How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
As if understanding his thought, Captain Whitfield picked up the book and began to read aloud.
Manjiro had a hard time following, but he was sure it was a poem. It had a "shipwrecked brother" in it who saw footprints and got up and started doing something. The gist of the poem, he thought, was that we should do the best we can with whatever fate the gods give us in our lives, and perhaps we can inspire others who come after us. (2.6.44-45)
The poem the captain reads is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Voices of the Night: A Psalm of Life." What's interesting is Manjiro's summary of what he hears. It's not that the summary is wrong; it's just that it's so bland and disconnected from Manjiro and the novel. The poem actually has quite a bit to do with Manjiro's situation, and though Manjiro may not totally get how the poem connects to his life, it sounds like the captain might have known which poem to pick to fit Manjiro's life at that moment.
Quote #5
Manjiro pushed up the sleeve of his kimono so it wouldn't drag in the ink. He sat on the floor in front of a low table, brush in hand. He was practicing the character for "garden," which, he thought, might as well be the same as the characters for "prison." (5.38.1)
This is about as Japanese as Manjiro can get. In fact, the whole image of Manjiro in a kimono, preparing to do calligraphy, is like a scene out of an old samurai movie. The catch, of course, is that he's in prison.
Quote #6
Since there was so often nothing else to do, he was using the time to learn to read and write his own language. (5.38.1)
It's kind of ironic that it takes prison-time in Japan for Manjiro to re-learn and practice the Japanese art of calligraphy.