Keller 1!

Daniel Keller

T100-Intro to Theatre

11 September 2018

Father Returns Analysis

Storytelling comes in many different forms. Books, television, and plays are just a few

ways an author can get a message across. Plays have a unique sense about them because they are

ephemeral yet happen with a live audience. Although plays are performed live, they are a still a

written art form. Because of this, many fundamentals of writing are instituted into the script of a

play. Freytag’s pyramid is a common structure used in writing and includes an exposition,

inciting incident, rising action, climax, and falling action. The play Father Returns is

traditionally structured because it satisfies both definitions of casual and linear while also

following the structure of Freytag’s pyramid.

The best way to find the exposition of the play is to first identify the inciting incident.

The inciting incident is simply when the main conflict of the play is clearly defined. In Father

Returns, Ken’ichirō clearly has a problem with the idea of his father. However, the inciting

incident does not occur until he denies his father food. Shinjirō offers the saké cup to his father

but Ken’ichirō believes that he has “no right to give it to him” (Kan 53). The main conflict at

hand is that Ken’ichirō wants nothing to do with his father and has no sympathy for what he may

have gone through. He grew up without a dad and was forced “to go to work as an errand boy

when [he] was ten years old” (53). He has suffered enough pain because his father left. Looking

at what occurred before this inciting moment reveals the exposition. Sōtarō, the father, “blew

[the real estate] all away living off the hog” which coincidentally left the family with nothing
 Keller 2!

(49). Otaka, the mother, was forced to work various odd jobs just to make ends meet. Otaka is

also concerned with the idea of marriage surrounding around both Otane and Ken’ichirō. She

desperately wants her daughter to marry “for love [rather than] money” based off her own

experience with Sōtarō (49). Ken’ichirō thinks his mothers notions are ridiculous considering the

poverty Otaka lived with. He believes the best thing for her will be to marry into a rich family.

Another important plot element occurring during the exposition happens when Shinjirō has heard

that his father may have returned. Mr. Sugita, an old friend of the father, saw a man who “looked

vaguely familiar” and who had many characteristics of Sōtarō. All of these elements in the

exposition are important because they allude to arrival of the father as well as the financial

situation that has corrupted the family.

After the inciting incident occurs in the play, the play is almost finished. Next to follow is

the rising action. Keni’chirō begins to verbally attack his father for all the pain he has put his

family through and even admits that “he’s [his] enemy” (54). Shinjirō plays the opposite role as

he desperately tries to reason with his brother, but with no luck. The climax occurs when the

father leaves his home and believes he would “have been better off if [he] hadn’t come” (54).

The play finishes with the falling action as both brothers go outside to look for their father.

The play Father Returns is an excellent example of a traditionally structured play. Not

only does it follow a casual and linear flow, it also follows the outline of Freytag’s pyramid. All

of these components are used to convey a story that is easy for the audience to follow.

Word Count: 599