The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck

The Big Wave is a novella written by the late American  Pulitzer Prize winning author, Pearl S. Buck about a young Japanese boy who survives a tsunami and learns much about life.

The story is set in a small fishing village in Japan, located on a beach by the ocean. Kino lives on his family's farm, set high up on the mountain overlooking the fishing village. His ancestors have farmed the mountain for generations, terracing the land. Kino's best friend is Jiya the son of a fisherman. Jiya lives in the village on the beach with his parents and his brother. Like all the other homes in the village, Jiya's home has no window facing the sea.

While Jiya fears the ocean, telling his friend "The sea is our enemy",  Kino believes it is beautiful. On hot summer days after work, Kino swims in the clear water of the sea. He and Jiya often swim out to an island owned by an old man, whom everyone calls the Old Gentleman.

Whenever they are on the island, Jiya always watches the sea carefully. This puzzles Kino who questions him about why the sea gets angry. Jiya doesn't have an answer for this. However, Kino gets a sense of the sea's danger when he dives deep and feels its "cold grasp." When Kino asks his father why Jiya and his father fear the ocean his father explains that there is much they do not understand about the sea. His father also reminds him that there is the volcano to be concerned about too on land.

Then one day the volcano which is far from Kino's home, begins to spew out smoke and steam. Kino's father stays awake all night just as do the other fathers in the fishing village on the beach. At noon the next day a red flag is seen at the Old Gentleman's castle on a knoll halfway down the mountain. Kino's father tells him this is a sign for the people to be ready. Soon a bell begins to toll, encouraging the people to shelter within the castle. But few come. Only the children begin to stream out of the fishing village and up the path towards the castle. At Kino's suggestion, he and his father wave a white handkerchief to draw the attention of his friend Jiya. Shortly after Jiya arrives at Kino's home, they look out towards the sea and watch a huge wave race towards the shore. Terrified, Jiya wants to rush down to the village to tell his father but Kino's father holds him fast. The wave, crashes ashore, destroying everything in its path. Jiya and Kino's lives are forever changed.

Discussion

The Big Wave is a story for children about a tsunami that devastates a village and changes forever the life of two boys. Although the story is one of tragedy and loss, of a horrific natural disaster, it is told in a gentle, direct manner. Written in a simple style, the novella's overarching theme is about overcoming tragedy in life.

At the beginning of the story, Kino attempts to understand the world around him. His friend Jiya fears the sea as he is aware of its great power. Kino who is the son of a farmer, is puzzled by his friend's fear because the sea looks so beautiful. But he comes to understand his friend's fear during a deep dive in the ocean. When he tells his father that he feels safe on land, his father reminds him that even the land holds danger that they must be watchful for, in this case the distant volcano. Kino questions his father, "Must we always be afraid of something?" and he is told the he must "learn to live with danger." Kino's father tells him he must accept that danger exists and learn to live with it, knowing that death comes to everyone. However, this is something  that Kino as a young boy, does not want to consider.

A tsunami wipes out the fishing village, orphaning many of the children who were saved by seeking refuge in the Old Gentleman's castle. Jiya who joins Kino's family on their farm, witnesses the destruction of the village and collapses in utter distress. Yet Kino's father is both patient and kind, telling Kino that they must wait for Jiya to grieve. Jiya's body heals first from the shock and gradually his mind and soul do too, as a result of the careful kindness of Kino's family. He chooses to stay with Kino's family rather than live in the wealthy Old Gentleman's home.

The tragedy of the wave changes Jiya forever. Although his life is divided into two separate periods by the tsunami, he "learns to live with his parents and his brother dead..."and to find happiness in life in spite of tragedy. He learns to love everything this is good and to avoid cruelty. Ultimately, Jiya learns the lesson that Kino's father was trying to explain to his own son Kino, years before, that one must accept the dangers in life and learn how to live with them. This is exemplified by his conversation with the Old Gentleman who scolds the grown survivors of the tsunami for rebuilding homes on the beach. Jiya tells the old man that life is filled with dangers, which they must learn to live with especially since their island of Japan has volcanoes and the sea. Even the Old Gentleman's castle is not safe if the earth shakes hard enough.  Jiya builds himself a home on the same beach where his parents died, this time with a window that faces the sea. He tells Kino's father, "If ever the big wave comes back, I shall be ready. I face it. I am not afraid."

The Big Wave is a thoughtful, beautifully written short story that should appeal to many young readers. Pearl S. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for her novel, The Good Earth and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938

Book Details:

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
New York:  HarperTrophy 
57 pp.

DVD Movie: The Impossible

On Sunday, December 26, 2004, countries bordering the Indian Ocean experienced one of the deadliest natural disasters, an enormous tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean. Over 230,000 people died in fourteen countries from the tsunami which produced waves approximately 100 feet high. Most of the dead, injured and missing were locals from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. These countries are also popular tourist destinations for Westerners, who enjoy vacationing at resorts in Indonesian and Thailand over Christmas. As a result many tourists also lost their lives, with most families losing at least one member. But for the Belon Alvarez family from Spain, the impossible happened - the entire family survived against all odds. The Impossible tells their story.

Maria Belon Alvarez and her family consisting of her husband Quique (Enrique) Alvarez and their three sons, ten-year-old Lucas, eight-year-old Tomas, and five-year-old Simon, had only just arrived at the resort in Khao Lak, Thailand on Christmas Eve. On the morning of December 26, the family was lounging at the resort's pool when Maria heard a thunderous noise that she could not identify. Instantly she and her family were swept away, through the churning waters filled with debris and bodies. 

Maria and her son Lucas managed to find each other quickly and cling to a tree. Maria had serious injuries including a terrible chest wound and a more serious deep wound to her leg. They took refuge in a large tree but Maria could feel her life ebbing away. Eventually they were found by a Thai man who dragged Maria through the swampy area to a village and then made sure she was taken to a hospital. Lucas was certain he would not have survived if he had not jumped into the resort pool as the wave hit.

Meanwhile her husband, Quique had lost his grip on the two boys, Tomas and Simon. However, he found both boys clinging to trees. Determined to find Maria and Lucas, Quique left Tomas and Simon with adults at the hotel and limped through dozens of hospitals and camps before finally locating Maria and Lucas at Takua Pa Hospital. Eventually the family made its way to Singapore where Maria was treated further for her serious injuries.

Discussion

The Impossible accurately portrays the experiences of the Belon Alvarez family during and after the tsunami, switching out the nationality of the family to that of a British family and changing their names to Maria and Henry Bennett. Maria Belon was intimately involved in the process of making the movie, choosing her favourite actress, Naomi Watts to portray her and working on location in Thailand where the movie was filmed to ensure their story was faithfully retold.

Central to The Impossible is a story that is both overwhelming and unbelievable. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor give solid performances as Maria and Henry Bennett, in shock, disoriented, wounded and yet struggling to save their children and to process the magnitude of what has just happened to them. Maria who was a doctor, knew her life was in danger and feared that she would die leaving Lucas alone. Lucas played by Tom Holland, knew he needed to be strong, to encourage his critically injured mother to survive.

Although the scenes portraying the tsunami seem incredibly realistic, they are obviously nowhere near what survivors and victims encountered. Yet likely due to Maria Belon's presence during filming, small details are present in the movie that survivor accounts mention; the flight of birds away from the seashore, a sudden unexplained wind and the screams of people in the water. Even the water, turbulent, brown and filled with deadly debris of all kinds was accurately portrayed. This was best demonstrated by the flashback Maria has during surgery, showing her being battered by all manner of debris, tree branches, broken chairs, glass and objects that can't be identified. It's easy to understand how so many people died not just from drowning but also from terrible injuries due to the debris. Most people who ended up in the water did not remain clothed as Maria and Lucas were; the force of the waves simply ripped away all clothing. The movie does hint at this when Lucas is traveling with his mother to a hospital and he sees a completely stark naked man, dazed, walking by the side of the road. 

The Impossible also captures the state of confusion in hospitals and make-shift camps which are quickly overwhelmed with injured survivors and people searching for lost family and friends. In some places the water traveled up to  two kilometers inland, devastating villages and crops. Yet despite the horror of what happened, despite having lost everything they owned, as the movie shows, the Thai people selflessly helped tourists, seeing that they were brought to hospitals to be treated. Maria experienced this, when she was dragged through the mud by a Thai man who ensured she was transported to hospital. The movie also portrays the patience and kindness of the Thai people in coping with a disaster of gigantic proportions in a country lacking the resources and infrastructure to do so.

The Impossible was criticized for whitewashing - that is taking Third World tragedy in which the majority of people who were affected were brown people, Indonesian and Thai - and making a movie about a white family who eventually returned home to their lives in Spain without having to deal with the lasting devastation. However, this movie is about a unique story - a family, who against enormous odds, everyone survived - the impossible. It tells one family's story and that is all. It does not minimize the impact the tsunami had on the local population nor does it trivialize their suffering. There are scenes where we see dead Thai people and a truckload of children most of whom are Thai. We see the devastated countryside and villages.

Be prepared for a movie that packs an emotional punch unlike many of the disaster films that have preceded this one. Though one family is the focus here, the emotional, economic and human costs of the 2004 tsunami tragedy are evident even in the last shots as the family flies out of Thailand to Singapore. The Impossible was directed by Juan Antonio Boyona. As an interesting aside, the producers decided to make this film after hearing Maria Belon speak about her family's experiences on Spanish radio. If you missed this movie in theatres, it's time to watch it on DVD.