Unity and Human Connection

Throughout the novel, the characters seek unity and human connection. This is the foundation of love. Isobe seeks a connection with his dead wife, with whom he could never connect with in life. She begs him to seek her out after she has died, and Isobe constantly searches for her. The connection he finds to her comes, not from finding her reincarnated soul in another body, but from finding the memories of her and feeling for her inside his own mind, heart, and soul.

Mitsuko goes through life lacking human connection. She feels no love for any of the men she sleeps with. She tries becoming a volunteer at the hospital, but she does not feel a real connection with the people she tends to. Mitsuko feels like she is just imitating love. Only in India does she feel like she makes a connection with...