The Servants

The three household servants — the old gardener (who is also a house servant), the cook, and the maid Yumi — represent ordinary, unquestioning wartime patriotism. To them the situation is simple: the white man is an enemy and ought to be left to die. The superstitious old gardener warns that healing what "the gun did and what the sea did" will bring revenge upon the household; the cook scorns her master's pride in saving any life; Yumi flatly refuses to wash the "dirty" white man. Fearful of being branded traitors and of the danger to the family, they finally leave together in silent protest. They serve as a foil to Sadao and Hana — their rigid, …