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The theme of fate in The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket

The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket is nearly surreal. The surroundings are lovely and

peaceful, it is pleasant and tranquil, yet it is also full of amazement and exhilaration. The

unnamed narrator, who is both detached in age and geography, is a witness to children's acts.

One of the important themes in this literary work is represented by fate, which is responsible for

the miraculous meeting.

The children's world and relationships are eclipsed by the greater reality of their soul

carrying. When they are bodily close enough, their spirits contact, or at the very least leave a

mark on each other. Their souls imprint their identities on each other, which the children are

unaware of. They are immersed in the action, not thinking about the actors engaged, simply that

there were performers. The name of the little boy was engraved on the girl, and the name of the

girl was engraved on the boy. Relevant is the ‘history of modern Japanese literature’ (Long 1)

because in this way one can see why the existence of destiny is important in this short story. The

narrator, on the other hand, is aware of this spiritual interchange. He recognizes the value of this

connection. It is not merely a two-actor occurrence over a simple question of insect

classification. It is all about a ‘hypostatized inevitability’ (Bröndsted 175), a rendezvous of

spirits who will have an influence on one other and have already inscribed their names on the

other, even if neither is conscious of it. It is more than just a collision of bodies or forms,

exchanging words and stares.

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To sum up, when individuals engage, it is a sharing of light, a pouring of hearts onto each

other, influencing one other in ways that only their light can. Destiny thus plays a significant role

in the meeting of the two persons.

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Works Cited

Bröndsted, Mogens. “The transformations of the concept of fate in literature.” Scripta Instituti

Donneriani Aboensis 2, 1967, pp. 172-178.

Long, Hoyt. “Chance Encounters: World Literature Between the Unexpected and the

Probable.” Journal of Cultural Analytics 6.3, 2021.

Kawabata, Yasunari. The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket. from PALM-OF-THE-HAND STO-

RIES by Yasunari Kawabata. Translated by Lane Dunlop and J. Martin Holman.

Translation copyright© 1988 by Lane Dunlop and J. Martin Holman. Reprinted by

permission of North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008.
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Annotated Bibliography

Bröndsted, Mogens. “The transformations of the concept of fate in literature.” Scripta Instituti

Donneriani Aboensis 2, 1967, pp. 172-178.

The artistic concept of destiny has undergone several alterations over time, which may be of

significance from the perspective of religious studies. The basic guiding principle is human's

dichotomous perception of trying to come up against an outside energy greater than himself that

circumvents his deeds and ambitions. The perception of an external agency that forcefully

governs human existence is said to be the fundamental ingredient in all primordial religions.

From here one can take concepts related to fate, what it is, what its role is and where it comes

from.

Long, Hoyt. “Chance Encounters: World Literature Between the Unexpected and the

Probable.” Journal of Cultural Analytics 6.3, 2021.

This article juxtaposes probabilistic thinking with book-historical and sociological perspectives

towards literary texts. It creates a systematic review at intertwined scales, the literary

compilation, global library resources, and independent readers, using comprehensive reference

materials about literary translations into Japanese during the modern period to sense about the

possibility of specific writers or works being plucked from the pulsating tides of worldwide book

traffic. This study establishes links between possible and impossible, to highlight the probability

of some events.