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Picture Bride Themes

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Expectations against Reality As a young Japanese woman travelling to America, Hana Omiya had great expectations for what was to come. But she did not expect her life to take such a drastic turn. In Picture Bride by Yoshiko Uchida, major themes are controlled by Hana’s great hopes and the reality she faced, as revealed through how love can cause irrational thought, differences in cultural interests can lead to separation, and how the title Picture Bride shows how Hana and many other people want to be a good bride but has trouble being one sometimes. First, Hana tries to be a Picture Bride but often has trouble being one due to obstacles and and other temptations. When Hana first meets Taro at the port, she is surprised at how different he …show more content…

A few weeks after coming to America, Hana meets a handsome man named Kiyoshi Yamaka and instantly becomes attached to him. “Hana recognized immediately the handsome face she had encountered during the prayer and groped for something proper to say to excuse herself” (13). Hana knew at that moment that she was attracted to Kiyoshi and that he was attracted to her. A few days after Hana and Taro’s wedding, Hana was working in the shop alone when Kiyoshi walked in. She was even more comfortable and attracted to him than before the wedding. “Now she knew the real reason she had traveled across the ocean It was to be here, in this place, at this very instant...And for that brief moment, Taro did not even seem to exist” (32). Because of Hana’s love for Kiyoshi, she has betrayed Taro and committed a sin that strictly goes against their religion. One morning, Kiku walked in and told Hana that Kiyoshi had contracted influenza and that he is desperately ill. “In the instant she heard of Yamaka’s illness, however, Hana forgot every good intention of the past. ‘Kiku, I must go to him,’ she said. ‘You'll be risking both yourself and the child,’ Kiku warned” (45). Because of her irrational thinking due to love, she even risked her life as well as the baby’s life just to visit

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