Blood Ninja
Literary Response Essay
Do tragedies cause people to face reality? In Nick Lake’s Blood Ninja, Taro, a teenage boy from a fishing village in Japan, dreamed of becoming a samurai. This dream was crushed after he witnessed his father being murdered and Taro was turned into a vampire to save his life. Nick Lake uses Taro to show the theme of how tragedies can force a person into facing reality.
In order to be saved, Taro was turned into a vampire by Shusaku, a ninja, or kyuuketsuki, paid to rescue him. Shusaku then teaches Taro what it’s like to be a kyuuketsuki, something Taro had only previously thought to be a myth. Taro soon comes to the epiphany that he will not be able to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a samurai as he thought to himself “ Could kyuuketsuki become samurais?”(37) Lake includes this to reveal Taro’s realization of becoming a vampire has caused him to lose his dream. Taro also comes to the realization that he has to change his lifestyle now that he is a vampire when attempts to eat a squirrel. He immediately starts choking and Shusaku slaps him on the back and says “you can only feed on blood.” (52) Lake uses this event to show that even though Shusaku saw that Taro was making a mistake that could kill him, he allowed him to eat the squirrel to experience the choking. In doing this, Taro comes to the realization that he is no longer a human and must learn and follow the rules of the kyuuketsuki from Shusaku.
Later Taro learns that the murderers who killed his father were actually out to kill him. Shusaku tells him they were hired by a Lord Oda, a daimyo and samurai. At first, Taro doubts Shusaku and says, “A samurai does not kill strangers for no reason. Lord Oda is a man of honor.”(66) Shusaku then explains to him that it is impossible to hold a position like Lord Oda’s while being completely honorable. It is ironic that the samurai that Taro once looked up to and dreamed of being was out to kill him. This event allows Taro to
Do tragedies cause people to face reality? In Nick Lake’s Blood Ninja, Taro, a teenage boy from a fishing village in Japan, dreamed of becoming a samurai. This dream was crushed after he witnessed his father being murdered and Taro was turned into a vampire to save his life. Nick Lake uses Taro to show the theme of how tragedies can force a person into facing reality.
In order to be saved, Taro was turned into a vampire by Shusaku, a ninja, or kyuuketsuki, paid to rescue him. Shusaku then teaches Taro what it’s like to be a kyuuketsuki, something Taro had only previously thought to be a myth. Taro soon comes to the epiphany that he will not be able to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a samurai as he thought to himself “ Could kyuuketsuki become samurais?”(37) Lake includes this to reveal Taro’s realization of becoming a vampire has caused him to lose his dream. Taro also comes to the realization that he has to change his lifestyle now that he is a vampire when attempts to eat a squirrel. He immediately starts choking and Shusaku slaps him on the back and says “you can only feed on blood.” (52) Lake uses this event to show that even though Shusaku saw that Taro was making a mistake that could kill him, he allowed him to eat the squirrel to experience the choking. In doing this, Taro comes to the realization that he is no longer a human and must learn and follow the rules of the kyuuketsuki from Shusaku.
Later Taro learns that the murderers who killed his father were actually out to kill him. Shusaku tells him they were hired by a Lord Oda, a daimyo and samurai. At first, Taro doubts Shusaku and says, “A samurai does not kill strangers for no reason. Lord Oda is a man of honor.”(66) Shusaku then explains to him that it is impossible to hold a position like Lord Oda’s while being completely honorable. It is ironic that the samurai that Taro once looked up to and dreamed of being was out to kill him. This event allows Taro to