The Use Of Language In Alan Gratz's Samurai Shortstop

Throughout Alan Gratz’s novel, Samurai Shortstop, the use of language demonstrates the journey of young Toyo’s life. In the early 1890’s of Tokyo, Japan, the way of the warrior called Bushido was an honorable way of life to many young men whom look up to their samurai fathers and grandfathers. The journey is an obvious archetype for this novel because of multiple reasons, the hardships, dedication, and intensity Toyo goes through to be successful in his father’s eyes prove his difficult journey. Grantz gives his readers a vivid description throughout the novel of the intense training and hard work it took for a young man to live by the Bushido code and succeed in ways Toyo’s father, Sotaro, would approve of. The pressure of Toyo’s father, Sotaro, to become a samurai was a lot for a young man. Toyo was constantly reminding himself to do all things in honor his father and late uncle Koji. Toyo’s uncle Koji, a samurai warrior, committed suicide in the honorable act of seppuku. The occasion of Koji’s death was an intense experience for Toyo, something he had never been a part of. Sotaro wanted his son to closely take in the details of Koji’s death because Toyo will have to perform this for his father in the future. “In the darkness after the earthquake, / The Flowers of Edo burn bright and fast- / Only to be replaced in the morning / By the
Many people think that their journey is set in stone, but Toyo disproves this as he changes his journey multiple times throughout the novel. If Toyo had fallen apart after his uncle Koji’s suicide or crumbled under Sotaro’s pressure, he may not have succeeded in his journey in the ways he did. Toyo’s journey was intense and remarkable, Grantz showed the readers multiple aspects of the archetype, the journey, through Toyo’s hard work, dedication and perseverance through the hardships he