In Kawabata’s Snow Country, a story about a self-proclaimed ballet expert, Shimamura, who is traveling towards hot springs part of the country en route to spend time with geisha’s, even though he is a married man. He meets a geisha named Komako, who falls in love with him, and he can seemingly accomplish little when attempting to change her mind about how much she loves him, even though he does not feel the same way. In the midst of his time in Hot Springs, he meets a woman named Yoko who was traveling with a man named Yukio, and Yoko was taking care of him, until Yukio dies and she gets a job as a geisha. This begins the love triangle between Yoko, Komako, and Shimamura. While I believe that the setting that Kawabata placed the story inside …show more content…
In Snow Country, his wife essentially packed his bag for him to send him off. It was not her place to stop him or to be upset at the fact that he was leaving. She is just his wife. Hypothetically, if you were to transplant this story into the United States in the time period in which it has been written, this story would be in secret. To compare to another form of entertainment, Mad Men is a show produced by AMC, and it takes place in the late 1950s early 1960s on through the 70s. The main character, Don Draper, is essentially Shimashura in America. He has a wife and kids at home, nonetheless he has sex with women outside of his home, in New York City. The major differences between the show and the movie, is that Draper isn’t paying for sex. He is just having affairs. I conclude that if you were to transplant the plot and story line for Snow Country into a more westernized place such as America, the plot would seem comparable to Mad Men. In comparison, both the wives of Shimashura, and Draper are aware of their husband’s transgressions outside of the home, nevertheless do not feel it is their place to make waves about it. Draper falls in love with one of his girls that he has on the side, just as Shimamura does. While this may not be representative of all of America for this time period, this is a …show more content…
Well, if you tried to place this story in today’s the time period, you would not have the same reactions, nor the same story line. The plot would require dramatic changes to account for the current feminist movement, and the technology difference between now, and then. With the development of social media, of cell phones, and of the internet, this story would be problematic in this time period, however I esteem that you will find that the biggest problem Kawabata would face in writing this story for current times, is the respect that women have gained for themselves since the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Women would no longer a man cheating on them, they would demand the respect and if they knew that their man was going on a trip to be in the presence of prostitutes, it would be a divorce waiting to happen. You actually find this comparison between the two mindsets of the two geishas that Shimashura is entangled with. Komako has accepted her role as a geisha, she does essentially any deed that Shimashura requires her to perform. When told that her diaries were a “Complete waste of effort” (Kawabata) by Shimashura she responds with “A complete waste of effort” (Kawabata). Seemingly just agreeing Yoko is exact opposite of Komako. She is brash, and harsh. She speaks her mind, and doesn’t allow people to speak to her how they want. She is not your typical Geisha, she is the westernized version of a woman. A conversation between
Andrew Largeman's (Zack Braff) journey throughout "Garden State" seems to be a testament on the meaning of liberation. Going from his struggling acting life in Los Angeles to his hometown in New Jersey, where he witnesses his mother's funeral, Andrew is in the mist of confronting difficult issues. One of the biggest issues is coming to terms with his psychologist father (Ian Holm), whom he has distanced himself from for many years because he has put him on powerful antidepressants for most of his life. The reason for this I will not reveal but it has caused Andrew to feel as if his father has controlled his life in a way.
In every story, there is a protagonist and an antagonist, good and evil, love and hatred, one the antithesis of the other. To preserve children’s innocence, literature usually emphasizes on the notion that love is insurmountable and that it is the most beautiful and powerful force the world knows of, yet Gen’s and Carmen’s love, ever glorious, never prevails. They each have dreams of a future together, “he takes Carmen’s hand and leads her out the gate at the end of the front walkway… together they… simply walk out into the capital city of the host country. Nobody knows to stop them. They are not famous and nobody cares. They go to an airport and find a flight back to Japan and they live there, together, happily and forever” in which their love is the only matter that holds significance (261). The china
The traditional values of a “Nuclear Family” that were set up in the 1960’s are a reoccurring theme throughout “The Country Husband” by John Cheever. Francis Weed demonstrates the strain of a domestic lifestyle, and his character communicates the chaos that pressure ensues. With changes in attitude, the struggles of a traditional suburban community, characterization of a middle-aged man who suffers with morality and the desperation for escape from reality, Francis Weeds finds himself in what would be identified as a “mid-life crisis.” In the short story, Francis portrays reckless behavior due to the adolescent yearnings. He wants to pursue an unattainable affair with the engaged babysitter that his wife hires. With his codependent characteristics, Francis is unable to escape his reality. When Julia, his wife, threatens to leave him due to his uncaring demeanor he persuades her to stay because he realizes that he is hopeless without her and he simply
The Adirondacks are a group of mountains surrounded by many lakes and rivers, that cover over 5,000 square miles in the northeastern part of New York. There are a lot of large tourist villages on every lake. Motor boating and other water activities take place on almost every lake in the area. It is a vacation paradise for thousands. But, industrial emissions from Canada and the Ohio river valley always drift to this area and cause acid rain.
The first time I saw Mt. Rainier for myself, was last summer when my boyfriend and I drove to Washington. It was the most beautiful, peaceful looking mountain I have ever seen. However, underneath it's great beauty, it hides a deadly secret. Mt. Rainier is one of the most dangerous volcanoes that we have here in the United States. One of the reasons it is so dangerous is because of it's great beauty. People enjoy looking at it, and the area that surrounds it, so they have made their homes here. Mt Rainier is not the only volcano I am interested in, in fact this last summer I also went to Mt. St. Helens and Crater Lake. But it is the volcano I chose to research for this paper because it does have so much beauty and at the same time so much power. I already know the basics about volcanoes, how they form, the different types, etc., but I wanted to find out more about what would happen if this great volcano were to erupt, what type of eruption would it be, and how would it affect the people that live around it.
Saikaku, Ihara. Life of a Sensuous Woman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Ed. Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner. New York: Norton, 2013. 591-611. Print.
The main characters meet after a mysteriously sudden rainfall where they both retreat into the same hut. The male protagonist, Toyo-o, is naïve young man who is drawn in quickly by the beauty of the antagonist, Manago. Despite his naiveté, he seems to understand some of the gender roles of a woman by observing the odd fact she was without a male escort. His knowledge of the gender roles for both women and men is obviously lacking, however, as he doesn’t think much of her other strange behaviors later on, nor does he appropriately take on his own personal duties as a man.
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 first way Snow White differs from the stereotypical 1960s housewife is by her appearance. The appearance of a 1960s housewife was very important. She was expected to dress in a particular fashion that “consisted of, touched up make up and a ribbon in their hair to look fresh” (The Good Wife’s Guide,1). Barthelme demonstrates this throughout the ...
The Love Suicides at Amijima recounts the tale of two disastrous sweethearts, Jihei, a wedded unsuccessful vendor of business Osaka, and Koharu, a wonderful mistress for whom he has gotten a lethally exceptional affection fascination, and from whom his adoration is responded, however an affection which can never be satisfied because of his marriage and family and her obligated status as a paid courtesan. He tries to control his overwhelming energetic affection for Koharu; in fact some portion of him wishes simply to satisfy what society expects of him as a husband and father. Torn between the two restricting universes of obligation (giri) and enthusiastic private craving (ninjo), Jihei is constrained again and again to reject his home and family. Like some other human
Maine is a state in northern New England in the United States. It is bounded by the Canadian provinces of Québec on the northwest and New Brunswick on the northeast. To the southwest lies New Hampshire, and to the southeast, the Atlantic Ocean. Maine entered the Union on March 15, 1820, when it was separated from Massachusetts to form the 23rd state. Augusta is Maine’s capital. Portland is the largest city. Its nickname is “The Pine Tree State.” Maine’s motto is Dario (I lead). The state song is entitled “State of Maine Song.”
This story is a great representation of how relationships have changed over the years. Weather its the female dominance or the relationships are given up. Shoba and Shukumar are great examples of this phenomenon. This couple can be related to a typical American relationship. Jhumpa Lahiri does a good job of detailing this failure of a relationship and explains how this couple breaks apart.
known for decades: it pays to invest in Canada. There is a government commitment to attract foreign direct investment. Canada's government provides a competitive, welcoming climate for international business. It is committed to fiscal responsibility, deficit reduction and job creation.
It was known that Golden took at least ten years in order to finish this great, inspiring and the insight behind the Geisha’s artistic life and the truth which lies beneath their artistic smile and red lips. According to Golden based on his studies, Geisha’s play a very minor role in the society. Based on the novel written by Golden young girls were sold by their families in order to convert them into Geisha’s and also primarily for money. These young girls were often subjected to as the “Mizu Age”, most of the times their virginity is often sold to the highest bidder. This took place until the mid 20th Century. They fascinate people around them where ever they go. They mainly represent the image of bewildering and the timeless history about the Japanese culture and traditions. The earliest types of Geisha’s are known to be male. The difference between Geisha’s and prostitute Geisha’s is that prostitute usually wears the bow of their sash in the front side of their kimono, but Geisha’s wear their sash neatly on the
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