Wednesday, December 21, 2011

from my p.o.v. : memoirs of a geisha

I can't believe after reading more than half of the book, i've only just realised that it's a fiction! :O Know how i came to finally realise? I googled for the painting that was mentioned in the story, well, in the hope of seeing some depictions of the setting to enhance my imagination, only to find out in google answer; 'the story is a fiction, so all the characters are not real''. Oh the disappointment. D:
This all owes to the translator's note, signed Jakoob Haarhuis, Professor of Japanese History, while the author's name has been clearly printed on the front page, Arthur Golden! Oh i can't seem to get over my foolishness. I was completely deceived! Yet somehow, i can't help to think, that is exactly why it is put there. To make it more realistic, and give the impression to people, the one it gave me. Clever indeed.

Throughout the story, you must expect to encounter a lot of japanese words like okiya, obi, different geisha hairstyles, the different tools etc. At first i was ready with my laptop in front to google those words but in time, i just went with the flow. At some point or another, i was able to guess what the words meant anyway.

All in all, I think the author really did a thorough research. The story was delivered from a first person point of view. Any of you who have ever recreate a story by using first person point of view should know that it is super hard, because well, you must BE the person. Understand the emotions,be familiar with the culture and be vivid as well as intimate with the personal experiences. And from what i've read, the culture was so rich, so, so rich that i can imagine Sayuri herself was speaking. I mean, geisha culture is a mystery, is of secrets. Valued and protected. To be able to describe it clearly, one must have been living in one themselves. I'm really amazed at how delicate and precise the story was told.

Opss, let's take a moment back. I should describe briefly what this story is about. This book is centered around a girl named Chiyo, which was later known by her geisha name, Sayuri. She used to live as a little girl in a little fishing village with a sick mother and a really old father. Mr. Tanaka, the owner of a fish restaurant there, somewhat the rich man of the village, thought it was his duty to save these poor children, Chiyo and her older sister, Satsu. Poor Chiyo thought Mr. Tanaka was going to adopt them, but instead they were sold to a geisha village. Somehow, he hoped that these will help the children open a path for a better future. Chiyo was taken by the Nitta house in Gion while Satsu who hasn't been blessed with much beauty was sent to a prostitution village. The only geisha of the house was Hatsumomo, who was the most beautiful geisha at the time, yet the most notorious and venomous woman in town. Hatsumomo can't stand other people being better than she was and she became jealous the moment she set her eyes on Chiyo. This is because Chiyo had a pair of extraordinary blue-grey eyes. Mr. Tanaka once sent a letter along with tablets of memorial of Chiyo's parent said roughly, along with the news of her parents' death, ''It's rare for a swan to be born amongst birds'' so he wished that she'd make full use of her opportunity there to learn and become a geisha.

Hatsumomo is a very clever woman. She went out of her way to destroy Chiyo's future till Mother of the house decided that she could not become a geisha. She stayed at the house as a maid to pay back her debt, which was her food there, the money paid to acquire her, lessons, medical cost etc. She had such miserable life until one day she met a certain Chairman who gave her a piece of kindness that affected her so much that the thought of Chairman alone kept her going on. The hope that one day she'll meet him again. Anyway, Mameha, the other popular geisha, and Hatsumomo's arch enemy, decided to take Chiyo as her little sister, as in geisha little sister. Which means she'll guide her through becoming a geisha and throughout her geisha career as a way to get back at Hatsumomo. Though in the end it turned out that the Chairman's the one who asked Mameha a favour of helping Chiyo. She succeeded in persuading Mother to at last allow Chiyo to learn to become a geisha again. Finally Chiyo became a geisha, and a successful one at that too, owing a lot to Mameha's tactics and guidance. Yes, tactics. Because you can't really just count on beauty or entertaining skills to be 'popular'. Somewhat like marketing in business.

And..skipping a lot of conflicts and stories, Sayuri ended up having the Chairman as her danna; the person who support her financially and everything in exchange for 'special privileges'. Somewhat like patron-mistress relationship. Only very rich people can afford to become a danna. She ended up living in New York opening her very own teahouse.

Living a geisha life is not at all glamorous. Well yeah, you get to enjoy all the finest thing in life; expensive sake, lavishing kimono, extravagant rooms, decorations and ornaments. But there's more to that than meets the eye. Well, basically, geisha is an entertainer. Whatever you feel whatever you think doesn't matter. Geisha are trained to put on this mask of a face to be forever pleasant, to be able to tease and strike conversations in every party, in whatever companion. Your emotions don't matter, as Mameha said, ''We don't become geisha to be happy, we become geisha because we had no choice.''Beneath all those expensive stuff and elegant mask, they are living the life of slaves, bound to their houses, until they pay back all their debt. Even if they gain independence, there's no security to the future if no one wants to have you in their parties. What else is to become a geisha after spending all their lives into becoming one? Amidst spending most of the time with the richest and most influential men, enjoying the finest thing in life, they really are living in a small world of themselves.

True, geisha are all pampered they don't even clean their stuff themselves, don't even dress themselves but there's no doubt they do know and understand sufferings. During the end of the war years, geisha villages are forced to close. The geisha with no other choice are forced to make a living by working at the factories, which is next worst to being dead. No complaints were associated, all understand that they must find a way through it. Sayuri was even super grateful to have a house to live in even though she practically destroyed her years of nurtured silky hands by the works that she must do to stay there.

One time, Nobu(Sayuri's admirer) got really mad of something and asked if Sayuri was a fool enough to sleep with a man like the minister if given the chance. He bled his hand crushing the tea cup and Sayuri was panicked. Nobu said, ''Answer me!'' Then Sayuri thought it was clear what the answer she should give and said no. Then Nobu calmed down. It just gave me a thought,that to deal with a man in anger, is to just give whatever he wants at the moment. Even if you are in doubt or disagree, the important thing is to settle down the person first and bring him to calm. Later on, Sayuri slept with the minister anyway. But that is all something in the future, and the consequences is to be dealt later. A human overwhelmed with anger is as close as a beast because he would have lost the sense of thinking. I just thought...I should take note of that.

In the story i noticed a lot of reference usage. ummmm how should i explain it because i think i'm not using the correct term here. When a character is trying to describe something, they often recite of a relating past experience, to make explaining much easier. For example, when Sayuri was trying to describe her feeling of relief and glad she would recite, ''one time, there was a boy...I now understand how the boy must felt...'' Allusion! yes that's the correct term. okay i'll recite one complete example.

Sayuri has a great desire over Chairman. However, Nobu who has great affection for Sayuri is Chairman's closest friend not to mention he owes Nobu, as he said, his life, for saving Chairman's company. Not until towards the very end of the story though, that it was discovered that Chairman has the same feelings for Sayuri but he feels that he cannot betray his dearest friend. Sayuri, on the other hand, set out a plan to make Nobu despise her and drop his plan of becoming her danna, because if that were to happen, her fate will be sealed with Nobu and her chances to be with Chairman will be forever gone. So that's why she made out with the Minister that i just mentioned that made Nobu super furious.

So, finally after all that, Chairman came to Sayuri and recited a memory about how he was interested in a very skilled worker who works with the supplier company that he is in good terms with. One day the worker quit his job with some reason like he's taking a break or something. So the Chairman came to him and asked if he wanna work with his company. The worker agrred right away and told the Chairman, he was always wondering if the Chairman would ask him to work at his company until one day he realised that the Chairman wouldn't. By doing so, the Chairman will sever the good ties between his company and the supplier company. So he decided to quit the job himself so that Chairman could offer him a job.

This is to say, the Chairman noticed what Sayuri did with the minister and Nobu. That's why he is driven to come to Sayuri, confess his feelings for her and propose himself to become her danna. It's just, to me, it made me think. What are the chances of what's happening today, becoming the prospect of tomorrow? I mean, looking at both ways, how today is indicative of the future, and how in the future, we can use past experience to enhance understanding. I feel that it gave me a sense of how tiny things in life, all the events whether we notice it or not, are significant somehow.

In entirety, I think the choice to write in the form of first person narrative is a most cleverest one. You couldn't have done it otherwise with the mysteries and secrets behind a geisha's life. Narrative makes the whole thing a lot more vivid, and very...present. Like it's happening now, in front of your eyes. Even though the setting is way back during world war, the emotions and all the eternal conflicts are just so familiar, you could relate anyway because humans are humans, regardless of time and place. I enjoyed reading the book. The experience was absolutely a unique one. Most definitely an interesting read.

p/s: no wonder.. Arthur Golden is a graduate of Harvard College with a degree in art history specialising in Japanese. Awesome shiz!

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