10/28 Readings - Raian

 The Flying Tobita Sisters was a pretty interesting read, seeing how she ties together history and the fantastical with all humans growing wings. I like how she portrays how humans start to rediscover bipedal movement after growing so accustomed to flying. It was so interesting to see how something as common and factual like walking becomes spectacularized, and even divisive. 

I Chase the Monkey and the Monkey Flees from Me, The Monkey Chases Me and I Flee from the Monkey was a confusing read at first. The monkey’s identity remains unresolved by the end of the story, and is never actually separated from the main character. It was also quite unsettling, as I began to see how the monkey and the narrator’s joining symbolized trauma resulting from sexual violence.

Mogera Wogura was an engaging read for me, and it’s particularly interesting that we have yet another non-human main character who lives in human society. It was pretty depressing at the same time however, especially when thinking that the humans who wind up falling down perhaps did so in an attempt to take their own lives. It’s interesting to see how the main character and his wife help some of those humans recuperate and climb back up, however some still die. Perhaps the light that comes back in the faces of the humans once another one dies represents an appreciation for living. I’m interested to see what others think.

Paprika Jiro was a confusing story as well, but interesting in how the attackers are portrayed. They’re these movie-star like creatures that seem to exist because of an audience’s reaction, and their roles are inseparable from them. I find the messaging to be kind of similar to stories like The Little Woods in Fukushima in that it portrays the acceptance of tragedy as normalcy in a negative light. 

My Baby was a unique, yet sad read to me. The mother’s fears combined with the father’s skepticism, which results in the baby dying, was pretty heartbreaking. Maybe the mother’s protectiveness wouldn’t have amounted to much even without the father’s skepticism, but even that adds to the tragedy and irreversibility of the baby’s death.

A Peddler of Tears was a really unsettling story as well. Just the idea of a person’s tears, a tangible manifestation of someone’s emotions, being commodified is just awful. In the beginning, I felt like her rejection of the business man and insistence on supporting herself demonstrated a sense of freedom and independence, however it devolves into this literally self-destructive reduction of her identity to just what she could provide for a man.