Summary:
Shiokari Pass is a story of severe sacrifice and offering. Through the characters of Nobuo, Kiku, and Yoshikawa, the theme of sacrifice plays a vital role and is shown throughout the entire book.
Sacrifice
Shiokari Pass is a story of severe sacrifice and offering. Through the characters of Nobuo, Kiku, and Yoshikawa, the theme of sacrifice plays a vital role and is shown throughout the entire book. Considering Christianity is the main theme of the book, and sacrifice is a major part of Christianity, sacrifice is a significant part of the story and it can relate the characters of the book to Jesus Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The main character of the book, Nobuo, displays many examples of sacrifice, and they get increasingly more dramatic and selfless towards the end of the story, coincidentally as he starts to question the religion of Christianity and embrace the religion as his own. Nobuo's first major sacrifice is when he gave up on going to a University. After his father died, and his family had no means of income, he took a job at the law courts to support the family. This shows Nobuo's maturity level has increased and he is now the man of the house. The next, perhaps more bold sacrifice, is when he gives up his rather respectable job at the law courts in Tokyo to move to Hokkaido to visit Yoshikawa and the bed-ridden Fujiko. Not to mention Tokyo was a very desirable place to live, while Hokkaido had extreme weather and rough terrain. This noble act shows Nobuo's friendly love of Yoshikawa and his actual love of Fujiko. Nobuo's last sacrifice can be related to Christ's sacrifice. Nobuo gave up his life to save the people in
the train at Shiokari Pass. Like Christ, he gave his life so others could live, so that they could live on, and perhaps one day accept Jesus as Savior.
Yoshikawa exhibits sacrifice in many ways. Yoshikawa spends a lot of his life taking care of and protecting his sister, Fujiko, who has a crippled leg. He would stand up for her when she was made fun of, and later in her life, he took care of her during her tuberculosis. Yoshikawa also gave up on university, his dad died and he provided for the family. Yoshikawa also moved permanently to Hokkaido, which was looked up poorly by many, simply because it was thought that Hokkaido was a terrible place to live.
Kiku made a very important sacrifice in the beginning of the book which can be related to God. When Tose, Nobuo's grandma, discovered that her son's wife, Kiku, was a Christian, she was appalled and would not allow the relationship. Kiku was given the choice of denying Jesus and being allowed to stay, or being sent away and giving up her husband and her son. She would not deny Christ and chose the painful option of leaving her husband and her only son, Nobuo. Kiku can be related to God, who also gave up his one and only son, and both sons coincidentally died so that others could live.
Although there was much sacrifice in the book, Shiokari Pass, Nobuo, Yoshikawa, and Kiku all display the most bold and noble types of sacrifice. Through thick and thin these characters put their own personal gain aside and helped many other people, Nobuo especially, what more can you give than your life? You can't give anything more than your life, and Nobuo did so happily.
