FOOD, MEMORY AND HUMAN CONNECTIONS: A BARTHESIAN PERSPECTIVE OF BANANA’S KITCHEN

Abstract

This research aims to examine the denotative and connotative meanings embedded in the major symbols present within the novel Kitchen written by Banana Yoshimoto through the theoretical lens of Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory. The research explores how everyday objects, particularly food, kitchens, household spaces, and domestic tasks, play their role as semiotic signs in order to communicate emotional, psychological, and interpersonal experiences in the novel. This research employs a qualitative approach with textual analysis method to interpret the selected textual examples from the novel. Findings of the study reveal that food in the novel Kitchen serves as a powerful semiotic device that facilitates healing from grief and loneliness, built the emotional bonds and triggers memory. Connotatively, food symbolize the intimacy, comfort, care, emotional recovery, and human connection: however, at the denotative level food represents basic nourishment and kitchen spaces serve as domestic settings for cooking.  The application of Barthes’ five codes on this novel further reveal that the domestic spaces and food  related actions carry a  layered meanings that has a significant contribution  to the narrative progression and  character development. The research also identifies that kitchen spaces operate as the emotional shelters where psychological healing and identity reconstruction occur. This study highlights that the food in the kitchen is a cultural and symbolic symbol that connects human connections and emotions rather than just a physical object. Through the lens of Barthesian semiotics, this research provides a deeper insight of how everyday objects in the literature convey complex cultural and emotional meanings.