Is terror the main motive people desist from acknowledging that peril is real and they must find a way to live in its presence? The issue comes out powerfully in the 1948 short story The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck. The fiction is centered on the existence of two young boys, Jiya, a fisherman’s offspring, and his friend Kino a farmer’s son, and the fear Jiya initially has when a storm hits his family’s house on an island. The story’s setting is in one of Japan’s tiny fishing villages located on a beach beside the ocean. Jiya lives with his family at a beach residence while his friend Kino resides on his folks’ farm, high on the mount that overlooks the sea. A deeper contemplation of the first few pages of the story reveals that Jiya is always afraid of the ocean since he understands the wrath of the storm and the changes it has brought in his life.
Kino adores the ocean, and since he takes pleasure in glancing at the waves and thinks they are stunning, he has no comprehension why the rural community people do not have the same enthusiasm towards the ocean. To Jiya, Kino’s response to why the village people never seemed to be glad about the ocean is, “The sea is our enemy” (Buck 1). That is the reason every time the two friends played on the beach, Jiya was always on the lookout, observing the sea, for he understood how the sea obliterated his fishing village. On one of the hot sunny afternoons, when the two friends were playing on the beach, Kino asked Jiya, “What are you looking for?” and Jiya responded by saying, “Only to see that the ocean is not angry” (Buck 2). Finally, the desire to know why his friend is always afraid of the sea makes Kino ask his father why Jiya is always on the lookout while they play in the ocean.
Before the storm washes Jiya’s family, his father sends him uphill to the old gentleman’s castle. Jiya’s father, upon realizing the upcoming storm, tells Jiya to go to the old gentleman’s castle. The father said, “If the ocean yields to the fires, you must live after us” (Buck 5). Unwilling, Jiya did not fancy to go to the old gentleman’s fortress, and his father tells him, “It is your duty to obey me, as a good Japanese son” (Buck 15. On his way, Jiya sees Kino and his father and chooses them over the old gentleman, and while with them, his family’s house and all other village houses are washed out to the sea. When the storm recedes, Jiya faints, realizing his family and everyone in the villager are gone, and the beach is empty. When he wakes up, Kino’s relatives tenders Jiya an abode with them since he is desolate, at the loss of his relations, and is with no place to go. The family houses on the beach are washed out to the sea because they do not have panes in front of the sea.
After the storm and Kino’s family offers Jiya a home, he decides to stay, and soon his grief is replaced with the joy he encounters at Kino’s family. Happiness began to live in Jiya once more, after days of sleeping and questioning why his family died. The excellent food prepared by Kino’s mother became his source of warmth, and his body welcomed that warmth. In Setsu, Kino’s sister, Kino, Kino’s father, and mother, Jiya could feel the love of the people that welcomed him during and after the storm. The love Jiya received “glowed like a warm and welcoming fire upon the hearth.” The love came from hearing Kino say, “Now I have a brother,” and from seeing Setsu run to him for an embrace after coming back from the wealthy old gentleman (Buck 11). Likewise, to hear Kino’s father say, “How happy you have made us,” were among the little moments that made Jiya understand the love offered, unlike how he would have lived in the old gentleman’s house (Buck 11).
In one encounter, Kino asks his father, “Father, are we not very unfortunate people to live on this island?” (Buck 7). Why his father asked, “Because the volcano is behind our house and the ocean is in front, and when they make the earthquake and the big wave, we are helpless. Often many of us are lost” (Buck 7). His response and what is considered a change in perspective make Kino rise above the fear. His father tells him, “To live amid danger is to know how good life is, To live in the presence of death makes us brave and strong” (Buck 7). As Kino is made to understand, death is the great gateway, which, unless understood, makes people fear.
Although time passes, the memories of the events leading to the death of Jiya’s family are never replaced. Jiya grows into a muscular and kind young man, and as if to repay the family for taking him in, he works on the rice farm. Over time, Jiya teaches himself to live with the reality of his family’s death, but their memory never leaves him. As a reminder of his brother and parents, Jiya often looks out at the ocean. When the time comes, and the village people rethink rebuilding their houses at the beach, Jiya decides he too will reconstruct his family’s house. Despite the old gentleman insisting they are foolish to rebuild, oblivious of any potential danger, Jiya, as if having learned that fear is inevitable, tells the gentleman that the beach is their home. Jiya’s rise above the fear manifests fully when in addition to rebuilding his family’s house, he opts to return to the sea and live the life of a fisherman like his father did.
When Kino’s father learns of Jiya’s decision, he begins to compensate him for his work at the farm. Jiya saves the money he earns and acquires a boat for himself. The strong relationship that builds over time between Jiya and Setsu results in the two planning to marry, which shocks Kino. However, after marrying, Kino misses the two and frequently visits them when they move to their new house on the beach. Knowing the waves might return, Kino constantly worries about what Jiya and Setsu will do. However, unlike his family and past neighbors, Jiya cuts a panel that looks onto the ocean, and he is confident this will make him be prepared against any upcoming waves. Fear is gone as Jiya and Setsu begin their new life at the beach.
Work Cited
Buck, Pearl S. The Big Wave. W. Ross MacDonald School Resource Services Library. 2017.