Final Paper I

    When authors in our texts write traditionally, I want to look at why they would do that and, in what texts of our reading we see this in. In my second finals paper, I looked more at traditional authors, but it's interesting to see how modern authors have incorporated traditional aspects into their modern pieces. For example, in order to better understand what I would be trying to analyze in modern texts, I thought about if I were a modern author (well, I'm modern, not an author though…) why I would personally decide to write using traditional elements. An example I came to would be trying to describe how to work something (like a new fangled telephone) by describing older models. Perhaps because I live in a society where everything is here and now, I can't easily come up with an example in my own life that pertains to why a modern Japanese author would use traditional elements in their own works. However, I know that in Japanese society, tradition is still heavily valued, so it makes sense that we see tradition in modern works – a sort of way to taking the authors and the readers out of the current world with all its chaotic change and placing them back in a time that is still recognized and stable.

    The first author in our text that isn't exactly modern by today's date does show a modernity to the values of today. Higuchi Ichiyo's "A Snowy Day" was written in 1893, and the traditional values that we see here are tied with marriage and relationships. To write "A Snowy Day," even though there is no year stamp on when the setting is, there is a sort of sadness in the tradition of marriage. Tama's aunt wants her to stay away from her teacher, even though they are just friends and aren't thinking about taking it beyond that level. Because of Tama's aunt and the tradition, she ultimately marries him because what else could she do. Tradition stated that was what should occur, and if it didn't then that would be causing (it was) chaos in their little village. Not marrying him would have made her stand apart from the rest of the village girls, and even if she has to be lonely and marry him in the end because she doesn't love him, which we see in her reflection on her happiness in relationship to the snow falling, she must marry him so she doesn't seem different. In stories where the modern authors write about tradition, and traditional values, it provides us here today in the modern world something to cling onto in our past. I'm sure the fact that I can't personally come up with a story about my family traditions means that I am so deeply embedded into them, that the only time I'll ever realize it's a tradition is when I accidently break it – something that'll separate me as a person from others.

    In my society today, children are encouraged to stand out from their peers and be different, but in Japanese society, things are different. It's okay to go along with the crowd in Japan. In "The Dancing Girl," by Mori Ogai, we see a physician that leaves Japan for Germany. He says, "Once a person grasped the spirit of the law, I grandly said, everything would solve itself." In reflection to the overall theme of the piece, we could easily substitute the word law, with the word tradition. The narrator tries to be independent, but the department he works for try to change that. He's not allowed to be different, and when he goes ahead and continues to try and remain different, he is punished when upper management hear that he is seeking company from a dancing girl. We also see Elise, because her family doesn't have enough money to pay for the funeral of her father (a thing they must have because of traditions evoked), and was beaten when she refused a man's proposal to help gain the funds for a funeral. We see through this story a man that wants to be with his love, but because his friend, Aizawa, says that it is unacceptable if he is to get his fortune restored, that he must abandon her for the sake of tradition. Elise tries to hold him there by saying that even though he has left her, shouldn't her love – their child keep him there? This shows the tradition that Elise holds and hopes to exploit to keep Toyotaro at her side. However, because Aizawa has said to the count that Toyotaro has no attachments in the country, Toyotaro can't go against what his friend has said, because his friend said it so it's not only tradition of what is expected, but also the obligation to his friend that has him leave Elise mad with her mother.

    In "The Dancing Girl," Toyotaro faces obligation as well to his friend as well as keeping with tradition. It's fine at first with his other colleagues that he goes to a dancing girl, even if they don't know of the affair, however, when the rumor twists then he is punished to where he is offered paid travel back to Japan – almost as if taking him away from Germany will fix him and bring his senses back. It's sort of like when you meet the perfect guy and you really, really like him, but then you introduce him to the parents and they don't like him…so you start doubting if he's the one. Now, it could go either way. You could marry him and know that every time you went to their house for holidays, they would heartily disapprove and there'd be snide remarks around the table…but you'd be happy, or you could dump the guy you thought was perfect and keep searching for someone that made the parents happy and hope that you were happy too.

    Modern authors have incorporated tradition into their pieces, because it's something their audience can relate too, even in the future. We're always trying to cross the line to define tradition. How many times have you ever done something so outrageous and when you ask why the heck the group did it (dragging you into it), the answer has always been tradition. I mean, think of all the stupid stuff that people have done in the name of tradition, and then think about whether it's stupid because it's something you personally wouldn't do, or because it's dangerous to the point of killing you? Most times, when people say that a tradition is stupid it's because of the former reason, not the latter. These people that try to step away from tradition for that reason are often looked down upon, but when society is constantly changing, even being able to hold on to this single moments provides some sort of stability for many groups of people. In Japan, where tradition is imbued into everything pretty much, the fact that people spend time doing it provides a steady hold to the society, where even some traditions are more modernized to keep up with the times.