I found the following stories the most interesting to write about:
Banana Yoshimoto - Tomo-Chan’s Happiness
I found the way Yoshimoto weaves tragedy into “Tomo-Chan’s Happiness” so plainly, without explicitly labelling it as such, enthralling. She expertly inserts tragedies within a flowing story or dialogue, halting the reader and grasping their attention. She, later, explains it through Tomo-chan’s dialogue or experience. In this way, Yoshimoto’s writing tugs at the heartstrings even more than an explicit handling of tragedies would (eg. the mention of Tomo-chan’s mom passing away). Furthermore, oshimoto juxtaposes Tomo-chan’s personality with the personalities of her “perpetrators”. Tomo-chan carries a sense of respect, as shown through her respect of vegetation and food, unlike the man who raped her. In addition, she “had an almost compulsive aversion to taking something that wasn’t rightfully hers.” and never thought or attempted to come between Miwasa and his girlfriend, unlike the secretary’s encroachment on her parents’ relationship. Yoshimoto also subtly hints at the effects of such tragedies on Tomo-chan whilst claiming that Tomo-chan was fine: her unremarkable habits now, her preference to be a homebody. These could point to her reluctance to do something new or explorative since it ended so badly in the past. Her attraction to an older man with a steady girlfriend could imply that she mistrusted younger men because of her past experience. This attraction reminds me of people who suffer traumatic experiences that rewire their brains, causing unusual behaviors. The ending remarks on God and unfortunate experiences is a striking tonal shift from a young woman’s experiences with relationships to a pessimistic, philosophical discussion. The mention of powers that watch over Tomo-chan, which are apparently “not gods” is also very interesting. It could point to spirituality or fate, the human drive to keep living despite tragedy, or even Yoshimoto herself as the author subtly watching over and guiding Tomo-chan’s life.
Realizing Fun Things through Water - Ao Omae
Ao Omae detailing the main character, Hatsuoka’s, inner monologue about the definition of romance as returning one’s kindness, reluctance to romance and its discussion, hesitating about the wedding, and only being able to tell everything to the water and her sister is really interesting to me. This monologue, in addition to her thoughts about being able to tell her sister everything, her mention of her sister between her experiences with Hakozaki, and her messaging her sister everyday makes me think that she is not able to experience romantic love but her true love lies with her sister. She only really likes Hakozaki because he likes her (“I always just liked whoever liked me”) but even when her sister doesn’t reciprocate and leaves she is ready to “stay and wait” and messages her everyday.
Omae’s handling of tragedy reminds me of Yoshimoto’s in the way that Omae and Yoshimoto both plainly insert tragic experiences such as her sister disappearing and Hakozaki’s tumor. Hatsuoka is deeply affected by her sister’s disappearance and, it seems to me that, she replaces her sister with this “water” that she tells everything to, pointing to an unusual rewiring of her brain from trauma. The ending was nice and wholesome in this story, somewhat contrasting Yoshimoto’s conclusion of “Tomo-chan’s Happiness”.
Seahorse - Hiromi Kawakami
This story confused and interested me. I eventually came to think that the sea was a metaphor for a woman’s freedom and as she passes through abusive or controlling relationships, she misses the freedom she had before. As she has kids and gets deeper into these relationships, it becomes normalized to her and she doesn’t remember the sea/freedom as much. This is implied by lines such as “Having children made it that way. I no longer weep for my beloved ocean. The children being nameless (other than their human names) make me think that the woman doesn’t actually care for them other than as trapping her in these controlling relationships, away from her freedom. Terminology such as “handed over to him” also implies this metaphor of freedom and controlling relationships.
Nikhil Khemani
No comments:
Post a Comment