The Japanese Lover

There are many spirits and references to spirits in the novel, which form a motif of forces beyond the individual lives of the characters. The first introduction to spirits is in Emily and her son, the ghosts who live at Lark House. However, not all of the spirits referenced in the novel are ghosts. For example, Alma tells Ichi that she can feel the spirits at the Vietnam War Memorial, implying a more ambiguous definition of spirit. This open-ended use of spirits allows Allende to expand the world of the novel beyond the physical plane in which the characters operate. As Ichi says in his final letter to Alma, it could be that “everything takes place simultaneously in the universe’s infinite dimensions” (322), which allows the reader to envision a universe in which Ichi and Alma are continuously circling back to one another forever.

At the same time, the motif of spirits allows the narrative to take on a supernatural quality, in which extremes of character become possible, such as Ichi’s unending patience or Alma’s exceptional strength and resolve. By including spirits as a constant background, as well, Allende plays with the idea of a perpetual