In the story “Swaddling Clothes”, there is much focus on the western modernization of the nation of Japan’s effects on society. This story is set during a time of a slow and gradual recovery from much damage in Japan. The nation of Japan is growing more and more westernized as years pass. Toshiko’s husband reveals this idea in the way that he dresses and the way that their home is decorated. The very city in which this couple lives is also experiencing a change. Filled with theaters and bars, the streets were shouting western modernization. The cherry blossoms were made out of white paper. Toshiko visited a park and it was also changing. The lanterns that were once strung throughout the park by wires have been replaced by light bulbs. This …show more content…
It centers around Toshiko, a female who is very fragile and weak spirited, but of all of the characters mentioned in “Swaddling Clothes”, she is found to be the most thoughtful. She is the wife of a successful Japanese actor that is very handsome. Although, her husband’s name is never mentioned, he only contributes to the story in two different actions. The first is when he is laughing at “the incident” of the birth of the nurse’s baby as if it is simply an entertaining story. Second, he sends his wife to go home alone. The nurse hired by Toshiko and her husband for the purpose of taking care of their baby lies about her own pregnancy. She claims that her stomach is swollen from “gastric dilation.” Later on, the nurse delivers an illegitimate child in the floor of Toshiko’s nursery. Toshiko symbolizes a loss of moral value for this new and upcoming western culture. Dismayed by a lack of moral value, Toshiko does not condole her husband’s casual talk of the event that took place in the nursery. On the way home from the night club, Toshiko stops by the park. While walking around, she sees a boy off in the distance curled up on a bench covered in a large pile of newspaper. She immediately had a flashback of the infant that laid on her floor. Feeling fearless, she continues to walk toward the boy on the bench but she approaches him too closely. The boy is alert and reaches up and grabs hold of her wrist, and attacks her. At
Through the oxymoron in which the mother experiences a “holy terror” we get a concise description of conflicting emotions at play. This story forces us to drop our facade and recognise how we can feel given certain circumstances. Our individual interpretations insists our selfishness, “disguised” as humanity should prevail and this baby should be stopped before he can unleash his evil across Europe.
Celianne, a fifteen-year-old pregnant girl, was raped when a dozen men raided her home and forced her brother and mother to sleep together. She found out she was pregnant and boarded the boat as soon as she’d heard about it. The child represents the hope of a new life, away from the persecution awaiting back in Haiti. Celianne finally gives birth to a baby girl and the acting midwife prays for the baby to be guided by God, “Celianne had a girl baby. The woman acting as a midwife is holding the baby to the moon and whispering prayers . . .
I am a small child… I am wearing…” Kogawa begins to speak of what she went through during relocation as a young child with her Obasan (aunt). The author no longer uses figurative language to describe the occurrence, but instead selection of detail. When informing the reader of a very young mother on the train she used details to emphasize her points. The “... tiny red-faced…” description of the baby highlighted the fact that it was born prematurely only days prior. Also, the “... birdlike face” of the mother created a relation in the reader’s thoughts between the mother and birds who are iconic for caring for their young. The most important detail included in this section is the gesture on Obasan’s part for this young mother. The young lady had nothing for her baby, “not even diapers.” So in an effort to help this woman in some way, Obasan wrapped up some food in a cloth and gave it to her. This is very important to the story because it shows that even in their darkest times her people are still giving and will sacrifice what little they have for someone who has even less. By including details and speaking in first person singular point of view the author made what was happening feel much more personal and real because instead of a generalized group that is being terrorized, it’s individuals and shows the author’s pride in her
Throughout history artists have used art as a means to reflect the on goings of the society surrounding them. Many times, novels serve as primary sources in the future for students to reflect on past history. Students can successfully use novels as a source of understanding past events. Different sentiments and points of views within novels serve as the information one may use to reflect on these events. Natsume Soseki’s novel Kokoro successfully encapsulates much of what has been discussed in class, parallels with the events in Japan at the time the novel takes place, and serves as a social commentary to describe these events in Japan at the time of the Mejeii Restoration and beyond. Therefore, Kokoro successfully serves as a primary source students may use to enable them to understand institutions like conflicting views Whites by the Japanese, the role of women, and the population’s analysis of the Emperor.
Reischauer, Edwin O., and Albert M. Craig. Japan, Tradition & Transformation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. Print.
Just like Westernization, Fusako has a tendency to bring in Western goods in hopes for it to prosper and make a profit in foreign land. In addition, Fusako’s house is completely Westernized, the narrator describes: “There wasn’t a single Japanese room in Fusako’s house, her mode of living was thoroughly Western” (Mishima 113). These two major possessions are parallel to one another, as well as, lacking any ties to Japanese culture. Ultimately concluding that women are negligent to their traditional culture when presented with lavished material items. This is not only evident in big possessions, but also small material items that Fusako owns. The narrator says: “Fusako was wearing a black-lace kimono over a crimson under-robe, and her obi was white brocade. Crimson peeped seductively through the black lace” (Mishima 42). This turns a traditional Japanese kimono into something that is seductive and tainted, possibly exemplifying the way Japanese culture was tainted by Western powers. Takao Hagiwara, author of “The Metaphysics of the Womb in Mishima Yukio 's The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea,” utilizes this same kimono as a way to show Fusako’s feminity as negative. Hagiwara says that the use of
In the 19th century play, FASHION, Anna Mowatt develops the character plot as a contrast and comparison between being “natural” and “artificial in a world becoming preoccupied with fashion, and being fashionable. In the head notes, it was stated that Daniel Havens said FASHION is “the ugly image of the American Dream gone sour.” (Watt and Richardson) Fashion has a complex definition. The word ‘fashion’ can mean anything from the type of clothes you wear, how you communicate with others, the place you live, how you present yourself, or who you associate yourself with. In FASHION, Mowatt took a comical yet sober look at the definitions of “fashion,” applied it to real life in 1845, and through her characters, provides a mirror with which an audience/reader can evaluate themselves. I do not believe updating this play would be difficult because America has continued down the fast and destructive path in an effort to keep up with the “fashions” of the day.
Shaw, Irwin, and Shinpei Tokiwa. The Girls in Their Summer Dresses and Other Stories. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1988.
Denison. B. (2002, January 1). A Basic Overview of Japanese Culture . . Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.mizukan.org/articles/culture.htm
The setting is set in a café at a train station. On one side of the station there is a lush and green landscape and the other is a deserted barren landscape with browns and whites. They are sit in the café drinking and covertly discus the decision the American is insisting. The setting starts with “there was no shade and no trees” this reflects that there is nowhere to hide from the topic of abortion. It was all there to be seen by the sun. It is set in a hot and uncomfortable place which is the position the young girl is in. She sees a “passing cloud shadowing the white hills with darkness is a subtle portent of doom to Jig’s pregnancy” (Abdoo 238). There is two contrasting landscapes that the girl sees one that is fruitless and has a wind to it and the other has trees and is lively. This represents her options by keeping the baby she can have a fulfilling life or have the abortion and be left sterile and barren. The setting reinforces the idea that there is a divide between the couple and if they should have the
The short story “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young Indian woman, Sumita, and her cultural transition to America that is symbolized by her clothes and the color of her clothes. The traditional Indian attire for a woman is a sari and each one has its own purpose. Her clothes also indicate her progression from daughter, to wife, to woman.
In the story Yukio Mishima describes Toshiko as a rich married woman, who is concerned about the future of an illegitimate child that was born in her home. Toshiko feels alienated by her husband, and finds herself felling alone. Toshiko is overly sensitive, timid, introverted, and is very submissive to her husband. Toshiko is also concerned with her physical appearance and her weight. Toshiko’s evening begins when she meets her husband at a club where she overhears him telling a group a friends a story of the nurse they hired to care for their child giving birth in their home. “It’s a fantastic story,” he was saying, gesturing flamboyantly as if in an attempt to outweigh the attractions of the dance band.” She then relives the memory of that day, which is a constant
In the early stages of a child, his main source of nourishment is his mother’s breast. Although the narrator
Introduction In 1976, Nakagami Kenji won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for literature for his text, The Cape, in which he considers these themes of alienation within the gendered outcastes in Japanese buraku society. The author’s narratives delve into taboo territories of violence, social discrimination, and human sexuality. Nakagami’s legacy as a child of the buraku community in Shinguu enables his exploration of abjection and exclusion in his works, particularly in Red Hair.
From a historic point of view, Western travelers had remarked on the slow pace of lifestyle and fashion change in Turkey and Persia. On the other hand, many people were of the opinion that the western culture is getting out of hand in terms of dressing fashion (Cumming 234). In most cases, change of fashion and dressing style took place hand in hand with economic and social changes. In the developing world, changes in fashion began with the coming of the whites in Middle East. Changes began in the 11th century when the Turks came to central Asia and Far East. In Europe, continuous change in clothing fashion is believed to have started in middle 14th century. It started by a sudden introduction of shortening and tightening of male garments, it further brought the introduction of trousers and leggings that were worn by men (Cumming 235). After the advent of change in men fashion, it was followed by changes in female c...