Yumi Character Analysis

Yumi is one of the servants at Dr. Sadao Hoki and Hana’s house. She largely tends to the children and is seen with them far more than Hana herself is. Like the gardener, she is openly prejudiced against Tom and speaks critically of Sadao and Hana for saving a white man. She is so frightened by Sadao and Hana’s lawbreaking and shocking empathy for the enemy that she stubbornly refuses to follow orders and eventually leaves the household altogether with the gardener and the cook. Her tear-soaked departure comes as an emotional blow for Hana (who is in charge of the servants) and for Yumi herself, who cares for the two children as if they are her own. She is distraught at the thought of what would happen to the children if their father was found out as a “traitor.” When Tom escapes, Yumi quickly returns to her post and resumes taking care of the children. However, Yumi insists on burning Sulphur in the guest room, where Tom had been staying, “to get the white man’s smell out of it.”