Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha

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Introduction
The book, Memoirs of a Geisha, is about a girl, Chiyo, who was born in a fishing village in Yoroido, Japan. Chiyo was born into a lower income village; she and her sister, Satsu, were sold by their father into the geisha society to make up for the lack of medicine that her mom needed. Satsu ended up in the pleasure district in Kyoto and Chiyo was forced to go to an Okiya house to work to become a Geisha for the rest of her life. The meaning of a geisha is artisan, it is a Japanese hostess trained to entertain men with conversation, dance, and song.
Social Interaction Perspectives
Defining the Situation
After chiyo finally accepted her fate, she worked really hard to become a geisha. She worked so hard that she broke records and as a result she was adopted into the okiya. Pumpkin, another girl who lived in the okiya was supposed to be adopted instead of Chiyo. When Chiyo broke the record for the highest cost of her mizuage, or virginity, Mother pushed aside Pumpkin and congratulated Chiyo. Chiyo felt bad for her but since they were friends, she thought Pumpkin would understand. Much later, to her surprise, she found that Pumpkin was still bitter and jealous about it. Chiyo’s view on it was the fact that she had worked hard for that honor and she had earned it. Pumkin felt that she deserved to be adopted since she had become a geisha first and she was already in the process of being adopted. Their difference of opinion on that subject drew a wedge between them that was never removed.
The dramaturgical approach
The job of a geisha is to display perfection, quietness, passive and demure qualities. Since a geisha’s beauty is half of what will determine her success, some have to work harder than others. Some geishas took...

... middle of paper ...

...han what most people use everyday, are things that they need to perform. This includes things like fans, kimonos, all the different utensils to perform a tea ceremony, and the different hair pieces. Kimonos are the main thing that a geisha would want though since it shows wealth and also is the biggest display of nature and beauty through a dress.

language
The language they obviously speak is japanese but for the sake of the reader it was in english. As a student, an intensive study of the language was necessary. They placed a great importance on language though, at least for a geisha, it always had to be completely proper. Names also had a great importance since they had to be changed when becoming a geisha. In combination with checking the almanac, they made sure to choose the name that would bring success in the coming years so for Chiyo her new name was Sayuri

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