40 pages • 1 hour read
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
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Symbols & Motifs
Paper Cranes
Paper cranes serve as a motif for the theme of Hope and Perseverance. In Chapter 5, “The Golden Crane,” Chizuko visits Sadako in the hospital, teaches her how to fold origami birds, and tells her a legend about paper cranes. According to the legend, the gods will grant a wish to anyone who folds 1,000 cranes. This traditional story gives Sadako hope that she can make a miraculous recovery. Out of the hundreds of paper birds in the novel, the golden crane is special because it’s Sadako’s first crane and a present from her best friend. Throughout the story, this gift offers Sadako comfort and strength. She keeps it on her bedside table in the hospital because its proximity makes her feel “safe and lucky” (207), and she repeatedly voices her wish to recover to the paper bird. Sadako even brings the golden crane when she visits her family for O Bon. In her final moments, touching the golden crane makes Sadako “feel stronger inside” (63). The golden crane gives Sadako hope throughout her struggle with leukemia.
In addition, Sadako’s mission to fold 1,000 paper cranes gives the people around her the strength to persevere. During her hospitalization, Sadako is cut off from home and school routines. The doctors limit visitors out of caution for her health, which prevents her classmates and little siblings from seeing her often. Gathering paper for Sadako gives the people who care about her a concrete action they can take to express their love for her and their hope that she will recover: “Everyone saved paper for Sadako’s good luck cranes. Chizuko brought colored paper from the bamboo class. Father saved every scrap from the barbershop. Even Nurse Yasunaga gave Sadako the wrappings from packages of medicine” (40). As this excerpt demonstrates, the cranes offer hope and comfort not only to Sadako and her fellow children but also to the adults in her life. In Chapter 6, Nurse Yasunaga leans on the cranes to bolster her and Sadako’s hopes after Kenji’s death. She tells her young patient, “Come and let me see you fold another paper crane before you go to sleep. After you finish one thousand birds, you’ll live to be an old, old lady” (46). Similarly, when Sadako mentions her imminent death to her parents in Chapter 8, her father urges her not to abandon hope: “Don’t give up now, Sadako chan. You have to make only a few hundred more cranes” (55). The paper cranes help Sadako’s friends, family members, and care providers persevere despite their grief.
The paper cranes’ meaning shifts at the end of the novel. Sadako does not receive her wish for miraculous healing. Instead, the cranes come to represent her story of perseverance and unite people around the world who hope for peace. The Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima depicts Sadako “holding a golden crane in outstretched hands” (64), and people worldwide come to the statue to leave origami birds. The paper cranes give the novel its title, bring hope to the protagonist and supporting characters, and ultimately unite people in the cause of world peace.
Good Luck Symbols
Sadako’s interest in good luck symbols informs her characterization and her relationships with others. In Chapter 1, the narrator observes that Sadako is “always on the lookout for good luck signs” (10). On the morning of Peace Day, she finds two, the cloudless blue sky and a fuzzy spider. According to traditional beliefs in Japan, arachnids are an auspicious sign because their threads connect this world with paradise. Sadako’s search for good luck symbols shows her appreciation of simple joys and her cheerful optimism about life.
The Kokeshi doll is another symbol of good luck. Kokeshi dolls have been made for hundreds of years. They are not only toys, but they also represent wishes for good fortune. The wooden dolls do not have limbs and are often painted with floral designs. Sadako’s doll has a “wistful smile” and “red roses painted on its kimono” (50). Given Sadako’s interest in luck and wishes, the doll is a thoughtful gift that shows how well her classmates understand their friend. After Sadako’s death, her classmates publish her journal and letters in a book called Kokeshi. Sadako’s interest in good luck symbols shows her ability to find cause for hope in little things, a quality that draws others to her even after her death.
The Maple Tree
The maple tree outside Sadako’s hospital room represents the seasons, which play an important part in Japanese culture. The tree marks the passage of time and represents the protagonist’s limited contact with nature and the outside world. During Sadako’s hospitalization, days blur together, and the tree is often all she can see of the world outside: “Often she was too weak to do anything but sit by the window and look longingly out at the maple tree in the courtyard” (41). Sadako’s longing looks at the tree represent her yearning to connect with nature and rejoin the world outside the hospital. When Sadako and Nurse Yasunaga discuss Kenji’s death, the maple tree reminds Sadako of the passage of time and its melancholy implications for her: “Sadako was quiet, listening to the leaves on the maple tree rustle in the wind. Then she said, ‘I’m going to die next, aren’t I?’” (46). In these passages, the maple tree reminds the protagonist of the passing of the seasons and her own limited time.
As a symbol of the seasons, the maple tree also presents parallels between nature and Sadako’s physical and emotional state. For example, the tree reflects her languor during the rainy season in June: “Rain dripped steadily from the leaves of the maple tree. [...] Sadako grew pale and listless” (48). In literature, autumn is sometimes used to signify decline and death. Eleanor Coerr invokes this added layer of symbolism when Sadako’s entire family comes to see her for the final time in October: “The leaves on the maple tree were turning rust and gold when the family came for one last visit” (56). As a symbol of the seasons, the maple tree shows the passage of time and presents parallels between the protagonist and the natural world.
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