Trials
“‘Isn’t it interesting, Stephen-san,” he said, “how sometimes you must cut away something in order to make it grow back stronger?... It may seem lonely and barren at first, only to flower again in the spring’” (193).
Matsu relates human emotions to a tree: A gardener who wants strong, fruit-bearing trees will prune the tree annually. These trees will yield higher quality fruit and live significantly longer. In a similar fashion, Matsu shares his belief with Stephen that a person’s life needs to be “pruned” in order to let them become stronger and wiser. The hardships in the lives of Stephen, Sachi, and Matsu all serve to make them more complete human beings and let them have a more fulfilling life. Each character reveals hidden attributes of honor and courage as they respond to both the physical trial of illness, as well as emotional hardships such as loneliness and prejudice.
Stephen would not have matured if he had not been infected with tuberculosis. While initially sent to Japan to recover from a life threatening disease, Stephen faces another hardship in the form of loneliness. In the simple village of Tarumi, he is the only young man not to have been drafted off to fight the war against China. However, instead of wishing he were back home and hiding in his shell, he starts forming bonds of friendship with those around him, starting with his caretaker and mentor, Matsu. Later, he connects with a woman who has also been stricken with a serious illness, leprosy, and had lost everything, but continues to live life. The friendships he forms with Matsu and Sachi turn out to be stronger than any previous bonds he had known. Being more mature, he is more thoughtful and able to take action. After receiving so much from ...
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...etly been seeing Sachi. Once Kenzo commits suicide, Matsu is able form the relationship with Sachi he had been withholding himself from for 40 years. At the end of the novel, Matsu and Sachi are finally together, and they feel like Stephen is “the musuko [they] had lost so many years ago” (205). In the end, Matsu is able to realize his own needs, and has his own family and a more fulfilling life.
The characters Stephen, Sachi, and Matsu all have experienced and weathered the storms of life. Besides enduring tragedies such as sickness, they have also faced all kinds of oppression, isolation, and prejudice. However painful they might have been, overcoming these hardships make them stronger and lets them have a more fulfilling life. These storms in life only serve to make a person stronger as they go through the different trials and triumphs that life has to offer.
These small contributions, though, help to add to the greater image of each character as deep and unique people. Examples of these small contributions are abound in the novel. For instance, Stephen gets a letter from his younger sister, Penelope, or Pie, talking about her daily life in war-torn China, saying, “For the past month, I have been going after school to the Red Cross refugee center in Wan Chai. I do everything, from rolling bandages to sorting donated clothes and filling care packages.” (Tsukiyama 117) This connects rather easily to the character of Matsu, who is seen as the sole saving grace of Yamaguchi, the village of lepers. Being one of the smaller connections in the novel, it is often discounted as unimportant or insignificant. I think quite the opposite, as I think this parallel says a lot about both characters, but most prominently that of Matsu. From the beginning of the novel Pie is characterized as a sweet and innocent child, even coming into Stephen’s room to talk to him while he was still dangerously tubercular. This parallel allows this benevolence to be extended onto Matsu, as in Matsu’s case his help for Yamaguchi could be otherwise discounted as showing his love for Sachi. Instead, the link helps show how Matsu’s care for these people is instead based on his
One of them is by helping people from Yamaguchi, those who are feared, shunned, and punished by the society because of their illnesses. When the village of Yamaguchi catches on fire, Matsu’s first instinct was to help all of those who lost their homes. Along with Stephen, they both spent several weeks rebuilding houses. Sachi was very upset, even mad because the people had already lost so much and now they were losing their homes too. Matsu made her realize that they lost things that can be replaced. “As long as they are alive to do so, that’s what is important” (123), he is telling Sachi that they should appreciate that they are alive because for all they know, it could have been worse. Matsu sacrificed himself to Yamaguchi, he gave up opportunities of living somewhere else. Another characteristic that Matsu embodies is his internal strength. The strength that he possesses is shown during Kenzo’s burial, “Matsu was silent throughout the entire procession, simply bowing his head to those who showed their sympathy at the loss of his good friend” (109). His internal strength comes from within, which allows him to remain calm and to prevent emotional pain. After his best friend committed suicide, Matsu turned to his garden, a place of peace. Stephen recognizes that it is there that Matsu turns for refuge and for
...s feeling of achievement at completing school is shown. There are close ups of the Tuohy’s with Ms Sue and Sam showing feelings of attachment with Michael. Moreover, the mid-shots of the teacher’s face highlights that he is accepted in the school community too. As such, Michael, like Billy has achieved a new sense of belonging due to connections with new people and places.
Adversity affects the lives of many individuals. Through facing adversity people tend to show their true selves. In the novel “Speak” by Laurie Halse-Anderson, the main character Melinda, faces a few different types of adversity. One form of adversity that she faces is that she was sexually assaulted. Another type of adversity that Melinda goes through in this novel is that she loses all her friends and starts to lose her family as well. Throughout my life, I have faced many different types of adversity, one major thing that I have dealt with in my life is depression. Those who face adversity in their life can choose if they want to face it or to ignore it, and the outcome will prove what they chose to do.
When Stephen goes to Johannesburg he has a childlike fear for "the great city" Johannesburg. Khumalo's fears of his family are exactly the same as every other black person in South Africa. In the train he is afraid of living in a world not made for him. He opens his bible and starts reading it, this is one of Khumalo's great sources of alleviation. Gertrude is frightened that her life will now be exposed to her brother who is a priest. She is redeemed from this fear when she prays with Stephen. Stephen experiences great pain and fear during his search for Absalom, Msimangu comforts him, he gains comfort when plays with Gertrude's son, when he thinks of Ndotsheni, his wife and of rebuilding his home it consoles him.
Despite living in a depressing world, the young boy seems unaware of the oppressive darkness because he focuses his attention on Mangan’s older sister, unable and unwilling to think about anything else. He obsesses over her, watching and following her to school every morning, unable to think of anything else, eventually making a promise he is incapable of keeping. At the end of the story the young naïve boy has a great, life changing epiphany when he failed in his quest to purchase Mangan’s older sister, the target in his crosshairs of love a gift from the bazaar she was unable to attend; he is not as great as he has foolishly envisioned himself to
Throughout life many are faced with obstacles that are difficult to overcome. These obstacles can change a person and their life as shown in The Samurai’s Garden, by Gail Tsukiyama. In the novel Matsu and Sachi go through life on a difficult path before finding happiness. When looking at Matsu’s and Sachi’s gardens, one can see that they are a representation of their lives, which is important because the gardens represent their personalities and struggles in their lives.
When Stephen contracts tuberculosis and is sent to Tarumi to recuperate, he loses his carefree childhood and falls into isolation. Upon arriving in Tarumi, he says, “This early autumn there didn’t seem to be anyone else here, just me, Matsu, and a complete white silence…I was exhausted by the time Matsu stopped in front one of the many bamboo fenced houses and cleared his throat to get my attention. My lungs were burning and my legs were weak” (9). A result of his tuberculosis, Stephen is physically weak, as shown by how his “lungs were burning” and his “legs were weak”. This is further developed by how “exhausted” he feels after the walk to the house. .A lack of other people is revealed by Stephen commenting “didn’t seem to be anyone else here, just me, Matsu”. This sheltered feeling is expanded even more by the “complete white silence” hanging the air. Stephen feels very secluded because the quiet calmness of the village is a harsh contrast to the bustling city life he is used to. In this quote, it is clear that diseas...
It deals with obstacles in life and the ways they are over come. Even if you are different, there are ways for everyone to fit in. The injustices in this book are well written to inform a large audience at many age levels. The book is also a great choice for those people who cheers for the underdogs. It served to illustrate how the simple things in life can mean everything.
When you are born people are there to take care of you, love you, and guide you through life. As you grow up and life changes, you must take charge of your own life and not become so dependent on others. Throughout the course of life a person will encounter many changes, whether good or bad. In 'A&P';, 'The Secret Lion';, and 'A Rose for Emily';, the main characters in the stories are Sammy, the boys, and Miss Emily who face changes during their lives. All of these characters are in need of change. Because of their need for change, their lives will become much better. They are filled with wonder and awe about the world around them. No matter what type of person, everyone will encounter changes. It is part of the natural process. A person is encouraged to make these changes for the good. Sammy, the boys, and Miss Emily all encounter changes in their lives that fulfill their need to become something different.
The storm is the main metaphor in this story; it is seen as the lust that stomps through their lives like the storm rages through a single d...
...way that the story is being interpreted and how the storm influences the story as a whole. Sometimes people need a wakeup call or a 'storm' to make them aware of how good they have things. In this short story Alcee and Calixta both come to realization of how good they have things with their spouses and how that they already found the ones that they love, which weren't each other. This made me aware of how we as people can take things for granted or believing we know what’s best for us. In reality we don't always know what’s best until something occurs and shows us that what we already have is the best.
Even as a young boy, Stephen experienced rejection and isolation at school. On the playground Stephen "felt his body [too] small and weak amid the [other] players" (Joyce 8). His schoolmates even poked fun at his name. In response to his rejection by the other boys Stephen makes a conscious decision to "[keep] on the fringe of his line, out of sight of his prefect" and the other boys. Stephen is later depicted as choosing the "warm study hall" rather than the playground with his friends outside (Joyce 10). His rejection at school leads him to isolate himself in his schoolwork, thus putting himself on a scholarly path that will give him the intellectual skills necessary for the artist within him to achieve adulthood.
As Stephen grows, he slowly but inexorably distances himself from religion. His life becomes one concerned with pleasing his friends and family. However, as he matures he begins to feel lost and hopeless, stating, "He saw clearly too his own futile isolation. He had not gone one step nearer the lives he had sought to approach nor bridged the restless shame and rancor that divided him from mother and brother and sister." It is this very sense of isolation and loneliness that leads to Stephen's encounter with the prostitute, where, "He wanted to sin with another of his kind, to force another being to sin with him and to exult with her in sin.
Stephen's Journey to Maturation in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce