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Inside Sand Chronicles:
The Details Speak... |
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Discovering Deep Meaning in Small Things |
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by Annette Roman |
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When reading Sand Chronicles, do you ever inexplicably sense something about the meaning of the story that hasn't been revealed directly? These feelings come from symbols—concrete things that represent abstract ideas.
The Sandglass
After her parents get divorced, Ann and her mother go to the Nima Sand Museum in Shimane to see the world's biggest sandglass: 1,000 pounds of sand in a container that is 17 feet tall and 3 feet wide. It takes an entire year for all that sand to pass through!
Nowadays we only use a sandglass to time a turn in a game of Pictionary. But before watches, they were used to keep time. In Sand Chronicles, the sandglass is a major symbol of growing up and old, leaving the past irrevocably behind, and racing time to reach a goal.
Ann's hourglass symbolizes her connection to her mother, and later, to Daigo. When Ann's little sister pulls the hourglass out of Ann's treasure box, Ann tells her, "I don't need it anymore." What is it really that Ann symbolically no longer needs...?
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Fireflies
While at summer camp, Ann sees fireflies for the first time with Fuji and learns that they only live for a week. Fireflies can symbolize that nothing lasts forever and that we should live life brightly and to the fullest.
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Salt
In Shintoism, people throw salt to symbolically purify a place. During a visit from Ann's father, her grandmother wants to bonk him on the head with the whole container of salt to show that his presence is polluting her house. Of course, that's not exactly how the tradition is supposed to go...
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Cherry Blossoms
Springtime in Japan brings not only the blooming of cherry blossoms but also parties for viewing them. Like any annual celebration, this tradition gives people a chance to get together and consider how their lives have changed over the past year. Unlike other annual celebrations, it doesn't fall at the same time every year. The blooms, and thus the parties, occur on their own schedule, in tune with the rhythms of nature. The brief period of flowering makes the moment all the more precious. Daigo and Fuji both kiss Ann under the romantic blossoms, and Ann and Daigo view wild cherry trees together before a difficult parting.
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"Inside Sand Chronicles The Details Speak..." has been edited for shojobeat.com.
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