Kaya - 9/9 readings

I really enjoyed the readings this week, I think they all meshed really well together and were thoughtful in terms of femininity and the sacrifices or stereotypes around being a woman, mostly through women narrators. I felt like these themes were especially clear in Smartening Up as the main character struggles with meeting Westernized beauty standards (being blonde, being hairless), and has also been abandoned by her husband, just like her aunt. I loved that it connected back to Dōjōji, and instead of framing Kiyohime in the crazy obsessive woman stereotype, it focuses on the beauty of her femininity through dance. 

The Ice Man and The Straw Husband felt very very similar to be and both seemed to be talking about toxic relationships. In The Ice Man, the main character seems to be in a very self sacrificing position as even her dreams and desires end up being used by the Ice Man. Although the Ice Man is able to see everything about her past, it was almost like he didn't really acknowledge any of it, including the pain that he was causing her. The line about him licking her frozen tears felt like it was about how he was pretending to care while taking advantage of her kindness. Similarly in The Straw Husband, the main character is forced to literally pick up the pieces of her broken husband and fill up his confidence in her/their relationship, but he doesn't really seem to make the same effort. Having a straw man also just made me think of The Wizard of Oz where he has no heart, and that was kinda funny. The focus in both stories on how the women's families/friends were uncomfortable with their marriages was interesting, and at first I had thought it was about making assumptions about people who are different, but now I wonder if it's more about listening to the people around you when they see you're in a toxic relationship. 

However, overall I would definitely say that my favorite story was Silently Burning. I loved the way it pulled from The Greengrocer's Daughter but also had its own sense of mystery surrounding the main character and the power of Oshichi's grave. The main character of Silently Burning seems to have trouble as a calligrapher because of how she is constantly underestimated because of her gender and age. In thinking about how this might connect to Oshichi in The Greengrocer's Daughter, I felt like both characters were underestimated by their surroundings in someway, the calligrapher in skill and Oshichi in the lengths that she would go for love. Thus the ending of Silently Burning states this connection between them, as despite their surroundings they persevere for their passion.