Theme: The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket by Yasunari Kawabata highlights the theme of innocence, hope, and love.

Characters: Fujio and Kyo
Setting: Set in Japan. The narrator is on a bridge, watching children engage in an insect chase. The insect chase is viewed by an outsider looking in on the children in a simple yet captivating way.
Plot: A university student watches a group of children with lanterns, searching for insects. While the children are hunting insects, a boy finds a ‘grasshopper’, and continues to ask if anyone would like a ‘grasshopper’, until the voice of a certain girl exclaims that, "Yes", she wants the grasshopper. The boy captures the insect and gives it to the girl. Surprisingly, the grasshopper is actually a special bell cricket. This new discovery delights the little girl. The narrator realizes that the little boy must have known all along that he had found a ‘bell cricket’, and was saving it for that particular girl.

The narrator witnesses what they do not: “The boy’s lantern, which he held up alongside the girl’s insect cage, inscribed his name, cut out in the green papered aperture, onto her white cotton kimono. The girl’s lantern, which dangled loosely from her wrist, did not project its pattern so clearly, but still one could make out, in a trembling patch of red on the boy’s waist, the name ‘Kiyoko.’”
The narrator reflects about his own experiences and silently encourages Fujio to look deeper than the surface, to not let the assumption that one seemingly unattractive, will not be a much loved ‘bell cricket’.
Favorite Quote: “even if you have the wit to look by yourself in a bush away from the other children, there are not many bell crickets in the world. Should the day come, when it seems to you that the world is full of grasshoppers.”


Tone: Innocence and youth. "The bobbing lanterns, the coming together of children on this lonely slope—surely it was a scene from a fairy tale?". “Each day, with cardboard, paper, brush, scissors, pen-knife and glue, the children made new lanterns out of their hearts and minds.”

Bell cricket is the top singer on an autumn night. The chirp of a bell cricket is clear and loud. Its beautifully decorated golden wings vibrate to produce a ringing of an alarm bell. The chirp impresses the people so much that people feel as if they are looking for an ancient treasure.

I'm sure many of us have had more than our share of grasshoppers. I have. It can make you cynical sometimes, and make you think that all the people out there are grasshoppers. Let's hope that we find the right bell crickets.