Tsunami Quotes in A Tale for the Time Being

The A Tale for the Time Being quotes below all refer to the symbol of Waves/Tsunami. 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

Every few hours, another horrifying piece of footage would break, and she would play it over and over, studying the wave as it surged over the tops of the seawalls, carrying ships down city streets, picking up cars and trucks and depositing them on the roofs of buildings. She watched whole towns get crushed and swept away in a matter of moments, and she was aware that while these moments were captured online, so many other moments simply vanished. […]

But always, from the vantage point of the camera, you could see how fast the wave was traveling and how immense it was.

Related Characters: Ruth

Related Symbols: Waves/Tsunami

Page Number and Citation: 112-113

Explanation and Analysis:

Over and over, I ran at the sea, beating it until I was so tired I could barely stand. And then the next time I fell down, I just lay there and let the waves wash over me, and I wondered what would happen if I stopped trying to get
back up. Just let my body go. Would I be washed out to sea? The sharks would eat my limbs and organs. Little fish would feed on my fingertips. My beautiful white bones would fall to the bottom of the ocean, where anemones
would grow upon them like flowers. Pearls would rest in my eye sockets.

Related Characters: Naoko “Nao” Yasutani (speaker), Jiko Yasutani

Related Symbols: Waves/Tsunami

Page Number and Citation: 193

Explanation and Analysis:

Waves/Tsunami Symbol Timeline in A Tale for the Time Being

The timeline below shows where the symbol Waves/Tsunami appears in A Tale for the Time Being. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...if she changed her mind about it, only to fall victim to the earthquake and tsunami that came after. Ruth gazes out her window and looks out at the ocean, and... (full context)

The Difficulty of Communication Theme Icon

...water. Ruth says that Oliver thinks the freezer bag came on a drift from the tsunami, but Muriel thinks it might be too early for that. (full context)

...the internet, looking for any Yasutanis who might have been victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Ruth hadn’t found anyone named Jiko or Naoko, and since she didn’t know Nao’s parents’... (full context)

...interview of a Japanese man, Mr. Nojima, who stands amid the wreckage left by the tsunami and speaks of how his family—his wife, little daughter, and infant son—were all washed away.... (full context)

(2) Right after the tsunami and earthquake, Ruth w been mesmerized by videos of the disaster—she watched entire towns being... (full context)

(3) For a while, after the tsunami in Japan, the news was full of this tragedy. However, with time, other stories from... (full context)

...because if the barnacles are three years or older, they would be older than the tsunami. This would negate her theory about the contents of the lunch box being washed to... (full context)

...of Japan, was one of the regions that was hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami. Jiko’s temple was located somewhere along its coastline. Fukushima prefecture, where the nuclear power station... (full context)

...about the freezer bag she found, and they, too, want to find something from the tsunami. Muriel explains that most of these people are looking for money or valuables. Ruth angrily... (full context)

(2) At the beach, Jiko asked Nao if she has ever “bullied a wave” and asked Nao to try it. Nao hit the waves with Jiko’s stick until she... (full context)

Jiko said that the surfer and the wave are also the same: a person rises up like a wave until they fall again.... (full context)

...by saying that Japan is coming to them, and he explains that the earthquake and tsunami moved Japan’s coast closer to Canada. He also says that it caused Earth’s mass to... (full context)

...she might find it interesting, even though it is many years old and predates the tsunami. (full context)

A Tale for the Time Being

Ruth Ozeki

Waves/Tsunami Symbol Analysis

Waves/Tsunami Quotes in A Tale for the Time Being

Waves/Tsunami Symbol Timeline in A Tale for the Time Being