The sources’ I chose were ‘The Tale of Genji’: The work of a brilliant widow 1,000 years ago’ and ‘Japanese Literature’. In ‘The Tale of Genji’: The work of a brilliant widow 1,000 years ago’ the theme of the article is of ‘The tale of Genji’ and different perspectives through english translation. The original Tale of Genji was written almost 1,000 years ago by a widow in her 30s named Murasaki Shikibu. The ‘Tale of Genji’ is about a lady killer named Lady Murasaki she explores the concept of erotic transference. This is when you have the tendency to fall for people who resemble a lost loved one. In this case Genji is searching for a replacement for his mother. He finds a ten year old girl that resembles his mother. He abducts her and shapes
The Rape of Nanking is an important work of historical non-fiction written by Iris Chang. Although it is clear that she is passionate about the subject, Chang gives a balanced account. She does not condemn the entire Japanese people for what occurred but does take issue with modern-day Japan’s effort–with the exception of a few brave individuals–to deny or cover up the truth. This book was instrumental in bringing greater attention in the Western world to Japanese
As the narrative shifts to memories of a young child, the accounts of the Japanese culture are more vividly detailed. The narrator can recollect the very specific details of her life; for example, she can remember how she was wearing “a wine-colored dirndl skirt with straps that criss cross at the back” during this one specific account. Throughout this journey, the narrator is surrounded by complete strangers; however, their fates are all the same, as “not [one] on this journey returns home again.” Despite such a depressing time period in the lives of many of the Japanese, the Japanese mannerism of respect still remains, as the narrator refers to strangers as “ojisan” or “obasan”. This honorary title for even strangers shows the respect that the Japanese have for one another and even the pride they still withhold for their culture, even in a time of
Heroes may not be around forever, but their actions are never truly forgotten. The story of Sundiata is an ancient tale about a powerful African king with unpretentious beginnings. Even though the story is half fact and half fiction, it’s centered on incidents that occurred a long time ago, the epic story of Sundiata’s journey demonstrated different attributes of African culture and reminded myself of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The story itself was full of vivid, traditional legends, clever teachings and sayings, and an epic conquest to save the kingdom of Mali from the clutch of an oppressive ruler. This epic delivered an informative narrative with its actual intention is to represent African historic individual, Sundiata.
An archetypal hero appears in all forms of literature, mostly known for its presence in religions and mythologies, but the hero itself is an expression of our “personal and collective unconscious” (Campbell’s A Hero With a Thousand Faces). In the novel, The Girl With a Pearl Earring, the main character, Griet, is arguably an archetypal hero due to her actions and character. The novel portrays a realistic fiction genre–taking place in the 16th century–about a maid named Griet, who has to support her family by making a stable income. As she serves a painter and his family, Griet has to mature early, learn the hardships of being a maid, and deal with the multiple conflicts she must face if her family will ever survive. Yet as Griet recognizes
The wife’s story portrays her as a woman overcome by her emotions. She tells a story of mostly her crying on the ground out of shame and shock and fear. She claims to not know who killed her husband, but states she was mortified to find her dagger in her husband’s chest. After her testimony the Samurai, who is dead, testifies through a medium. The credibility of the medium is never taken into question showing that the credibility of the medium is about on par with the other two testimonies.
In May 1992, Anna Deavere Smith was commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles to create this one-woman performance that reflected the recent civil unrest (Smith, “Guide to Twilight” 4). According to the African American Review, “Anna Deavere Smith’s documentary theater helped earn for her a MacArthur Foundation genius award, an award that later followed on the heels of her winning an Obie Award and a Pulitzer Prize runner up in 1992 for Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities” (Brown-Guillory 372). Her work remains influential in American theater where “Twilight enlarges and redefines American theater experience in this unique first person portrait of the Los Angeles Riots of 1992” (Brown Guillory 372).
The grandmother tells him also about the Grand High Witch which is the most evil and most feared among all the witches. When they go on a holiday in Bournemouth hotel in English coast, the boy encounters the members of the Royalty Society for Prevention of Cruelty of Children while he was playing with his mice. His attention was caught when a woman suddenly appeared on the platform. The boy admired at the woman’s beauty
The author’s intent in “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” is to show how something, in this case a dead man, can transform people’s lives simply by being. The people of the village have no idea who this man is, where he came from, or what he did in his life, but based on his appearance and size, begin to fantasize and create their own idea of who he was. From their idea of who he was, they change the entire village to make it something that represents the man. Once the villagers find the man, they begin cleaning him up, making him clothes, and preparing for his funeral. During this time the woman fantasize about how his life must have been being so large.
She fakes her death for the betterment of her family. Lastly, the beauty of her sister makes her an ugly person. The main character, "Lusus Naturae," goes into hiding after contracting a terrible unknown disease that transforms
To disciplined? The story shows what happens when a special person comes into our life and how the person’s present and future is changed. The story is more concentrated on Shinji’s’s and Hatsue’s’s love life. How they fell in love and later what were the consequences they had to face, how over serene Shinji’s’s life was before he fell in love with Hatsue’s and then it became unpleasant and in the end how they got each other.
Beauty and the Beast is a fairy tale that have many motifs similar to others. For example, in terms of plot, one, begin the story with the difficulties that the protagonist has to face. He or she has to be nice and patient. Like Beauty, she is a good girl who sacrifices herself to go to live with the Beast instead of her father; as a result, she saved her father’s life. Two, the end of story usually ends with marriage and a happy ending.
This is a contradictory character with many complicated personalities: covers by meekness, frailty, some time seems tearful but in the key moments she completely proves herself by the strength, independence and wiseness. She is pushed in a prank of destiny, it is deft and gentle weaves her life as she weave garment then all the threats is lead to by this gentleness. Her hellish life starts since all uninvited suitors come and ask for marriage, she is in a very dangerous situation.
Solving the mystery of the circumstances of the samurai 's death requires the ability to command and piece together multiple narratives. Despite one point of view being more factual than the others, all perspectives build upon each other to great a greater picture. The individual parts work together to weave a larger view of the events. Each perspective is important, and help connect the pieces of the puzzle in order to create a clearer understanding. Differing perspectives, while sometimes difficult to relate to each other, are beneficial in finding the
What happened to me was a great confirmation of the feeling I had and work I had myself done before I got there.” If we carefully search for those traces left by Japanese culture in his works, we can
The role of women in literature crosses many broad spectrums in works of the past and present. Women are often portrayed as weak and feeble individuals that submit to the situations around them, but in many cases women are shown to be strong, independent individuals. This is a common theme that has appeared many times in literature. Across all literature, there is a common element that causes the suffering and pain of women. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man.