The Big

Wave

Before the wave hit Deer Island.

“ We need both fishers and

farmers.”The people of Deer

Island lived happily

before the big wave

hit. They were both

fisher and farmers.

Kino’s Family Before the Wave

Before the wave hit, Kino was living happily as a farmer’s boy. He lived with him sister, Setsu, and his mother and father. Pearl S. Buck says that the farming families in Japan are very close and think that they should cherish family.

Jiya’s Family Before the Wave

Jiya’s family was very happy as fishers living on the beach with his windows facing away from the ocean. They do this because they fear the ocean. Pearl Buck shows that they fear the sea by saying they face away from the ocean because the Japanese people understand the dangers and power of the sea.

Pearls S. Buck

shows that

Japanese have to

live with fierce

storms and

hardships by the

Kino’s father

saying, “We must

learn to live with

danger.”

“We must divide ourselves,” Jiya’s father said. “”If

the ocean yields to the fires you must live after us.”

Pearl Buck wrote this

because she wanted to

show that in the

Japanese culture,

Japanese people put the

children ahead of

themselves. She shows

this by saying all the

children were to go to the

old Gentlemen’s knoll and

leave they families to die.

They did this because

they wanted the children

to grow up and have lives.

After the Big Wave

The big wave destroyed the entire town and almost all of the people living there including Jiya’s family. Kino’s family was very lucky, they survived through this terrible storm.

After the

wave

killed

Jiya’s

family he

stayed

with Kino,

but he

only

wanted to

sleep.

Still Kino

“Jiya is not ready to live, we must wait.”-Kino’s Father

“We should not

fear the sea.”-

Kino’s father

Pearl S. Buck shows us that

the people of Japan should

not fear the sea because it is

apart of them. She shows us

this by writing, “ We should

not fear the sea.” Jiya

learned this at the end of the

story and decided to marry

Setsu, live a new life, and

have an open window to the

sea to show he is does not

fear it.

The BookI think that Pearl S. Buck wrote The Big

Wave because she thinks that the truth

should be told about how Japanese people

live and lived with long ago. Problems with

family and nature effect their lives in

different ways everyday.