Hana

Hana, Sadao's wife, is gentle, loyal and courageous. Initially she shares her society's fear and prejudice; she is repelled by the wounded white man and dreads the consequences of harbouring him. But her compassion and her love for her husband carry her past these fears. She assists in the operation, administering the anaesthetic herself despite her nervousness, and she nurses the recovering soldier when the servants desert them, even performing menial tasks she has never done before. Her anger at Yumi's stubbornness — "Is this anything but a man? And a wounded helpless man!" — shows how instinctive human feeling overrides inherited hostility in her. Hana's quiet transformati …