Life Lessons from "The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket
Life Lessons from "The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket"
In his short story, “The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket,” Yasunari Kawabata shares words of wisdom through the eyes of the narrator. Kawabata presents the narrator as someone who is on the outside looking in. However, his words are a key element to the story because they reflect valuable lessons that the children may need for future reference. The narrator wants to save the children from heartache and disappointment, however he fails to realize that all children must experience these emotions for themselves in order to become mature.
As the narrator stares into the lives of the children, it seems as though he is reliving his own life. His comments give the impression that he once made wrong decisions based on immaturity and therefore the children should not follow the same path. As a result, the narrator makes comments (unknown to the children) that gives a warning on what he sees from the outside.
Since the children display youth and ignorance, it should not make sense that the narrator understands the children’s actions. Because of Fujio and Kiyoko’s age, the way of handling the grasshopper and the bellcricket took a different perspective then the narrator. When Fujio announced he found a grasshopper and asked who wanted it, he purposely waited for Kiyoko to ask for it. "Oh, I thought. I felt slightly jealous of the boy, and sheepish. How silly of me not to have understood his actions until now,” (63) said the narrator. Fujio did that deliberately to get a closer look at Kiyoko.
Through experience, the narrator has learned better and therefore there is no reason he would understand Fujio’s actions, unless he experienced the same.
As the story continues, the audience recognizes there is a connection between the grasshopper and the bell cricket. Compared to everyday life, some things are ordinary and there are some that are special. Another one of the narrator’s warnings is introduced as the children are concerned over the grasshopper and the bell cricket. The grasshopper represents something ordinary while the bell cricket represents something that is special. Although the whole time Fujio thought he had something ordinary, he...