Plot
Set in a post World War II Japan, the protagonist, Kikuji, has been orphaned by the death of his mother and father. He becomes involved with one of the former mistresses of his father, Mrs Ota, who commits suicide seemingly for the shame she associates with the affair. After Mrs Ota's death, Kikuji then transfers much of his love and grief over Mrs Ota's death to her daughter. The ending is ambiguous where the reader is not sure whether Fumiko has committed suicide like her mother.
Read more about this topic: Thousand Cranes
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“The plot! The plot! What kind of plot could a poet possibly provide that is not surpassed by the thinking, feeling reader? Form alone is divine.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
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