One of the ways in which Otsuka signals that an object or animal is meaningful is by having it recur, something she also does with words and
phrases of dialogue. Sometimes she uses variation along with repetition: The boy keeps mistaking other men for his father; the woman worries that she will become unrecognizable to her husband; the children don’t recognize their returning father. Discuss Otsuka’s use of such themes and patterns. In what ways do they take the place of a conventional plot?
