The Gift of Rain

The Gift of Rain is told from Philip’s perspective. For Philip, his friendship with Hayato Endo is a brief but formative period. Over the course of several years, Endo irreversibly alters Philip’s life. He is a teacher and, importantly, he is a friend to a young boy who has no idea of his place in the world.

However, Endo’s interest in Philip is not entirely organic. Their friendship, Endo asserts, is not fresh or unique, but the product of countless cycles of life and death played out over many centuries. Rather than a chance meeting, fate is bringing them together. In this respect, the friendship between Endo and Philip takes on a very different tone: Endo has a vested interest in teaching Philip the ideas, philosophies, and spiritualities that will bring him to the same understanding of their bond. Endo molds Philip into what he needs Philip to be, changing the course of Philip’s life.

Most significantly of all, Endo also trains Philip to inadvertently aid the Japanese invasion of Malaya. During their tours of the island, Philip innocently reveals the lay of the land and unknowingly offers many insights into how a successful invasion could be staged. Endo duly notes everything Philip reveals and, as Philip is later horrified to discover, puts what he has gleaned from Philip into direct action when the Japanese take over Malaya. When Philip learns the extent of Endo’s treachery, his feelings toward Endo become much more complicated and conflicted: He is torn between a residual sense of loyalty toward his teacher and the gnawing sense that he may have betrayed Penang.

Philip ultimately understands that what drives Endo to act is an unbending sense of duty. Endo’s father criticized Japan’s foreign policy, and Endo believes the only way he can redeem his father’s honor is to do the empire’s bidding. Just as he feels that he is destined to reunite with Philip, he feels dutybound to his home country, believing himself to be as incapable of preventing Japanese war crimes as he is unable to prevent the cosmic cycle of death and rebirth. His sense of duty, like his belief in fate, is a way to remove the agency from his actions. He follows his orders, whether they come from Japan or the cosmos. As much as Philip loves his teacher, he realizes that Endo is a compromised man who uses duty as a crutch to absolve his actions.

Similarly, Endo’s moral compromise explains his relationship with Philip. From their earliest interactions, Endo seems sure of how their relationship will end. In effect, he is tutoring his own executioner on how to end a cycle of suffering. Rather than a benevolent teaching figure, Endo emerges as a burdened man on a quest for spiritual euthanasia. He wants Philip to end his pain, so he spends years training him to fulfill one purpose. He creates a sense of destiny in Philip’s mind and then claims that it cannot be denied. As a consequence of Philip’s relationship with Endo, Philip suffers a great deal. He loses his entire family and his reputation is sullied for decades.

For Endo, however, Philip’s suffering is, like the war crimes Endo perpetuated on behalf of his country, a necessary part of fate. Endo’s execution appears as a tacit acknowledgment of this moral compromise, with Endo seeking to punish himself and bring an end to the cycle of pain and violence. In this sense, the entire plot of the novel can be read as Endo’s elaborate planning of his own deserved execution, in which he punishes himself for his misdeeds in his current and previous lives.

The Gift of Rain opens with Michiko Murakami, a Japanese woman, visiting Philip to learn more about their mutual acquaintance, Hayato Endo. By this time, Endo is long dead but the effect he had on both their lives is so profound that she inspires Philip to tell his story.

Michiko’s arrival in Penang is important, not only because she once knew Endo, but because she is an outsider. Philip has spent so long living in the shadow of the war, surrounded by rumors of what he did or did not do, that Michiko is a refreshing presence in his life. She comes to him without any kind of judgment, with only a sincere desire to know more about someone they both loved. She thus functions both as the novel’s framing device and as the catalyst for Philip’s story. Telling her about his past offers Philip a sense of closure for the complicated feelings that have haunted him for decades.

Like Philip, Michiko still bears the scars of World War II. Whereas most of Philip’s scars are now just emotional, Michiko is physically suffering. She was near Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped. Her entire town—Endo’s town—was destroyed and, in a brief second, her life was essentially erased. Since then, she has been slowly dying. In recent months, the radiation has taken over her body. Her physical degradation is an external demonstration of the same corrosive sentiments and painful memories that have been eating away at Philip.

Michiko also has a complicated past with Endo. She tells Philip that they were once in love, but her father disapproved of their relationship. Michiko’s father then helped to trigger the investigation that led to Endo’s father’s disgrace. She recalls how Endo then left Japan, leaving behind a final letter for her. She never saw him again. Michiko is haunted by her rupture with Endo because she never stopped loving him or regretting how their lives played out. In seeking out Philip and learning about Endo’s past and death in Malaya, she seeks to find an emotional closure of her own.

Michiko also serves as a warning to Philip of how not to live. Her slow death warns him to take control of his past, particularly by telling his story. Through Michiko, Philip can achieve absolution, and, in turn, he can offer her control over her life once again. She wishes to die on her own terms, convincing Philip to kill her as he once killed Endo. He thus ends her physical pain, just as she has helped to end his spiritual turmoil.