Journal 18 - Work and Hope

An epigraph is something written at the beginning of a story, usually to suggest its theme. Just by looking at this epigraph, I would like to say that it's pretty deep in meaning. It is trying to say that unless you work with hope, you would have a hard time succeeding. Hope is very important because if you have no hope than you don't have the will to do something or to go on. Rukmani, the main character of the book Nectar in a Sieve, would not be able to live without hope. She was the youngest daughter of the headman of the village but her father did not have enough money for her because there was a collector. As a result, she was married to a poor tenant farmer. She was so sad and she was sick but she kept hope in her husband. She started working, such as planting plants and she was pleased to hear that her husband built the mud home himself for her. This work gave her hope and there is an increasing amount of love between them. I believe what the epigraph essentially means is that hope should be put in objects and that work is necessary for hope. I think that this also applies to my life. This is because when I am at school, I put hope in my work or my tests. Work is necessary meaning that I have to actually learn and work for me to hope for a good grade. Therefore, I agree to the epigraph that Nectar in a Sieve portrayed.

Journal 17 - Doing the Right Thing

Most people have an idea of a right and a wrong. These do not have to be written as a law to be one of the principles of life. The most common people I think is the "live-with-some-morals" people are common. They won't kill or steal anything by consent. They also have some ways to go around their little rules. They wouldn't kill or steal but let's just say they saw a hundred dollar bill on the road. Most of them would just take it, especially if no one is around. It's possible that it doesn't even need to be a hundred dollar bill. Some people might even take a dime because it might be useful sometime. These people, I think are the most common people in the world. People are not criminals but are capable of becoming criminals if they are alone or if no one is watching them. If no one finds out or if only a small group of people knows, then that person could be a criminal just fine. I am mostly a simple guy. I don't like to do bad things. I don't steal or things like that but I would take an opportunity that would come to me if it is not going to harm people. If it is going to make some people sad, I wouldn't do it. If I found someone's hundred dollar bill on the road, I would not take it. I would try to find the person back. On the other hand, if someone gave me the test questions and I could use it to help myself study instead of harming someone, I would do it. I would do it in a way that would not harm myself. That is what I believe in. Some rules that I think should be in life are no killing, no stealing or no using recreational drugs. I just find horror and disgust in killing. Stealing I think, as in picking up something someone has lost if fine, not for me but for the general people, because the person should've been more careful with their items. Stealing by going into a person's house and taking their stuff would not be fine. Recreational drugs are just a no.

Journal 16 - Survival Choices

A thematic topic that appears in both Akutagawa's "Rashomon" and at the end of Kurosawa's film adaptation of "In a Grove" (for some reason title "Rashomon") is that of the conflict between survival and ethics. In these, as well as many other literary works (as well as in real life), individuals are forced to choose between doing what they know is right and dying. Describe how this struggle plays out in the text version of "Rashomon" and then compare it to the situation in the film version. Then describe situation in which you had to make a difficult decisions between what you knew to be right and what you were otherwise pressured to do (hopefully not under threat of death). What about in the world-at-large? Have you ever heard of a real-life situation in which someone had to choose between good and evil in order to survive? Describe the situation.

 In the text version of Rashōmon, the servant of the samurai was the protagonist. The samurai needed him no more and sent him away. Now that he had nothing to do or nowhere to go to, he approaches the gate of Rashōmon. in the Rashōmon, he chooses between survival and ethics. In the book version, the servant chose survival, basically abandoning his moral values. In the film version, the man chose survival over ethics or kindness. This was a bit very surprising because it combined two stories into one movie. I also did not expect that he would take things away from a child because the parents abandoned him. It showed that he has no ethics and that he is just for survival. The similarity in the book and the film are that both the men would do anything for survival. The different is in that the film's child is innocent and the woman plucking hair out might not be too innocent. I also had a difficult decision. It was in middle school. I didn't do my homework and I didn't study for any vocab. When I had a quiz that day in class, I am struggling so much, hoping not to die. When I looked beside me, there was Michael. Oh how his answers looked so beautiful. However, I have my ethics and said that it was too wrong to do this. But at last, I was young and it was too tempting. I copied my answers and I got caught. I guess I was really happy that I got caught. This way, I would remember to do work I'm supposed to do. The next time, I am pretty sure I am going to choose good instead of evil.

Journal 15 - Truth

In Akutagawa's stories, the truth is hidden until the end or is not even exposed at all. It can be impossible to find the absolute truth in some cases such as In a Grove. When the stories of all the people are contradictory, there is no absolute truth. However, there is still some truth in the stories of In a Grove. They are that the man died and that the woman did "it" with Tajomaru, although we do not know if it is with consent. The author might have told the story in this way so that the readers question what the real truth is. Is the real truth your perception or what comes into your senses? In the real world, it is possible to know the "real" truth. Although it can be very hard, it is possible. Let's just say you play the whisper game. What started out in the beginning and what ended is usually not the same. Different versions of what the people heard are present. The truth was twisted from one person to another until it comes out as one new and ridiculous thing. The "real" truth here could be noticed when you go back to the first person who told it. This happened to me with my game once. There were several news on the internet that the game I like is ending in the near future. When I visited this article, it showed evidence on to another article. On and on, I got to the final evidence, which was the official post from the creators themselves. The article here talked about the endgame, which is like the final stage you could achieve in the game. They were talking about how 13 levels is too little for a game with a big hit. This truth here was twisted so smoothly that it shocked so many fans across the world. I might have believed in two truths before. This is because of the hindsight bias that this happens. It seems like I already know that fact before so I agree to it. Moments later, I agree to another fact which is contradicting to the previous fact. There might be alternative facts depending on who what when where or why the fact was written. The less bias there is, the closer it is to the truth. Two contradictory things can be both true at the same time when one takes one part of the truth and the other takes the other part. If someone expanded on that, he or she could eventually end up with two contradicting facts. Therefore, the truth for me is not my perception but the actual thing that went on, without any bias or twist on the facts.

Journal 14 - In A Grove, Text v Film

In a Grove, the film and the book, both were similar and different to each other. When I started to watch the film, I was disappointed because I was expecting colors and all fancy props from reading the book. Well, honestly, I should have expected that because it was a fairly old film. I also didn't expect it to be as dramatic or as crazy as it is. The book was awesome, keeping its mysterious and sad tone throughout the story. The movie, not so much. A lot of the things were the same story-wise. It was following the patterns of In a Grove as well as the main points such as the main characters. What was strange was that some of the minor characters such as the woman's mother were cut out of the movie. They are also different in telling the "truth" of the story. The book was mysterious and sort of a cliffhanger while the movie was not. It combined Rashōmon and I did not expect it. The woman in the movie looked more creepy than sexy and this is kind of a problem for all of us as we reacted more to the woman's eyebrows than the story itself. The film director also put in a woman, a medium in which the dead samurai spoke from and it was more dramatic than needed. Akira Kurosawa decided to take out the minor characters out from the film and put in the truth because it was an old movie meaning that they might not have enough actors or that the people who watch it might be confused if it ended with the samurai. This might not be the ideal purpose of the films during this time period. Honestly, I liked the book better because you can imagine it freely and also because I don't like too much drama or the woman's eyebrows.

Journal 13 - The Meiji Era Summary

The Meiji Era was a change in intellect for the better. Many new ideas such as realism, first-person novel styles, the reformation of past ideas, and the discussion of politics came out. Writers who wrote about realism became a lot more popular. During the late 1800s, a new form of writing called the "I" novel developed and it focuses on the first-person style. There was a chain of movements from Romanticism to Naturalism to Humanism and neo-realism. Past ideas were rewritten and renewed by the new writers. New writers also started to write about harsh lives of people as well as the literature that opposed war.

Journal 12 - Rashomon and other stories

The story I read during my winter break is Yam Gruel. It's about an old samurai, named Goi, who is very spiritless. People would tease him, say bad things about him and also do practical jokes on him.  Goi would barely respond and the response would also be as sad and spiritless as he is. However, there is one thing he wanted in life, to satisfy himself with yam gruel. He only gets a tiny amount every year at a banquet. This year, he asked for more yam gruel and was joked on. However, Goi got a offer from Toshihito, the son of the finance minister to satisfy himself with yam gruel. He traveled with Toshihito to Tsuruga, where he was treated with yam gruel. After his wish was satisfied, he returned to the spiritless old man he is. The setting is in Japan and in old times. The main characters are just those pointed out above. There is also a fox, which could be one of the main characters as it delivers the message of Toshihito to Tsuruga. The author was trying to say things like, "Don't crave for something or you might get too much of it" and "it is hard to satisfy man." It was a good and informative story but the way it is written is confusing.