51 pages • 1-hour read
More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
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Symbols & Motifs
The Morisaki Bookshop
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.
The Morisaki Bookshop is the primary setting of More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. It is where the characters often gather and reflect on what occurs in their lives. Therefore, the Morisaki Bookshop becomes a motif that reflects the theme of Growth Through Friendship and Familial Relationships. It is at the Morisaki that Takako fosters a strong relationship with both Satoru and Momoko, who both help her navigate her love life and become more confident in herself. She changes over time because of the Morisaki Bookshop, and Wada not only observes this but also craves it for himself: “I know I want to be a part of that world. It’s what I long for. The idea I told you about—to write a novel set at the bookshop—I think that was my own modest way of trying to be a part of it” (114). Wada sees the Morisaki family, and how they help each other grow, and wishes that he has a similar influence in his life. The notion of a supportive family is so attractive to him that he fictionalizes it for himself. Wada’s observations of the Morisaki Bookshop extend beyond the grave, as he sees the shop as a means for Satoru to cherish Momoko and keep her with him, even after she dies: “But the time will come when the place will be precious to him precisely because it holds all those memories. Until that day comes, maybe you just have to put your faith in him, and wait for him to be ready” (149). Wada sees a correlation between Satoru’s time at the Morisaki Bookshop and his grief and believes that the shop will help him grow from the loss of Momoko and become a means by which he maintains his connection with her.
The Golden Dream
The Golden Dream, a fictional novel that Tomo wishes were real, is a motif that reflects the theme of The Personal Nature of Reading. It’s presence in More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop represents how the act of reading, and the way it brings people together, can have a profound impact on characters. In A Moment of Twilight, the novel that The Golden Dream exists in, it acts as a means by which the protagonist finds love: “After the book is read to him, the novel ends with the old man, who up till then had never known love, realizing that the woman at his side, who had served as his eyes for many years, is the person he’s in love with” (104). Through being read the novel, the old man learns the meaning of love and finds it in the woman at his side. This reflects Takako’s own relationship with reading—she extracts lessons of love from the novels she reads. The role that the fictional novel plays in Tomo’s life closely mimics that of The Golden Dream’s role in the life of A Moment of Twilight’s protagonist. Tomo searches for the novel, hoping that it will produce a similar change in her as it did for the old man: “Some part of me hopes that if I ever find that book, something inside me will change, like the old blind man in the book” (105). The guilt of her feelings for her late sister’s boyfriend haunts Tomo throughout the novel and is inextricably linked to her pursuit of The Golden Dream. Since her sister made her believe that The Golden Dream was real, she believes that discovering it will absolve her of her guilt and change her relationship with romance.
Momoko’s Flowers
Momoko’s flowers on the second floor of the Morisaki Bookshop are a symbol that reflect Momoko’s health and the influence she has in her relationship with Takako. Momoko is a mother figure to Takako, nurturing and guiding her through trying times. She cultivates her relationship with Takako much like Takako nurtures the flowers, as Momoko instructs her to: “Pots of geraniums and gerbera daisies adorned the bay window […] I got the impression that if I forgot to water them somehow, it would be a major disaster” (66). The flowers need water to grow, just as Takako needs Momoko and others to grow as a person. Takako’s suspicion that the health of the flowers may foreshadow misfortune foreshadows the death of Momoko. After Momoko dies, the flowers are neglected, and when Takako sees them again, they are withered: “Having gone to many days without water, all of them had shriveled and now looked down as if they were cowering” (148). The state of the flowers reflects not only the declining of Momoko’s health and her death but also the state of Takako and Satoru in the absence of Momoko. Momoko’s nurturing relationship with Takako is reflected in her relationship with Satoru, and after her death, they both struggle to process it, feeling distressed and lost without her. They are like the flowers, withering without the sustenance of water. Without Momoko to support them, they weaken and must rely on each other to help further the healing process.
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