The Japanese Lover

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of child sexual abuse, racism, and anti-gay bias.

“The old folks in the home were conclusive proof that age, despite all its limitations, does not stop one from having fun and taking part in the hubbub of life. Several of the residents who were active members of Seniors for Peace spent their Friday mornings in street protests at the aberrations and injustices in the world, especially those committed by the American empire, for which they felt responsible.”

This passage characterizes Lark House as both lively and progressively inclined. The residents are framed as active both within Lark House and in a broader social sense, and the inclusion of their feeling of responsibility reflects a desire to use what time they have left to make a better world for their grandchildren. The political stance of the residents, as well as Irina’s Che Guevara shirt, indicate that the novel itself promotes the aims of diversity and equity across class and race.

“Alma would leave with a lover’s haste, without saying where she was going or when she thought she’d be back. Two or three days would go by with no news from her, and then all at once, as unexpectedly as she had left, she would reappear, with a beaming smile on her face and her toy car’s gas tank nearly empty. Irina was in charge of her accounts and had seen the hotel receipts. She had also discovered that on these adventures Alma took the only two silk nightgowns she possessed, instead of her usual flannel pajamas.”

Alma’s behavior is reminiscent of a teenager sneaking out of the home of their parents to see a lover, and this passage serves to highlight how romance can be sustained into old age. Later, Cathy remarks how people eventually become like children, and Alma’s behavior seems to be a kind of reversion to adolescence. What matters most, however, is the “beaming smile” with which Alma returns, indicating that she is happy with her current arrangement.

“For a year now he had been unsuccessfully pressing them to flee Europe, as so many other Jews were doing. He had offered them hospitality, although the Mendels had ample means and did not need financial help from him. Baruj Mendel responded that Poland’s sovereignty was guaranteed by England and France. He thought he was safe, protected by his money and his business connections, so the only concession he made to the relentless assault of Nazi propaganda was to send his children abroad to weather the storm.”

Isaac’s observation of Baruj reveals the pervasive nature of hateful rhetoric, as well as the difficulty in measuring the danger of political discrimination. For many Polish and Jewish people, the Nazi Party seemed like a passing threat, leaving them unprepared, as Baruj was, for the “relentless assault” of military and political action that followed.