In Erika Kobayashi's short stories, I feel like all of them are interconnected, with the guy from His Last Bow being the father of the narrator in Sunrise. This makes me wonder if somehow Coco's Century and His Last Bow are somehow connected. The time aspect within all these stories was interesting, and it was especially intriguing how modern pop culture references were used as comparison markers (lifespan of book series of Sherlock Holmes used as a marker in the timeline when the narrator was describing what was going on). All of these characters' lives have been impacted by war or nuclear energy in some way, as they have all lost loved ones or people they knew. Additionally, all those people had some kind of correlation or felt some kind of major impact regarding war or nuclear energy.
Abandoning a Cat: I wonder if the cat represents the father being forced to give up his life and career for this war (or at least his life plan was disrupted heavily by the war). In the beginning, the cat climbed up a tree with no way down, and in the morning vanished. The cat's experience kind of represents the narrator's father's experience in the sense that they were both trapped by their situations. The quote "going down is much harder than going up" kind of resonated with me especially because both the father and the cat had no easy way to avoid/get out of their circumstance. I found it sad how the father had his whole life disrupted for an administrative mistake.
I love Aoko Matsuda, she is my favorite writer. Love Isn't Easy when you're a National Anthem is another great short story where the narrator is the national anthem of Japan. I really enjoyed this story, and its messages. My interpretation was that national anthem, which is symbolic of pride or general actions for one's country, is not celebrated by those who do not support Japan's actions regarding the wars. The soldiers and the student who do not celebrate the anthem are showcasing their silent rebellion and conflict with what their military is doing under the name of Japanese flag. This peace or anti-war sentiment is something that really puts it all into perspective, and I appreciate this albeit short yet engaging story from Matsuda.
In Tokyo Ueno Station, I felt really bad for the main character and all the tragedies he had to face. I found it surprising that he was a ghost and wonder what implications that could have on the story (maybe this fact is used to highlight the lingering resentments/struggle of people in similar situations as the same character, and used to emphasize the unfairness of such circumstances). This was an interesting story not only because it discusses class (perspective of working laborers like Kazu and his struggles versus the extravagant emperor who kicked out homeless people from the area when he visited) but also because it included another perspective on the Fukushima (compared to The Little Woods in Fukushima). There seems to be a great financial impact on both narrators, and both experience some kind of significant change in living.
Finally, while reading the first 2 stories, I realized that almost all of them were told from the perspective of other people, or namely their descendants/children. This is interesting, and really puts everything into perspective on how their elders' or predecessors' actions/lives impacted their own, especially in wartime context. I feel like this way of storytelling serves as a great tool for these authors to pursue heavy topics such as the effects of wartime. I interpret this as a way to highlight how so many people's voices are lost to history and war, and having the descendants, or the people who are left, survive them is really impactful. Although told from the perspective of the aggrieved, in Tokyo Ueno Station, there is still something unique about the perspective in the case that the narrator is a ghost.
No comments:
Post a Comment