Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies is a story that moves its audience. While the story is sad, it still contains many themes, one of which I think would be a coming of age theme. Coming of age novels, or films, express the journey of a child from childhood into the threshold of adulthood, but instead of focusing on the physical aspect of growing into adulthood, the coming of age theme focuses on the emotional aspect of growing up. In the movie, Seita must overcome the loss of his mother, father, and home. He must overcome the want to give up in order to take care of himself and his sister. In many ways I think that his sister was the only thing that kept him going. It was not until Setsuko dies that he gave up, "Whereas the sister's death in Grave of the Fireflies signaled the climatic moment in a downward spiral" ( 225) Takahata uses Seita's emotional state to get across this change from childhood to adulthood. Many scholars argue that there is no real formula to a coming of age novel or film, but something that I've noticed when reading coming of age novels, is that the main character usually has to go through a very emotional stage or deal with a heartbreaking loss. According to Susan Napier, Grave of the Fireflies includes a, "fragmented national identity, a major characteristic of which is a deep sense of loss of a structured, patriarchal past." (232) Seita and his younger sister, Setsuko, deal with the fact that their homeland is being attacked and during the war, they lose thier mother. It is because of this that Seita grows up. He realizes that he cannot rely on anyone and that he alone has the ability to take care of his sister. He is faced withe the task of leaving behind his childhood, and is confronted with responsibility. 

The two siblings go through much suffering and it is through this suffering that makes Seita grow up. Throughout the movie he puts on a front in order to make sure his sister is happy and taken care of. He even goes through the trouble of not telling her that their mother is dead. Seita puts on a happy face on order to keep his sister ignorant to the events going on around them. In making this choice he carried all the burdens of their lives. He took on all the responsibility of his sister. In order to take care of her he with drew money form their mother's bank account and stole food for her. In the end, it was taking care of his sister that pushed him into adulthood. Taking care of another is not a child's responsibility, and in leaving his aunt's home, Seita took on all the responsibility. In many ways his sister was the only thing keeping him going, or the only reason he still tried living. Since she could not survive without him, he knew that he would have to fight for both of them. He did not even cry about his mother's death until his sister knew about it. It wasn't until after when Setusko mentioned her mother being dead that he cried, because after that he knew he did not have to hide it and cover up his feelings. After realizing this, he allowed himself to mourn. Through the events that occurred to his homeland Seita grew emotionally and through this growth, he came of age. It was because he loved his sister so much that he left his childhood behind and was willing to take care of her, even steal for her. This emotional life was what led to his transformation.