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.
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
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Life is a complicated process. It’s filled with many things that keep it interesting but at the same time, very dull. Life’s what you make it and for many, it’s something we all strive for. In the story, The Space Between, the author takes full advantage of the premise as there’s rarely a dull moment- as in life. The book is filled with many literary devices that work nicely with the plot and dialogue. These include; metaphors, similes, irony, personification, and many more. We follow a young man who is finding his way in the world. He has only a week to change his life for the better. But he will face many obstacles on the way that brings the readers into a startling and fun journey.
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The theme of this book is that the human capacity to adapt to and find happiness in the most difficult circumstances. Each character in the novel shows this in their way. For instance, their family is randomly taken from their home and forced to work but they still remain a close nit family. In addition, they even manage to stick together after being separated for one of their own. These show how even in the darkest time they still manage to find a glimmer of hope and they pursued on.
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...
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.
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
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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.
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.