“Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper” (Golden pg.428). The novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, is about a world where deception is prominent, where the main character Sayuri faces many hardships before she is able to achieve success as a Geisha. This is shown through multiple events in the novel such as, Mr. Tanaka selling Sayuri into slavery, which leads to something better as she finds love and eventually benefits from the betrayal. This is also shown through Hatsumomo, as her constant deception throughout the novel leads to Sayuri becoming the most popular geisha in Gion, eventually rendering Hatsumomo powerless, and through the betrayal …show more content…
From the moment that Sayuri first arrived in the okiya Hatsumomo has been deceptive towards her. In fear of her appearance and the great deal of water in her personality which allows her to find paths out of any situation. Hatsumomo constantly finds ways to manipulate Sayuri putting her in even greater debt and risking her chances of becoming a geisha. For example, when Hatsumomo manipulates Sayuri into vandalizing Mameha’s kimono, and when she manipulates Sayuri into escaping from the okiya. These tactics not only lead to Sayuri’s debt as she must pay Mameha back for her expensive, kimono but also causes her to lose the opportunity of becoming a geisha. Despite this something better comes out of this hardship as the event eventually leads to Mameha becoming Sayuri’s older sister who once again gives her the opportunity to become the greatest geisha in Gion. Hatsumomo is enraged by this new companionship as she now fears that through Mameha’s help Sayuri is sure to surpass her as a geisha. To prevent this Hatsumomo spreads indecent rumours about Sayuri throughout Gion causing disapproval among many of her customers. As stated by Sayuri “Every time a man looked at me strangely, I found myself wondering if he'd heard something unkind about me from her” (Golden pg.331). Because of …show more content…
Pumpkin plays a major role in sayuri’s life as much of Sayuri;s motivation is derived from her, whether it be through her betrayal or her friendship. Such as, when pumpkin brakes off their friendship because of Hatsumomo, Sayuri is motivated to become a great geisha so that she may render Hatsumomo powerless so neither her or Pumpkin can be treated cruelly by her. Also, Pumpkin motivates Sayuri as a friend as she reveals the truth behind the rumours that Hatsumomo has been spreading around to Nobu and Doctor, as this is what causes her to formulate a plan to trick Hatsumomo into her own downfall. Through this one sees that even the loss of a friendship can lead to something better. One of the biggest influence that Pumpkin has on Sayuri’s life is in Amami, when she deceives Sayuri by bring the Chairman to the old theater instead of Nobu. Sayuri and Pumpkin state“I thought you were my friend.” “ You took something from a along time ago, Sayuri. How does it feel now?” ( Golden pg. 406, 407). Pumpkin feels bitter towards Sayuri as she takes away the position as the daughter of the okiya away from her, because of this she betrays Sayuri by taken the Chairman away from her. Despite this Sayuri’s devastation soon disappears as stated by Flannagan “ Curiously, Sayuri gains the Chairman’s love because she fails in her stratagem of getting caught by Nobu in
The play Kamau by Alani Apio exhibits a very strong example of the dramatic difference between the ways that local and non-local people view the value of land. The main character Alika is much attached to the land that his family has lived on for years, as the land that they’ve lived on has become their undeniable home. Alika works for a tour company that takes tourists around the island and gives a brief history of things that have happened on the island. However, Alika’s boss, Jim, is employed at a company that has just bought the land that Alika and his family live on and this company plans to build a resort in place of Alika’s home. The land in question has two very different meanings to two very different people. The struggle and
Ukiyo is a culture that strives to live a strictly pleasure-seeking routine. The largest flaw in this way of life, as Saikaku points out, is that its superficial nature forces people to live lives as meaningless and fluffy as its name, the “Floating World,” suggests. It is shallow in the physical sense, in that it focuses primarily on “beautiful” external appearances, and in the metaphorical sense, whereby individuals never really make deep-seated connections to anyone because of their addiction to finding these so-called pleasures. One particular character that Saikaku satirizes to embody this superficial nature of Ukiyo is the old, rotting woman found on the verandah in the episode of “A Monk’s Wife in a Worldly Temple.” He cleverly employs situational irony with this character to prove his point, as it is expected for the archetypal old woman to pass moral lessons to the younger generation. By the character’s own, sorrowful admission she claims that she “can’t forget about sex” and is going to “bite right into” (Saikaku 614) the protagonist; completely the opposite of what the audience expects her to say. This satire highlights the extent to which the Ukiyo lifestyle socially conditions individuals; the old woman is so far gone down that path that she no l...
The constant changing of technology and social norms makes difficult for different generations to understand one another and fully relate to each other. Diction and slang change as years pass and what is socially acceptable may have been prohibited in the previous generations.
The Lady From Shanghai is a timeless film that captures how a black and white film can be interesting for viewers. The overall film was effective with the help of the mise en scene, cinematography and editing. Each of the three parts put together brought out the complexity and intensity of this film and they made The Lady From Shanghai the classic film that it is today.
One fear that Octavia Butler illustrates in the relationship, between Shori and her human symbionts, is the overwhelming influence that pleasure has over human beings. The euphoric feeling inspired by the venom of the Ina combined with several health benefits cause humans to leave their normal ways of life and adapt to a foreign culture. Brook, a symbiont that Shori inherited from her father articulates this point when she says, “They take over our lives. And we let them because they give us so much satisfaction and…just pure pleasure.” (Butler 127) Another example of the use of pleasure as a means of domination is visible in the way that humans become highly sensitive to the suggestions of Ina once they have bitten them. It is only after Shori bites her proposed assassin that she is able to question him. After exposure to her venom, the man has no choice but to answer her questions. This embodies the fear that people act against their...
Grief Girl is a novel written by Erin Vincent about her and her sibling’s experience of losing both their mother and father. Vincent was only fourteen years old at the time of her parents’ death. The chapter goes into detail about the events of the night of Vincent’s parents’ death. Based on the chapter, I can conclude that Vincent definitely went through at least two of the stages of grief. The fact that the novel is nonfiction helps me connect with the emotions that Vincent felt that day. Her details are extremely vivid and it is recognizable that Vincent recalls the events from that day very well.
This play gives insight on Lady Rokujo that is not seen in The Tale of Genji and the addition of Buddhism is also highly stressed. Lady Rokujo serves as a demonstration on how karma will eventually catch up to one in the end and how one needs to constantly follow Buddhist belief because sometimes prayer is not enough. She is also a Buddhist model like the characters in Atsumori because if one follows Buddhist belief, they too can find peace.
Imagine what it would have been like to be cooped up in an attic during the Holocaust,with only very little space eight people in one little attic. For the Franks and the Van Danns it was eight people and a cat for most the time. With no one to talk to they have to keep everything in, unless they write it. In “The Diary of Anne Frank” the two families live this way. Anne and Peter were two of the characters who experienced this. Anne is a teenage girl who has a sister and lives during the Holocaust. Anne also had a lot of friends so she was popular; she loved to read and write in her journal. She was very loud and obnoxious. In Act one Scene two ,Peter says “I was always by myself, while you were in a big crowd of people.” This shows that Anne was very popular and is used to people; while Peter was not used to as much attention and people. Then in Act one Scene three, Mr.Van Dann says, “ Why can’t you be more like your sister Margot?” This proves that the Van Danns like Margot more than they like Anne ; it also proves they think Anne is obnoxious.
Justice is a theme that the play implies about the samurai. Throughout the play Moronao insulted people, so in the ending, Enya’s retainers serve justice. For example, Moronao insults Wakasanosuke because lady Kaoyo turns him down. Wakasanosuke plans to kill him and is ready to
Han – a period of time in China in which the country was merge together (Dictionary)
In the play, The Diary of Anne Frank, the main character Anne was a dynamic character, changing from being self-centered and naive in the beginning, to being caring towards the end of the story. Anne interacting with the other characters and developing the theme of the play showed proof of these traits of her personality, emotions, intellect, and ethics. First, Anne shows her initial trait of being self-centered, partially because of her naiveness. One example of this is when she has a nightmare, then when her mother comes to comfort her. Mrs. Frank says, “But I’d like to stay with you… very much. Really.”, then Anne responds by saying “I’d rather you didn’t”. Anne deeply hurt her mother by making her feel unwanted and useless, showing that
Backroads begins with Harley being questioned by the police for a crime that the reader knows not of. He delves into the story that has brought him up to this point, beginning from a year after his mother shot his father. The events in the course of this are breath taking.
Chinua Achebe analyzes a culture he is not accustomed with. The Madwoman in the attic theory comes into play as a westerner writing about “savage Africa”. Things Fall Apart provides an important understanding of Africana identity and history for those in the West who may be unfamiliar with African culture. Achebe tackles female identity within this book with delicacy keeping with the Ibo view of female nature in the background of the story but the forefront of the reader’s mind. A discussion of womanhood must touch upon manhood because they operate as a complementary, opposing, and equal entity.
In the movie ‘The Soloist,’ Nathaniel experienced mostly positive symptoms. Ronald Comer, ‘Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology, defines positive symptoms as “pathological excesses,” or bizarre additions, to a person’s behavior, thoughts, and emotions, and negative symptoms as a deficit of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Nathaniel Ayers displayed signs of an abundance of excessive thoughts, emotions, and behavior. One example was when he initially met Steve Lopez; Nathaniel was extremely verbose and illustrated symptoms of disorganized and rapid speech patterns. He later expressed deep emotions towards Steve, by revealing to him that he loved him. Nathaniel held the delusion that Steve Lopez was god and this belief dominated his life. There was a scene in the movie where Steve Lopez had received a donated cello for Nathaniel; he told Nathaniel that he would only be allowed to play it if he went to the LAMP community center. Against his own desire, Nathaniel complied and went to the community center in hopes of playing it again. Auditory hallucinations are said to be common in people with
'Twilight Samurai" is situated in Japan throughout the time of the Meiji Restoration, circa 1868 - the same period as Kurosawa's incredible "The Seven Samurai" and Edward Zwick's exquisite "The Last Samurai." The three movies bargain in distinctive routes with a period when samurai still attempted to live by the Code of Bushido, even as they confronted destitution or unemployment in an evolving pop culture. "The Last Samurai" is about samurai contradicting the head's moves to modernize Japan; unexpectedly, we discover that the saint of "Sundown Samurai" battled and kicked the bucket in that insubordination - after the story of this film is over.