52 pages • 1 hour read
Asha LemmieFifty Words for Rain
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3, Chapter 13 Summary: “Traitor’s Requiem”
In February of 1954, Ayame tells Nori that Akira is planning to sell the house. She gives Nori Seiko’s old diaries, and Nori reads them in secret.
Seiko’s diary begins when she turned 18. She went to Paris to study the piano, but she was also motivated to leave Japan to escape her overbearing mother who desired a grandson. Seiko wanted romance, and she didn’t want to settle for an arranged marriage. She met a blond Frenchman who played violin; she fell in love with him and wanted to remain in Paris. In one of her entries, Seiko wrote, “Today I am a woman,” implying that she had sex for the first time (238). Nori enjoys reading about this happy, confident version of her mother, which is different from Nori’s memories of her.
Akira returns from Europe. He brings two friends with him: English aristocrats Will and Alice Stafford, who are cousins. Nori thinks Alice is the most beautiful woman she has ever seen and envies her fair skin. Nori worries that Akira will give Alice too much attention, but Akira assures Nori that Alice is a child and that blonds are not his type. Will is a pianist, and he and Akira play music together. Will notices that Nori likes spending her nights climbing up in her tree, and he serenades her with his piano. Nori, who is now 13, is attracted to Will, who is 19. They begin a clandestine relationship.
Nori also notices 16-year-old Alice’s struggles to adapt to Japanese culture and lifestyle. The girls become fast friends. Alice reveals that she is on the run from a scandal back home—she had a romance with a stable hand in London, who betrayed her. Alice is now considered disgraced and is completely dependent on Will for money and shelter. Nori tells Alice her story, too.
Months pass. Nori celebrates her 14th birthday in July 1954. Akira takes Nori to a festival; there, she encounters a businessman named Hiromoto who knows who she is. He runs an antique store and says her uncle has told him about Nori. At the festival, Nori twists her ankle; Akira carries her home on his back and then lays her under her favorite tree in the garden. He then goes to bed.
Will finds Nori in the garden. She is uncomfortable around him—his behavior toward her has grown unpleasant and she is no longer attracted to him. Will is drunk and kisses her. She tells him to stop, but he proceeds to rape her. Afterward, he says, “Now you’re a woman. And now you are mine” (263). This is Nori’s first sexual experience.
Part 3, Chapter 14 Summary: “Night Song”
Two years later, in 1956, 20-year-old Akira is a professional violinist and plays with the Tokyo Philharmonic. He has received their mother’s inheritance and is financially stable; he ignores Yuko’s pointed reminders of his familial obligations. Nori and Alice are inseparable, but Alice contemplates marriage as a way of cementing her future. Though they are close, Nori has never told her that Will raped her and has continued to secretly rape her since her 14th birthday.
Will travels often, but he returns for Nori’s 16th birthday. Nori is apprehensive about this, and her anxiety manifests itself as self-harm; she pinches herself on her thigh. When Nori and Will are alone, he notices the bruises on her thigh. He reminds her that he wants her to stop pinching herself. Nori threatens to tell Akira what Will has done. He says that Akira would never believe anything negative about him. He also tells Nori that he loves her.
Later, Nori hides in her tree to continue reading Seiko’s story. Seiko’s romance with the violinist bloomed but then failed because the man was unfaithful. Seiko was distraught and was also running out of money in Paris. Yuko convinced Seiko to return to Japan, and she came home to an arranged marriage. Seiko’s husband promised her a music room with a piano if she gave him a son; she hoped the baby would be stillborn. Instead, Akira was hale and healthy. Seiko ended up feeling affection for him and was determined to save him from the family.
Akira summons Nori and tells her that he will be away in Vienna for nine months since a famous concert violinist wants to train him. Nori refuses to let him go, fearing Will’s behavior without Akira’s presence. Akira is furious at her protests; he believes he has given up everything for her and only wants nine months away. Their argument escalates into a fight until Nori cuts her hand on a broken dish she throws at him. As Akira treats her wound, they reaffirm their importance to each other. Akira reassures Nori that he prioritizes her above everything, and she agrees to let him go to Austria.
Will visits Nori in the night. She rebuffs him and ends his advances by threatening to tell Akira what Will has done to her. She commands him to help Alice regain her reputation in London and to leave Japan before Akira does. Will is upset, but he finally agrees.
In October 1956, Will and Alice leave. Akira looks forward to his Vienna trip; without Will’s threatening presence, Nori is more supportive. The siblings once again encounter the businessman Hiromoto. He invites Akira to perform at his annual Christmas concert. Akira declines because of his impending trip, but he suggests that Nori perform instead. Before Akira leaves for Austria, he helps Nori prepare for the concert.
Nori spends November alone, practicing violin and wandering the garden that Akira restored for her. On Christmas Eve, which is Akira’s 21st birthday and the day of the concert, Hiromoto’s personal chauffeur arrives to take Nori to the concert venue. It is Nori’s first public performance; she struggles with her nerves at the rehearsal. Her accompanist is late—and it turns out to be Akira, who has flown back just for the concert. Nori is overjoyed. The concert is a spectacular success; she plays the violin with Akira accompanying her on the piano.
Nori and Akira leave the event early, and the same chauffeur drives them home. Akira tells Nori that maybe she can go to Vienna with him next year. Suddenly, the car crashes. Nori is stabbed in the chest by shattered glass.
Part 3, Chapter 15 Summary: “Aurora”
In the wake of the car accident, Nori can neither see nor hear. She feels like she is floating, and it takes her time to even remember her name. Someone rubs ointment on her chest. She cries constantly. When she is finally conscious, Ayame confirms what Nori doesn’t want to remember: Akira died in the car crash. It has been three weeks since the crash. Nori screams and prays for death; she becomes desolate and is bedridden.
In March 1957, Ayame reflects on her romantic love for Akira. Soon after, a messenger arrives with a letter for Nori, insisting that she reply within three days. The letter is from Yuko, who congratulates Nori for causing Akira’s death and ruining the household’s future. Yuko reminds Nori that she is cursed. She also bitterly reveals the identity of Nori’s father: a Black farmer-turned-soldier from Virginia named James Ferrier; he died in 1941. Yuko says that since Nori’s father is dead, she now has no one. Yuko also exiles Nori, saying that she must leave Japan in three days. Ayame says Yuko will have her killed if she stays.
It rains the day Nori leaves. She takes clothes, her mother’s last diary, a picture of Akira, and his violin. Nori stands at the rail of the boat and looks out at the ocean. She says goodbye to Japan and to Akira.
Part 3 Analysis
As Nori grows older, her world shifts once more, and this time she is introduced to the world beyond Japan with the arrival of Will and Alice. On the surface, these Londoners seem very different in appearance and culture from the people Nori is used to meeting in Japan. However, she soon comes to realize that the patriarchal nature of London society is not all that different from Japan. Alice, too, represents the theme of Women’s Powerlessness in Patriarchal Societies; despite her worldliness and privilege, she, too, is subject to the rules and perceptions of a male-dominated society. She confides in Nori about how she had an affair with a stable hand, and when this became known, she had to flee London to escape disgrace. Alice’s story shows that London society, too, is beset with The Complexities of Ethnicity and Class that Nori has observed in Japan. Alice’s love affair causes such a scandal because she comes from an aristocratic family and she had sex with a man from a lower class. As punishment for this transgression, she is now completely dependent on her cousin, Will. She has no control over her finances and must depend on Will for money, too.
Will, with his misogynistic and threatening attitude toward Nori, represents the problems of the patriarchal society he belongs to. It is ironic that Nori made it through the brothel without being sexually exploited only to be raped by Will, who is someone she once liked and trusted. After the rape, Will tells her, “Now you’re a woman. And now you are mine” (268). He believes he possesses Nori by raping her—or controlling her body—and this makes him feel powerful. He also believes that he leads her into adulthood by initiating her into sex, even though it is against her wishes. Will believes that he has complete power over her to the point where he bestows the title of “woman” on her. Nori is initially terrified of him and is therefore subservient to him for years; however, this period is a stark contrast to her final dismissal of him later. The moment when she orders him to leave her alone is truly her coming-of-age moment when she turns into an articulate and powerful woman.
In this section, Nori becomes aware that ethnicity affects characters’ attitudes and perceptions, specifically noting the Japanese preference for whiteness. In Seiko’s early diaries, Nori is drawn into Seiko’s starry-eyed depictions of Paris, including the white Frenchman she falls for. While the American Occupation of Japan is only tangentially mentioned in the novel, Seiko’s diaries hint that whiteness is glorified in Japan, which likely influences her initial choice of a lover. Similarly, when Nori first sees Will in Tokyo and finds him attractive, she recalls Seiko’s lovestruck descriptions of her lover’s golden hair and blue eyes. Nori also finds Alice’s fair skin beautiful and becomes self-conscious about her own darker skin and hair.
Various characters in this section of the novel struggle with the theme of Duty Versus Desire. Yuko begins to pressure Akira about his duty as the Kamiza heir through regular reminders of his promise to spend time at the estate in Kyoto. The pressure wears on Akira, leading him to seek his desires while he still can. This is why he travels constantly to pursue his love for music—he knows that he will be unable to do so in the future. While Nori understands this and tries to fulfill her duty as a loyal sibling to support him, her desire for love and safety often conflicts with Akira’s goals.
Other women face similar struggles and prioritize duty at the price of their happiness. For instance, Alice gave in to romantic desire with the stable hand; she then became pressured by her family to fulfill her duty to marry well and re-enter British high society. Similarly, Ayame desired Akira romantically, but she couldn’t voice her feelings because of the difference in their social standing; instead, she could only support him as a loyal servant, with duty once again overthrowing desire. Nori discovers through Seiko’s diaries that her mother followed her desire for freedom and romance to Paris, but she was pulled back to Japan to fulfill her duty of marrying respectably and producing a male heir.
This section develops the symbol of Akira being likened to the sun. Seiko’s love for him when he is a child and her choice of name for him signal renewed hope in her life after his birth. Later in the novel, Nori refers to Akira as her “Kyoto sun,” and he functions similarly. He brings light and possibility into Nori’s life; he protects her and provides her with the only real warmth she’s ever known. His death is the removal of the sun from her world; with no reason to live, Nori once again wants to die. However, Ayame uses Akira’s memory to push Nori to survive—her sun may be gone, but his influence is not.
