The central character in the novel is James Bond himself and the book's penultimate chapter contains his obituary, purportedly written for "The Times" by M. The obituary provides a number of biographical details of Bond's early life, including his parents' names and nationalities. Bond begins "You Only Live Twice" in a disturbed state, described by M as "going to pieces", following the death of his wife Tracy eight months previously. Academic Jeremy Black points out that it was a very different Bond to the character who lost Vesper Lynd at the end of "Casino Royale". Given a final chance by M to redeem himself with a difficult mission, Bond's character changes under the ministrations of Dikko Henderson, Tiger Tanaka and Kissy Suzuki. The result, according to Benson, is a Bond with a sense of humour and a purpose in life. Benson finds the transformation of Bond's character to be the most important theme in the novel: that of rebirth. This is suggested in Bond's attempt at a Haiku, written in the style of Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō: