The Gift of Rain

Philip is a lost youngster whose complicated life is given new meaning through his relationship with Endo. While Philip wishes to find a more straightforward, cohesive sense of himself and his place in the world, his links with Endo ultimately introduce new complications. Throughout the novel, Philip must thus navigate the tension between conflict and harmony.

Philip first tries to reconcile conflict and harmony through his study of martial arts. At numerous points in the novel, Philip fights his grandfather, Kon, Uncle Kim, and Tanaka not out of a desire for conflict, but as a means to better understand them. These relationships achieve a measure of harmony through the use of ritual conflict. The martial arts, Endo explains, implicitly contain this tension: Endo teaches Philip how to hurt people, but preaches that the truest expression of these techniques is their non-use. Aikido, like the other martial arts, seeks harmony as much through the lack of conflict as through conflict itself. Learning to navigate this tension helps Philip to understand himself and others.

A similar tension is found in Endo’s suggestion that he and Philip are linked by fate and a cyclical conflict that has bound them through their previous lives. They are bound to find each other, wherever they may be, so that they can—ideally—resolve this disharmony. The irony of their relationship is that, in order to allow their souls to be at peace, they must first endure the conflict of war. After the Japanese surrender, Endo insists that Philip must kill him using the techniques he taught him. Their harmony can thus only be achieved through confronting their conflict once and for all. There is an inherent duality to existence, Philip learns, and he must learn to accept this, as Endo has done.

The lessons that Philip learns about conflict and harmony during the war also help him navigate life in post-war Penang. For many years, as he was working with both the Japanese and the resistance, he felt constant internal tension. Though he wanted to protect his family, he was considered a traitor by many people. While this social condemnation bothered Philip during the war, in the post-war years he reaches a delicate harmony with his role in the conflict. He accepts the tension between those who celebrate him and those who condemn him. Even in the same restaurant, one owner will praise him and another will shun him. Rather than try to resolve their conflicting opinions, he accepts the inherent tension as simply a part of life.

Philip thus finds harmony by accepting that no one will ever know the complete truth. Even someone like Michiko, to whom he tells his entire story, is only able to hear the story because she is an outsider who will tell no one. In this sense, he finds peace in disharmony. As with his martial arts, harmony is achieved by refusing to engage in conflict.