In fact, this work layers four themes: "creation," "loneliness," "distance from parents," and "becoming an adult."
An In-depth Explanation of "The Green Cage" for the Curious
To summarize the story simply,
it is a story about Saku-chan, who lives away from his family, thinking about his home for the first time in a while.
is what it is.
However, if you become curious, this work begins to look much more complex.
In fact, this work layers
"creation" "loneliness" "distance from parents" "becoming an adult"
these four themes.
1. "The Green Cage" is not just manuscript paper
On the surface,
"The Green Cage" is manuscript paper.
Saku-chan is trapping the words that float into his mind within the squares of the manuscript paper.
But is it really the characters that are trapped?
No.
What is trapped is
Saku-chan himself
.
He traps his suffering,
his desires,
and his memories,
My feelings toward my family, too,
are all packed into the writing.
That is why the "cage" in the title
is not only a cage of words,
but also the cage of Saku-chan's own heart.
2. Writing has become living
The opening description is bizarre.
I begrudge even breathing.
I begrudge even blinking.
My consciousness is about to slip away.
This is not ordinary writing.
It is like a fever.
Why is that?
It is because for Saku-chan,
writing is not a hobby,
but an act of survival.
It is.
The painful things,
the embarrassing things,
the things that cannot be said,
Turn everything into writing.
Otherwise, he cannot keep himself together.
That is why he becomes obsessed with words.
3. The meaning of the sensual manuscript
Iyo-san, along the way,
is surprised when she sees Saku-chan's manuscript.
Such a sensual thing
is what she says.
In other words, it is content that evokes romance and sexual love.
This is important.
Up until now, Saku-chan,
dark stories,
stories of mud,
stories of loneliness,
must have been all he wrote.
However, this time is different.
Feelings of being drawn to someone,
sensations of the body,
and passion are emerging.
In short,
Into Saku-chan's world,
"others" are beginning to enter.
In a world that was only loneliness,
an interest in someone else is being born.
This signifies spiritual growth.
4. Iyo-san is a mother figure
The most important person in this work,
might actually be Iyo-san, not Saku-chan.
She has been watching over Saku-chan the whole time.
She doesn't lecture him.
She doesn't force him to go home either.
She simply says,
Why don't you write at least one sentence?
That is all she says.
There is kindness in this.
Someone who truly cares for another person,
does not corner them.
This is because they know that the choice belongs to the person themselves.
Iyo-san,
is waiting for Saku-chan to face his family on his own.
5. What the konpeito symbolizes
The konpeito is the most symbolic item in this work.
The things sent from home are
money
books
konpeito
.
Konpeito is sweet.
In other words, it is affection.
The father is clumsy.
He does not come to visit.
He does not express his feelings either.
But he keeps sending them.
That is why the konpeito is
the father's unspoken affection
.
However, Saku-chan cannot accept it.
Therefore,
it feels sweet yet bitter
—a contradictory sensation.
6. Why can't he remember his father?
What is interesting is that
Saku-chan barely remembers his father.
All he remembers is
his body heat
.
Normally, one would expect to remember his face or his words.
But he doesn't.
This is because
he has pushed his relationship with his father deep into his heart.
He doesn't want to remember.
But he cannot forget.
That is why his memory is blurred.
When it comes to truly complex emotions, humans
do not try to see them clearly.
7. What is the "night" at the end?
The final scene is extremely beautiful.
I am outside the veil of night
And,
perhaps I am the night itself
That is what I say.
This is not just a dream.
Night is loneliness.
It is sadness.
It is a sense of not belonging.
On the other hand, inside the curtain,
there is light.
There is the presence of people.
There is warmth.
In other words,
Inside = family
Outside = Saku-chan
is the case.
He lives apart from his family.
But he cannot completely break away.
That is why the night wraps around the house.
Close yet far.
Visible yet inaccessible.
That poignancy is captured in the ending.
The true theme of this work
This story is
not about a runaway boy,
nor is it about a writer.
The true theme is
that people need someone, yet cannot be honest with that person.
That is what it is.
The father is like that, too.
Saku-chan is the same.
There is love.
They care about each other.
But they cannot say it.
And so, only distance remains.
"The Green Cage" may look like
a story about trapping words,
but in reality,
it is a story about people who cannot express their love well in words.
And perhaps,
right now, Saku-chan is
trying to put those feelings into words for the first time
inside the "green cage" of manuscript paper.