Tetsuko Kuroyanagi Anaylsis

From Totto-Chan by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi:

“This famous old Kabuki play was not exactly what you would expect to see at Tomoe, but it was in one of their textbooks and Mr. Maruyama would coach them” (p.470).

“Cleaning up the writing rhythms was quite a job. […] It was an enormous task” (p.473).

“Ryo-chan was a sort of guardian angel who always came to the rescue when anyone was in trouble” (p.474).

    I thought these various stories were interesting to read. First with the play I was interested in how they were re-enacting a play from a textbook. I think the reason for this is teaching the children in this way is visually seeing what happened rather than reading it. The second one, I believe allowing the kids to use chalk on the floors to teach them music rhythms was a great idea by the headmaster. This enabled students to be creative and do something special twice a week while also teaching them. This activity solved the issue of students wanting to vandalize other’s walls and roads. Also, taught them about the hard work in cleaning it up after they were done. I thought this way of learning was engaging and informative and I think more schools should teach this way. 

    The tea party was a positive spin on a farewell party for the janitor, Ryo-Chan. The headmaster did not want it to be a sad occasion, but a new and joyful one. I believe Ryo-Chan was going off to fight in the war based on the context. The tea party was a celebration of all the things he had done for the children, and each student got to say a few words to Ryo-Chan during the tea party. The tea party had the kids and Ryo-Chan remembering all the positive situations that came out of their time together. 


Word Count: 308

Comments

  1. Katie PerkinsMarch 30, 2021 at 6:33 PM

    I agree that this passage was interesting to read. When I was reading, I noticed that the passage was very light-hearted and innocent, kind of like the children that it was written about. The passage started out so light-hearted and ended with war. I thought the tea party was interesting because it made Ryo-Chan leaving a celebration since the children did not know that he wasn't just leaving, but going to fight in a war. The children talked about such happy memories and such positive feelings came out of the tea party. It seemed to be a way to distract the children. Unfortunately, the war hit them in the days after the tea party.

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