52 pages • 1 hour read
Asha LemmieFifty Words for Rain
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Music as Happiness
Throughout Fifty Words for Rain, music symbolizes happiness for Seiko, Akira, and Nori. They are all talented musicians; they are also the characters who most desperately seek happiness throughout the novel.
The Kamiza household is not a happy one. Yuko is obsessed with family honor, especially after the emperor’s loss of power at the end of World War II. To regain past glory, Yuko rules with an iron fist. Unsurprisingly, the ruthless matriarch cares nothing about music. The music room at the Kamiza estate was intended for Seiko, who loves the piano and seeks to find happiness by studying music in France. However, when Seiko returns home to an arranged marriage, she loses her happiness (and therefore her interest in music) until she satisfies her family by bearing a son, Akira. Her love for Akira is genuine, and she passes on her passion for music to him. However, once she fears he has been ruined by his father and grandmother, Seiko gives up on him and once again seeks her happiness by returning to music. At a concert, she meets James, who is the love of her life and Nori’s father; Seiko gives in to her happiness by abandoning her family for love. After James dies, Seiko’s happiness fades, and she is never again associated with music except through flashbacks of her past.
Similarly, Nori’s happiness is also tied to love and music. She adores and idolizes Akira; her happiness at his companionship is reflected through her pleasure at listening to him play the violin—Akira complains that she “get[s] a ridiculous look on [her] face” when he plays Akira (97). She enjoys the time they spend together as Akira teaches her how to play. Tellingly, her favorite song is Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” a simple but moving piece that reflects her desire for a quiet, peaceful life. Akira’s distaste for it reflects his desire for flashy, musical glory. Nori’s happiness (and musical career) culminates in the Christmas concert at which she plays with Akira. His sudden death and her grief result in her rejection of music except as a memento of him. It is not until she is ready to move on that she attends Will’s concert in Paris and is reunited with Alice. In addition, Noah, who is a music teacher, coaxes happiness and love back into Nori’s life. When Nori abandons him at Yuko’s command, she also gives up music to embrace her duty as heir to the family estate, signaling the loss of her happiness, as well.
For Akira, music is everything, just as his happiness is more desirable to him than familial duty. His childhood happiness with his mother is associated with music; his natural talent and his privilege drive him to pursue his musical dreams. While Akira loves Nori, as evidenced by his attempts to teach her violin despite his impatient personality, he does not want to be subsumed by her in the way she adores him or the way Yuko obsesses over family glory. Akira seeks his own happiness and personal space by studying music and traveling to Europe to perform, and he doesn’t mind that it takes him away from Nori. He knows this happiness won’t last forever, thanks to Yuko’s scheming, so he chooses to make the best use of his freedom while it lasts. Akira chooses to live his life to the fullest while he can, even flying back from Austria to perform with Nori. His sudden death, while tragic and traumatic, also spares him from the filial fate he so hated. By the time Nori reunites with him in the afterlife dream, Akira seems to have found his final happiness, with his violin at his side.
Gardens and Trees as Comfort
Nori spends a large portion of her life indoors, either hidden by her grandmother, hidden by her mother and brother, or hiding herself from the world. This is why she adores the outdoors. In the novel, gardens and trees symbolize comfort for Nori, particularly in times of distress and vulnerability.
The first time Nori is allowed in the Kamiza garden, she falls in love with the trees there. She learns to climb trees higher than anyone else can, thereby creating a safe space for herself. Previously, she would peer longingly out at the garden from the attic, so she is delighted to finally experience its beauty. Later, when she is at the brothel, Nori also seeks refuge in the garden and the trees, going there to escape the horrors of her fate. It is also in that garden that she meets Miyuki, who becomes her first friend.
When Akira becomes Nori’s legal guardian, he restores the garden on his property as a “gift for her” (300), knowing that Nori considers gardens as places of comfort and safety. Nori spends much of her time there, especially when she is at her most vulnerable, such as when she reads Seiko’s journals or escapes her nightmares of abandonment. Will’s sexual assault of her in this garden is rendered even more violent since it occurs under her precious tree; this represents a violation of her trust and the erosion of her feelings of safety. After this, Nori has anxiety and depression; she cannot believe she is safe anywhere.
Nori’s final encounter with Akira in her dream-vision also takes place under a tree in a garden. In this way, Nori is not only saying goodbye to her brother, who created safe spaces for her, but also to her vulnerability and need for safe spaces. To rule like Yuko, Nori must be invulnerable and ruthless; she no longer needs the comfort of trees.
The Sun as Akira, and the Rain as Nori
After Nori meets Akira as a child, she takes to following him everywhere, and the servants begin to describe her as “his shadow.” This is an apt description in more ways than one because not only does she follow him around, but she also puts him on a pedestal and is content to take direction from him. However, Nori, too, influences Akira. Throughout the book, Akira is symbolized by the sun and Nori by the rain, which shows their symbiotic relationship.
Akira’s name means “bright” in Japanese, and he is quite literally Nori’s sun: She follows him everywhere and he is her guiding light. In several instances—like when he rescues her from the brothel and insists that Yuko treat Nori’s scarlet fever—Akira is the one who ensures that Nori stays alive. His presence brightens her world—he literally brings her out from darkness into light by arguing with Yuko to ensure that Nori can come out of the attic into the garden. He nourishes Nori by seeing to her basic needs, like food and shelter, and also caring for her emotionally. However, as the sun disappears behind clouds, Akira often disappears from Nori’s life in pursuit of his interests; he travels to Europe to perform or remains in his room to compose or goes off to school to study. While he is happy to do these things, Nori languishes in his absence. Like the sun, Akira always comes back to Nori. Nori tries to always get closer to him but never quite manages to catch up to him, whether in musical talent, social status, or education—he is forever just beyond her reach. His death proves this, as he goes where she cannot follow. After his death, Nori has a dream-vision of him and recalls his warmth and love, calling him her “Kyoto sun.”
Nori, meanwhile, is symbolized by rain; she is perceived as being less desirable and as a shadow, but equally essential. Nori likes the rain, describing it as her attic companion. Just like the rain used to be her companion during her lonely childhood in the attic, she becomes a companion to Akira after their reunion. Unlike the sun, which regularly disappears and reappears, the rain has many permutations, from a drizzle to a monsoon. Similarly, Nori discovers that she, too, has many forms: obedient child, adoring sister, stalwart friend, budding lover, and ruthless heir.
However, it is only when Nori and Akira are together that they create something truly beautiful, like a rainbow or a sun shower. Such an event is represented by Akira and Nori’s duet performance; Akira performs on the piano as an accompanist, though he rarely does so, and Nori performs as the main musician, and the event is a big success. Neither performs again after this—Akira dies and Nori only returns to music in a passive, audience capacity. However, Akira’s afterlife visitation shows that Nori will never truly be without her sun.
In this way, Lemmie explores and expands upon Nori and Akira’s complex relationship through symbolism: Nori as the nourishing, changeable rain, and Akira as the bright, shining sun—a stunning presence, that vanishes too soon.
