Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

In Chapters 3 and 4, the novel’s major themes develop as Sadako’s health begins to decline. The theme of War’s Impact on Children plays a major role in this section because Sadako’s leukemia is the direct result of the atomic bomb. The dizzy spells that begin on Field Day are the first indication that something is wrong: “It was then that she first felt strange and dizzy. She scarcely heard someone cry, ‘Your team won!’” (25). What should have been a joyous, triumphant occasion becomes an ill omen. Sadako’s decision to keep her dizzy spells a secret, even as they grow increasingly concerning, develops her characterization. In part, she doesn’t want to share her secret because doing so would make the problem seem more real and serious. In addition, the kind and brave Sadako has a habit of shielding others. From Chapter 3 to the novel’s end, she tries to hide her fear and suffering from the people around her to spare them from worry and pain. For example, she holds back her tears until her family leaves the hospital at the end of Chapter 4. These character traits help explain why Sadako hides her health problems until she physically can’t conceal them.

As Sadako’s health declines, she remains a model of hope and perseverance. Even after the dizzy spells start, she continues training every day to work toward her cherished goal of making the junior high racing team. In this section, her hobby of searching for good luck signs gains a newfound sense of urgency. As the bells ring out at midnight on New Year’s Eve, she wishes that her dizzy spells will stop, and she takes comfort and encouragement from the good luck symbols her mother places over the family’s front door “to protect them during the new year” (27). Sadako sees the start of a new year as a time of magic and possibility, and this revives the cheer that she showed at the start of the novel: “She let the bright joy of the season wash her worries away” (26). Sadako retains her sense of happiness and hope.

When a magical cure doesn’t arrive in answer to her New Year’s wish, Sadako must learn about Living With Grief. After discovering she has leukemia, she must begin to reckon with the changes her condition imposes on her life. The diagnosis disrupts Sadako’s plans to attend junior high school and shatters her dream of joining the racing team. While these losses may seem minor compared to the threat of death, they upend the 12-year-old’s vision for her life. Sadako’s parents must also learn to live with grief. In Chapter 4, they share their daughter’s disbelief and fear but try to conceal these emotions from her: “Mrs. Sasaki put her arms around Sadako. ‘You must stay here for a little while,’ she said, trying to sound cheerful. ‘But I’ll come every evening’” (31). Although they try to reassure their daughter by telling her that she will recover soon, Mr. and Mrs. Sasaki know that her odds of survival are low. As the novel continues, Sadako and her family must find a way to cling to hope as they cope with her condition.