Would really appreciate it if someone would read this over and tell me how bad it is haha. Honestly though, I'd appreciate any help, even if it's just proofreading. Thank you so much.
Prompt: Discuss Oe's notion of "freedom inside incarceration" in A Personal Matter, "Prize Stock", and Nip the Buds, Gun the Kids.
Light Within the Darkness, Freedom Inside Imprisonment
Oe Kenzaburo, possibly the greatest Japanese novelist of all time, uses his immense knowledge of literature history and his extremely imaginative and captivating use of imagery to convey to his readers a sense of change; a new age in Japanese writing was starting. Unlike traditional Japanese authors of the past, Oe Kenzaburo was considered a a modern-revolutionary; his novels used language as a direct "assault on tradition," which was unheard of in Japan at that time. Three of his most famous works, "A Personal Matter," "Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids," and "Prize Stock" showcase his immense talent and use the notion of "freedom inside incarceration" to convey to his readers a sense of meaning in his works.
"A Personal Matter," is a prime example of such a notion. It is the twisted tale of a father who struggles with his inner demons and comes out a better person for it. Bird, the protagonist of the novel, as his name suggests, does not handle responsibility well. He "flies" away from all forms of responsible. At the beginning of the novel, his child is born deformed with a case of "brain hernia." The father realizes the responsibility it would take to raise a child such as his, and convinces a couple of the nurses to switch out milk for a sugar-water substitute, trying to kill his baby. Without the correct nutrients, the baby would die of malnutrition. This would be only the beginning.
Bird's incarceration isn't literal like in "Nip the Buds, Shoots the Kids" and "Prize Stock," but metaphorical. It is a collective of many factors. The first factor was his newborn son. The baby or "the goods" as one of the doctors put it, was born with part of his brain sticking out of his skull. The existence of this child threatened Bird's livelihood. To try and keep this hindrance alive would suck up every last bit of savings he had for his trip to Africa. He goes so far as to have an abortionist hired to murder his child. Secondly, although not as noticeable as the first factor, is his immense disdain for his wife, especially regarding sex. "Bird had pinned his hopes for a revolution in their sex life on the birth of the child and what would follow..." (134) He explains the shame he and his wife feel when making love and that he hates it. Finally he loathes his job. He can not stand working as a cram-school teacher. He loathes the mundane tasks, the reputation, and seems to generally not care about his job in the slightest. These factors are his incarceration. He is a prisoner of himself and his choices.
The "freedom inside incarceration" that exists in "A Personal Matter" lies in alcohol and Himiko, his mistress. After he finds out about the baby, he runs away. He runs to the only person he can think of that would be willing to be completely smashed during the day and that is Himiko. A complicated relationship exists between the two, as he had raped her when she was a virgin while intoxicated, and she became frigid because of it. He spends more and more time with Himiko and under the influence of alcohol, trying to run from his problems. "Even if you intend to have the most disgusting kind of sex with me, I'm sure I'll discover something genuine in no matter what we do," says Himiko the day when Bird visits his son in the incubator for the first time. Genuine was something that did not exist in his imprisoned world. The baby was not genuine, it was a freak that he felt had to die, his marriage was a sham physically and mentally, and he had just been fired from his job. The only thing genuine and free in his life was his affair with Himiko and the hope that after the death of his son, he would be able to start anew.
"Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids," although an extremely different setting than "A Personal Matter," visibly conveys the notion better than the latter does. The novel follows a group of fifteen adolescents, considered the vile scum of 1940s war-ridden Japanese society: thieves, homosexuals, and all around bad seeds. They considered themselves isolated and alone from the rest of the world. The narrator was living part of an "observed existence, the status of a caged beast." (23) He lived trapped within the confines of society. These kids, part of a reformatory group, are sent to live in a small rural village. It just so happens that this village is extremely isolated, the only way to access the village is down a trolley, which makes for the perfect setting of this novella. Hoping for the best, the kids are sadly met with nothing but hostility from the villagers and extremely poor living conditions. This is highlighted by their task to completely bury a large pile of dead animal caucuses, mostly with the flesh rotting and falling off the bone. They realize something is amiss in the village and soon after their arrival, plague creeps up on the village. Afraid, the villagers leave the children behind to fend for themselves against the silent death that they believed awaited them.
The children at first felt anger, realizing that not only were they abandoned, but were being guarded and monitored for effects of plague. This feeling of anger soon turned into a realization of freedom. They were like zealous birds that had finally been released from their caged home only to find out that the cage was part of a larger cage. Free, yet completely isolated from the outside world and they welcomed it with open arms. The notion of "freedom within incarceration," is supplemented within the exchange between the unnamed narrator and the defected soldier. "'We're still not free, you and I,' the soldier said. 'We're cut off.' ''Don't think about what's outside the village, don't say that,' I said angrily.' 'We can do anything in this village. Don't speak about them outside.'" The narrator looks at the village as a haven for not only himself, but from society. Furthermore, the narrator experiences love, something that he was not allowed to experience on the outside world. The narrator was experiencing happiness, something society felt was not for delinquents like him. "I was almost mad with the pride and joy that welled up inside me. Unknown to anyone, I had a sweet and marvelous lover." This was the passion of his youth; he was a new person, experiencing new emotions, which completely differed to how he had been treated on the outside world. They had been mocked, ridiculed, tortured, beaten and starved on the outside world. Finally the group of delinquents was free from the tyrannous grasp of society.
"Prize Stock," Oe's first short story is a realistic look at the life of a small rural village that has just captured a Black P.O.W. during World War II. The story begins with the capture of the P.O.W. and the reluctance of the patrol to do anything about him. The villagers decide to keep him locked up in town until the prefecture police or the army can do something with him. The villagers lock him up, trapped within the fierce jaws of a bear trap, guarded by the narrator's father. Never seeing a black person before, the children do not consider him human, but more animal-like. The narrator is given the important task of bringing the prisoner food. He soon realizes that the prisoner is harmless and begins to take the prisoner out of his cell for walks, naps, and play. During these happy times, the narrator describes an experience that the children share with the black soldier at the river. "How can I describe how much we loved him, or the blazing sun above our wet, heavy skin that distant, splendid summer afternoon, the deep shadows on the cobblestones, the smell of the children and the black solider, the voices hoarse with happiness, how can I convey the repletion and rhythm of it all?"(153) Although their country was being ravished by war and this man who stood naked with them at the river was a prisoner, nothing could ruin this perfect freedom and harmony that they experienced that day. The freedom experienced through interaction with the black prisoner, was not only freedom for the children from daily life and the worries of war, but for the prisoner, it was freedom from the shackles of his home in the village.
All three of these stories have one main thing in common; the sense of freedom that the characters feel comes crashing down instantaneously. In "Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids," the sudden return of the villagers ruins the children's haven. The villagers return after five days angry that the kids had broken into their homes, ate their food, but more so that they had lived through the ordeal. The novel ends with the protagonist "escaping" the village, chased by villagers, to find nothing but an unknown world, with no friends, no family, he is lost. In "A Personal Matter," Bird's freedom from responsibility ends when he realizes that all he has been doing in life was running away. He conveys his feelings wholeheartedly when he says, "If I want to confront this monster honestly instead of running away from it, I have only two alternatives: I can strangle the baby to death with my own hands or I can accept him and bring him up. I've understood that from the beginning but I haven't had the courage to accept it" (162) Bird was able to shed his nickname and finally take responsibility for his actions instead of running from them. In "Prize Stock," the realization of the soldier's true nature and his death ended the notion of this freedom. The prisoner had turned from a friendly puppy-dog to a fierce wolf, when a misunderstanding leads him to take the narrator hostage. "I was a prisoner, and a hostage. The black soldier had transformed into the enemy, and my side was clamoring beyond the trap door. Anger, and humiliation, and the irritating sadness of betrayal raced through my body like flames, scorching me."
Understanding the notion of "freedom inside incarceration" in the three works is the first step to understanding Oe Kenzaburu as an author. "A Personal Matter" uses a father's unwillingness to accept responsibility to convey that freedom exists within the confines of the human mind, when all else is bleak. "Nip the Buds, Shoot the kids" uses stark realism and extreme circumstances to show that when everything is dark in the world, there is some light. In this case, the darkness is the village surroundings, and the light being the plague, which allowed to to have five days of absolute freedom. Finally, in "Prize Stock," Oe shows that a sense freedom can be achieved despite barriers, although short-lived. The soldier had freed the children from their daily lives, and the children had freed the soldier from his prison. The fact that this notion appears in all three works shows how important a theme it is in Oe's novels.
Prompt: Discuss Oe's notion of "freedom inside incarceration" in A Personal Matter, "Prize Stock", and Nip the Buds, Gun the Kids.
Light Within the Darkness, Freedom Inside Imprisonment
Oe Kenzaburo, possibly the greatest Japanese novelist of all time, uses his immense knowledge of literature history and his extremely imaginative and captivating use of imagery to convey to his readers a sense of change; a new age in Japanese writing was starting. Unlike traditional Japanese authors of the past, Oe Kenzaburo was considered a a modern-revolutionary; his novels used language as a direct "assault on tradition," which was unheard of in Japan at that time. Three of his most famous works, "A Personal Matter," "Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids," and "Prize Stock" showcase his immense talent and use the notion of "freedom inside incarceration" to convey to his readers a sense of meaning in his works.
"A Personal Matter," is a prime example of such a notion. It is the twisted tale of a father who struggles with his inner demons and comes out a better person for it. Bird, the protagonist of the novel, as his name suggests, does not handle responsibility well. He "flies" away from all forms of responsible. At the beginning of the novel, his child is born deformed with a case of "brain hernia." The father realizes the responsibility it would take to raise a child such as his, and convinces a couple of the nurses to switch out milk for a sugar-water substitute, trying to kill his baby. Without the correct nutrients, the baby would die of malnutrition. This would be only the beginning.
Bird's incarceration isn't literal like in "Nip the Buds, Shoots the Kids" and "Prize Stock," but metaphorical. It is a collective of many factors. The first factor was his newborn son. The baby or "the goods" as one of the doctors put it, was born with part of his brain sticking out of his skull. The existence of this child threatened Bird's livelihood. To try and keep this hindrance alive would suck up every last bit of savings he had for his trip to Africa. He goes so far as to have an abortionist hired to murder his child. Secondly, although not as noticeable as the first factor, is his immense disdain for his wife, especially regarding sex. "Bird had pinned his hopes for a revolution in their sex life on the birth of the child and what would follow..." (134) He explains the shame he and his wife feel when making love and that he hates it. Finally he loathes his job. He can not stand working as a cram-school teacher. He loathes the mundane tasks, the reputation, and seems to generally not care about his job in the slightest. These factors are his incarceration. He is a prisoner of himself and his choices.
The "freedom inside incarceration" that exists in "A Personal Matter" lies in alcohol and Himiko, his mistress. After he finds out about the baby, he runs away. He runs to the only person he can think of that would be willing to be completely smashed during the day and that is Himiko. A complicated relationship exists between the two, as he had raped her when she was a virgin while intoxicated, and she became frigid because of it. He spends more and more time with Himiko and under the influence of alcohol, trying to run from his problems. "Even if you intend to have the most disgusting kind of sex with me, I'm sure I'll discover something genuine in no matter what we do," says Himiko the day when Bird visits his son in the incubator for the first time. Genuine was something that did not exist in his imprisoned world. The baby was not genuine, it was a freak that he felt had to die, his marriage was a sham physically and mentally, and he had just been fired from his job. The only thing genuine and free in his life was his affair with Himiko and the hope that after the death of his son, he would be able to start anew.
"Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids," although an extremely different setting than "A Personal Matter," visibly conveys the notion better than the latter does. The novel follows a group of fifteen adolescents, considered the vile scum of 1940s war-ridden Japanese society: thieves, homosexuals, and all around bad seeds. They considered themselves isolated and alone from the rest of the world. The narrator was living part of an "observed existence, the status of a caged beast." (23) He lived trapped within the confines of society. These kids, part of a reformatory group, are sent to live in a small rural village. It just so happens that this village is extremely isolated, the only way to access the village is down a trolley, which makes for the perfect setting of this novella. Hoping for the best, the kids are sadly met with nothing but hostility from the villagers and extremely poor living conditions. This is highlighted by their task to completely bury a large pile of dead animal caucuses, mostly with the flesh rotting and falling off the bone. They realize something is amiss in the village and soon after their arrival, plague creeps up on the village. Afraid, the villagers leave the children behind to fend for themselves against the silent death that they believed awaited them.
The children at first felt anger, realizing that not only were they abandoned, but were being guarded and monitored for effects of plague. This feeling of anger soon turned into a realization of freedom. They were like zealous birds that had finally been released from their caged home only to find out that the cage was part of a larger cage. Free, yet completely isolated from the outside world and they welcomed it with open arms. The notion of "freedom within incarceration," is supplemented within the exchange between the unnamed narrator and the defected soldier. "'We're still not free, you and I,' the soldier said. 'We're cut off.' ''Don't think about what's outside the village, don't say that,' I said angrily.' 'We can do anything in this village. Don't speak about them outside.'" The narrator looks at the village as a haven for not only himself, but from society. Furthermore, the narrator experiences love, something that he was not allowed to experience on the outside world. The narrator was experiencing happiness, something society felt was not for delinquents like him. "I was almost mad with the pride and joy that welled up inside me. Unknown to anyone, I had a sweet and marvelous lover." This was the passion of his youth; he was a new person, experiencing new emotions, which completely differed to how he had been treated on the outside world. They had been mocked, ridiculed, tortured, beaten and starved on the outside world. Finally the group of delinquents was free from the tyrannous grasp of society.
"Prize Stock," Oe's first short story is a realistic look at the life of a small rural village that has just captured a Black P.O.W. during World War II. The story begins with the capture of the P.O.W. and the reluctance of the patrol to do anything about him. The villagers decide to keep him locked up in town until the prefecture police or the army can do something with him. The villagers lock him up, trapped within the fierce jaws of a bear trap, guarded by the narrator's father. Never seeing a black person before, the children do not consider him human, but more animal-like. The narrator is given the important task of bringing the prisoner food. He soon realizes that the prisoner is harmless and begins to take the prisoner out of his cell for walks, naps, and play. During these happy times, the narrator describes an experience that the children share with the black soldier at the river. "How can I describe how much we loved him, or the blazing sun above our wet, heavy skin that distant, splendid summer afternoon, the deep shadows on the cobblestones, the smell of the children and the black solider, the voices hoarse with happiness, how can I convey the repletion and rhythm of it all?"(153) Although their country was being ravished by war and this man who stood naked with them at the river was a prisoner, nothing could ruin this perfect freedom and harmony that they experienced that day. The freedom experienced through interaction with the black prisoner, was not only freedom for the children from daily life and the worries of war, but for the prisoner, it was freedom from the shackles of his home in the village.
All three of these stories have one main thing in common; the sense of freedom that the characters feel comes crashing down instantaneously. In "Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids," the sudden return of the villagers ruins the children's haven. The villagers return after five days angry that the kids had broken into their homes, ate their food, but more so that they had lived through the ordeal. The novel ends with the protagonist "escaping" the village, chased by villagers, to find nothing but an unknown world, with no friends, no family, he is lost. In "A Personal Matter," Bird's freedom from responsibility ends when he realizes that all he has been doing in life was running away. He conveys his feelings wholeheartedly when he says, "If I want to confront this monster honestly instead of running away from it, I have only two alternatives: I can strangle the baby to death with my own hands or I can accept him and bring him up. I've understood that from the beginning but I haven't had the courage to accept it" (162) Bird was able to shed his nickname and finally take responsibility for his actions instead of running from them. In "Prize Stock," the realization of the soldier's true nature and his death ended the notion of this freedom. The prisoner had turned from a friendly puppy-dog to a fierce wolf, when a misunderstanding leads him to take the narrator hostage. "I was a prisoner, and a hostage. The black soldier had transformed into the enemy, and my side was clamoring beyond the trap door. Anger, and humiliation, and the irritating sadness of betrayal raced through my body like flames, scorching me."
Understanding the notion of "freedom inside incarceration" in the three works is the first step to understanding Oe Kenzaburu as an author. "A Personal Matter" uses a father's unwillingness to accept responsibility to convey that freedom exists within the confines of the human mind, when all else is bleak. "Nip the Buds, Shoot the kids" uses stark realism and extreme circumstances to show that when everything is dark in the world, there is some light. In this case, the darkness is the village surroundings, and the light being the plague, which allowed to to have five days of absolute freedom. Finally, in "Prize Stock," Oe shows that a sense freedom can be achieved despite barriers, although short-lived. The soldier had freed the children from their daily lives, and the children had freed the soldier from his prison. The fact that this notion appears in all three works shows how important a theme it is in Oe's novels.
