Essay Database

The setting of Haruko’s World begins in 1974 in a small farming community in Japan. The start of the book is the author getting acquainted with the area and the family she is about to spend the next few years with. Bernstein goes into to detail to describe the home and her surroundings, such as “inadequate space in this drafty and dark house.” The area the family lives in is not far from poverty stricken, …

…farming industry had seemed to have lessened as well. Bernstein finds out the Haruko is suffering from depression and that her parents have died and her brother had gone bankrupt. Haruko’s health begins to fail and she develops asthma. Today Haruko has become healthier and her children have families of their own. Haruko and her husband continue to grow old together and continue to pursue Sho-ichi’s vision of improving life on the countryside.