Leeana Nguyen Hist 354 High & Low - A Personal Matter In the prewar and wartime periods, Japanese individuals were constrained by power hierarchies with the state as centered of everything. In the post-war era, individuals were subjected to the human need hierarchies mainly focusing on personal feelings versus society expectations. Within Oe, A Personal Matter, and Kurosawa’s High and Low there were illustrations of the individual's feelings against what was expected of them from society. Through the narrations of the book and the cinematography of the movie, the main protagonists demonstrated the way they truly feel versus what must they do and feel from expectations of others. Oe, A Personal Matter introduces the main character, Bird, …show more content…
While his wife was pregnant and upon founding the fact that the baby might not be normal, he “shuts his eyes tight and tries to submerge in the warmth of his bed, as if by denying reality he could instantly banish it. But nothing changed" (14). Usually, society expects of the father to be there for his family no matter the struggles and what problems have brought upon him. Bird was not the case. He simply did not want the baby to be in the way of him getting a better life. It was his selfish needs that he only cared about. Bird did not have the strength and courage to accept the issue. Additionally, after the baby was born he continued to have affair with Himiko, who is a widow and share the same dream of going to Africa with Bird. With the way Bird handle the situation of his abnormal newborn, it emphasizes the fact that he just wants to run away from the unpleasantness of the whole situation that he count handle. Near the end of the novel, Bird did change the way he felt about the problems he has. His feelings and the way his in-law family expected him to align in some ways. Bird thought, “As a matter of fact, I kept trying to run away. And I almost did. But it seems that reality …show more content…
Mr. Gondo is a man who’s capable of doing the right thing, have high values, and high standards. Early on in the movie, he received a call that his son was kidnapped but soon later found out that it was his chauffeur’s son who got kidnapped. As a high position businessman, he told the police that he would not let the kidnapper make a foul out of him and would not pay the money to save the kid. His own needs were to gain a larger share to make him the highest stockholder in National Shoes. Mr. Gondo’s wife along with the chauffeur begged him to save the kid and his wife even mentioned how Mr. Gondo will do the right thing and save the kid, she was sure of it. Eventually, the protagonist agreed to give the ransom to save the innocent boy. Even though his self-fulfillment was to gain superiority, Mr. Gondo did what was right and followed the expectations of those around him. The other character in High and Low was Takeuchi, the kidnapper. Takeuchi was a medical intern who was working his way up to the elite but he, because of his own feelings did the wrong things and get punished for his wrongdoings. During the war, people are not clearly divided and not driven by the way they feel about certain issues. Most followed what others expect of them to do and carry them out well. In post-war people as Takeuchi behave badly due to their selfish
Dunbar finishes off the poem with powerful lines: “But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea that upward heaven he flings— I know why the caged bird sings!” The caged bird is depicted as battered, bruised, and beaten from his violent rebellion— praying as his last chance of freedom. The bird’s belief in its virtuous rebellion justifies the revolt, as we see the bird’s constant persistency, even as the mutiny is demoted to
Finally, Mayzie had sat on the egg for a while. Quoting from the story, Mayzie says, “I’m tired and I’m bored and I’ve kinks in my leg. From sitting, just sitting here day after day.” In comparison to reality, this would be a bird’s form of maternity leave. Poor Mayzie desperately needed a break, and when she finally grasped the opportunity of one, she took full advantage of one. With those statements, Mayzie should have full custody of the
If he killed the bird, then he would have killed the only thing that was important to her. He killed her once when he married her and caged her in that house, and he killed her again when he destroyed her bird. No. No. No.
The narrator watches helplessly as the bird tries to escape wondering “how did it get into this terrible place?” (520). As the narrator watches the bird, he slowly begins to turn into the bird himself. All of the paralleled imagery comes together when he physically turns into a bird. The narrator and the bird are in the exact same situation and the narrator has slowly begun to view his own situation through the bird’s eyes. In an airport there are so many factors that travelers have zero control over. In the narrator’s case, he is trapped in the airport because his flight has been delayed over and over. The bird is trapped because it flew in somehow and cannot seem to find it’s way out. The narrator, frustrated with the other people in the airport for not paying attention to the bird or his similar problem screams, “Help me! I want to go home! I don’t belong here!” (520), but no one will help because they either don’t have control either, or they do not care. He helplessly awaits his plane to come, just like the bird helplessly waits for a person to come and save it. All of the imagery about the airport at the beginning comes back to the narrator’s panic attack. He screams for help as loud as he can but no one listens. He becomes just one person among the large crowd of people in the airport. Everybody has his or her own things to do and places to be. The randomness and chaos of the airport leads the narrator to feel helpless and unheard. Both the narrator and the bird have become trapped and
Therefore, this explains this character trait because he disobeyed when the bird demanded him to look at him in the eyes. “Other prisoners told him to give in or the Bird would beat him to death. Louie couldn’t do it.” (181) When he was held captive in war and “The Bird” was harangued. Consequently, this character trait because he ignored the other prisoners when they told him to give in or else the bird would beat him to death.
...window and kill himself because just like his human life he loved his wife so much he could bare seeing another man with her. This act was the only way he knew out and knew he was flying to his death because he stated “And I spread my wings. I will fly now. Even though I know there is something between me and that place where I can be free of all these feelings, I will fly. I will throw myself again and again there. Pretty bird. Bad bird. Good night” (Butler, 1995, pg 191).
Bird usually portrays an image of bad luck that follows afterwards and in this novel, that is. the beginning of all the bad events that occur in the rest of the novel. It all started when Margaret Laurence introduced the life of Vanessa MacLeod. protagonist of the story, also known as the granddaughter of a calm and intelligent woman. I am a woman.
Throughout “The Birds,” the suspense in the story is used to portray the tendency for people to lose all reason in situations that are extremely complex. "[Du Maurier] forces Nat and the reader to remain in a claustrophobic house where all they can do is sit, listen, and wait for the inevitable terror that’s certain to return" (Kattelman 13). Not only is the point of view restrained to Nat, but it follows all of his actions, thoughts and inner monologue about survival. As a second-hand witness, the reader experiences all of the anxiety and anticipation he experiences. As soon as Nat checks for survivors, he witnesses that "[t]he line was dead. He climbed onto a bank and looked over the countryside, but there was no sign of life at all, nothing in the fields but the waiting, watching birds" (Du Maurier 97). After the attack of the birds, the surrounding area is completely wiped out. The suspense of being alone creeps into Nat 's head as he takes off to work on his house. The isolation drives him crazy because he does not know how to deal with it. Just like Nat, humans make decisions based off of what is real to them. Psychologically speaking, when reality becomes questionable, all familiarity and comfort with the situation go away due to people 's loss of power in knowledge (Kattelman 12). When the characters of "The Birds" are forced to confront
All he can think about is his wife sleeping with other men and does not even consider that she was just merely mentioning people she considered acquaintances. The cage is described as a “large black wrought-iron cage”, creating the picture that the cage is like a jail. The one time the parrot cage door was left open, the husband tries to fly out but he runs into something and a pain flares in his head. The location of the cage also drives the husband/parrot crazy. The cage is placed so that the husband/parrot can only slightly see into the bedroom but he can’t completely see what his wife is doing. This is a representation of how when the husband was alive, he could not see what his wife was up to even though he had a good idea of what she was probably doing. The husband states that he learned a lesson the one time he tried to fly out. The lesson he learned was his wife’s pain and tears. She wept and her tears touched her husband. Throughout the story the husband learns more about his wife as a parrot than when he was actually alive as her husband. By having a different perspective, people learn to see and learn more. The wife does not realize that her husband is trapped in a parrot’s body, allowing herself to open up in front of him. Through this perspective, the husband learns more than he ever did by trying to spy on his
Mr. Wright was a cruel, cold, and heartless man. He was also a very unsociable man. He abandoned his wife's contentment and paid very little attention to his wife's opinions. He even prevented her from singing. This is revealed about Mr. Wright during the conversations between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters when they find the dead bird with a twisted neck in Mrs. Wright's sewing basket. Mrs. Hale points out, "She- come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery. How-she-did-change" (Glaspell 1267). Mrs. Wright used to be a very high-s...
In the poem “Sympathy” the author explains why the caged bird sings, this is said many times through the poem. The caged bird attempts to get out of his cage, he doesn’t stop trying to escape. “I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till it’s blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would
Furthermore, this tale manifested a true dilemma that our society goes up against daily. Responsibilities are supposed to come before one's own personal gain. If a person becomes enraptured in their own self-seeking task and overlook their duties, that person will eventually suffer for it. Japan regards honor as something you have to strive for. It must be earned. The main character broke the rules of his the country had already established and paid for it in innumerable ways.
He became obsessed with the Bird, wanting revenge for the torture he had gone through. Louie resorted to alcoholism as a coping mechanism, and blamed all of his ongoing problems on the Bird. Around the world, the war was over; in Louie's mind, it raged on. For a period of time, Louie could not persevere through his plight. He began to lose his once irrevocable hope, and feared the man that be was becoming.
Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. "The Ambivalent Self of the Contemporary Japanese." Cultural Anthropology 5.2 (1990): 197-216. Print.
Wright was described as a beautiful women filled with such joy and life until she married John Wright. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale feels sorry for her because her husband treated her so bad. Due to female bonding and sympathy, the two women, becoming detectives, finds the truth and hides it from the men. The play shows you that emotions can play a part in your judgement. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale felt sorry that Mrs. Wright had one to keep her company no kids and she was always left alone at home. “yes good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that goes to the bone. I should of think she would have wanted a bird. But what you suppose went with it?” Later on in the play the women find out what happens to the bird. The bird was killed the same way Mrs. Wright husband which leads to the motive of why he was killed. Mrs. Wright was just like the bird beautiful but caged no freedom not being able to live a life of her own. Always stuck in the shadows of her husband being told what to do and