The story “Woman in the Dunes” was written by Kobo Abe in 1962 and it is about Niki, who is a teacher and who collects insects which live among the dunes of sand. He does not manage to get on the bus and he is invited by the village people to sleep there, but they trick him into moving in the house that can be reached only with the aid of a ladder. He is supposed to live with the widow and help her dig sand which they say to companies producing concrete while the house also has to be prevented from being buried in the sand. The theme in the story is the bond between human being no matter of how hard the situation is. The symbols in the story, the radio, the beached derelict, the sand, the insect collection, living in the dunes and the crow trap, are related to the significance of the story because of the fact that they make the readers realize what life really is.
Niki’s insect collection symbolizes the importance which people give to collecting things. He is also collected by the villagers and he is probably not the only one. People have the need to create collections so that they could establish order and this makes them feel in charge of things and in charge of life. The insects have the same meaning for him as he has for the villagers. The beach derelict symbolizes the life which is fragile and could crumble any second if not tended to properly. Niki is invited to share the place with the widow and help her lead a better and more fulfilled life. “They might as well lick each other’s wounds. But they would lick forever, and the wounds would never heal, and in the end their tongues would be worn away” (Abe 1). They lead very insignificant lives and have to maintain the house and the level of sand because of the fact that they could be buried in it. Also, they need to provide the villagers with the sand which they take for sale.
The sand symbolizes life and death and the same time because it can represent life when put on sale and it means death if not properly treated. The villagers would not give the water supplies to disobedient people and this means that everybody needs to take care of their own sand. Niki says: “It would be a fine mess if you mixed this sand with cement--it's got too much salt in it. In the first pace, it's probably against the law or at least against construction regulations" (Abe 3). The villagers are too poor to think about the dangers of mixing the sand with cement and they sell it anyway because they want to survive. It also turns out that Niki and the woman has a fair treatment from the villagers. The rich people have left the village a long time ago and as usual in life, only the poor people are left to struggle for survival and they are successful although they have to make sacrifices along the way. Niki finally understands that it is necessary for him to stay surrounded by sand because sand means life and it is a good way of leading a life since the outside world is corrupt as well. Sand represents all the difficulties in the world and in life in general because people are given the opportunity to make something good when they are challenged or to be defeated. In this case, Niki, the widow and the villagers manage to survive in the harsh conditions and they even have a union which sells the sand. The money they get from it is equally distributed and nobody is rich which means that all the people are equal as it should be in the idealistic state. This village is the ideal world depicted in the bad environment.
The living in the dunes symbolizes life as struggle because people never live in ideal conditions. Having to work with the sand and to make it useful is difficult as any other job in the world. This kind of living can be seen anywhere in the world because it affects most people. “During the day, the traces of summer, reluctant to depart, still set the sand afire, and their bare feet could not stand it for more than five minutes at a time” (Abe 1). It is difficult to live in such conditions where it is hot during the day and cold during the night. This happens to all the people and is not necessarily related to living in the dunes. The house is in the poor condition because the whole village is poor and so is the widow. Niki is the only person who can help this woman bare her lifestyle full of torture. She has other jobs as well related to her production of craft works. They get along well and Nikki develops a great sympathy towards her because he sees himself as her protector in the end.
Marriage and domestic relationships are depicted as having crucial importance for the survival of a family and of the whole village because team work is essential in such conditions. Families work as a team and they help each other out both physically and emotionally. Niki is supposed to have children with the widow and he fulfills that duty as well. “One of the villagers, who was said to have a veterinarian among her relatives, diagnosed it as an extra-uterine pregnancy, and it was decided to take her to the hospital in the city in the three-wheeled truck” (Abe 5). The pregnancy cannot be sustained, but Niki stays with his partner in his new life. Marriage is about sharing hardships together and caring for each other which is described in this story. The widow and Niki share interests as well because they are both interested in purchasing a radio and he also becomes interested in her work which is not related to the sand. The widow is kind and considerate towards Niki and when he fails to run away, she does no mind the fact that he tried to get away from this life: “But there hasn’t been a single person who made itnot one.” (Abe 1). Nobody ever escaped from the village and nobody ever escapes from the difficulties in life which is why Niki fails. People can only adapt to the circumstances in life and try to be positive about it while finding what truly makes them happy. This is what Niki ultimately understands and what makes him stay in his new home.
The radio symbolizes the touch with the outside world and it can also inform Niki about the weather conditions. The woman would want to have a radio so that she could have fun and hear the news and be informed and entertained. Having a radio fulfills a person’s time which passes in a better way. “At the beginning of March they got the radio. On the roof they erected a high antenna. The woman joyfully and repeatedly voiced her wonder, turning the dial left and right for half a day. At the end of that month, she found herself pregnant” (Abe 5). The radio makes them happier because they have diversity in life because of its presence. The significance of the radio is related to the significance of culture because culture is what fulfills people in their spare time. In such conditions when a person is living in the dunes, a radio is the only device which can bring entertainment to somebody’s home and make their life more interesting.
The crow trap symbolizes the chance to escape at first, but later it symbolizes the essence of life, since it can collect water. “But more important, he had found that the sand was an immense pump. It was just as if he were sitting on a suction pump” (Abe 4). This trap means independence because he no longer has to depend on the villagers to provide him with water. Niki does not escape at the end because he adapts himself to the new life conditions and realized that life is the same everywhere. All the people have difficulties in life and they have to overcome them on a daily basis.
“Woman in the Dunes is an optimistic story because it describes how people can manage to survive in bad and poor conditions as long as they stick together. There is symbolism in the fact that the man and the woman are trapped in a poor house where they have to work with sand every day. However, they manage to find a way to occupy themselves with things that bring them joy which is why Niki choses to stay. The major theme in the story is solidarity because people need to help one another out in order to make life more meaningful. The story is successful in depicting the struggles that people have every day in the real world and it is successful.
Works Cited
Abe, Kobo. The Woman in the Dunes. New York: Vintage, 1991. Print.
