In the novel Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, many references are made to the moon and the moonlight. From these references it can be concluded that the moon gives characters in the novel a sense of comfort and happiness. This can be determined because in the novel, the moon represents beauty and serenity. I plan to use several examples from the book to confirm my thesis. My first example shows the moon's beauty, it is found …showed first 75 words of 509 total…

…showed last 75 words of 509 total…to the moon throughout the text such as when Mikage and Yuichi share a dream of a song discussing moonlight. And I also believe that it is more than coincidental that there is a story after kitchen titled Moonlight Shadow. These frequent references to the moon must give it symbolic meaning and I believed that Banana Yoshimoto used the moon as a source of beauty, consolation, and as a source of happiness throughout the novel.