The “connection” in this story by Hisaye Yamamoto is a correspondence relationship between a widowed Japanese-American poet living in California and a young Eskimo man jailed in a federal penitentiary. Although initially reluctant to write due in part to differences in age, family situation, culture and social situation, the woman empathises with the young man because of her own experiences in a wartime internment camp. This clouds her judgement, and she naively overlooks hints that he may have a capacity for extreme violence. Themes include loneliness, compassion, matriarchy, family struggle, interethnic bonding, art and writing, violence, imprisonment, religion.
The first hint that the Eskimo may have violent tendencies lies in the fact that he is receiving heavy doses of Thorazine, a drug commonly used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. His story, The Coffin of 1974, which describes the brutal shooting of an uncle and the murder and rape of a female relative, adds to the suspicion. The possible theme of family murder is completed by the Shakespearian implications of this extract from his letter about being relocated to McNeil Island: The air’s odor reminded me of home quiescently and of my love, Ophelia [hardly an Inuit name!]. God was soothing me, telling me that I am His child and he forgives.
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