Reiko’s Pupil Character Analysis

A former piano student of Reiko’s. A schoolgirl of 13, Reiko’s pupil demonstrated intensity and vibrancy in her music-making, and Reiko decided to take the girl on in spite of her lack of technique. The two of them enjoyed a close friendship, but Reiko always felt suspicious of and unsettled by the girl’s strange, extreme beauty, and the ways in which her stories often didn’t add up. One afternoon, Reiko’s pupil attempted to seduce Reiko, performing sexual acts on her until Reiko smacked her in the face and ordered her to leave. The vengeful girl spread lies about Reiko throughout the neighborhood, claiming Reiko was a lesbian who had molested her. Reiko’s pupil appears only in flashbacks, and yet represents one of the novel’s most disturbing, vivid characters. Reiko, having been pulled in by the girl’s preternatural beauty and false kindness, is afraid of participating in the world again because of how badly she was fooled—and how her pupil forced Reiko to confront her own dark desires which she is afraid of experiencing again.