Cornered Tradition
Aaron Qi
“Swaddling Clothes” depicted a traditional Japanese woman, Toshiko, who witnessed the birth of an infant out of marriage. She was the only one who cared about the baby and began to immerse herself in the wild prediction of the baby and her own son that she pictured. The author, Yukio Mishima, who committed suicide in 1970, was trying to arouse public attention of the invasion of western culture and the diminishing traditional values. In this story, Toshiko’s son is likely to be intenerated as the traditional Japan while the newborn infant can probably be seen as the new Japan influenced by western culture. Therefore, Mishima is trying to show readers how the new Japan would “kill” the traditional Japan.
The story took place twenty years after the World War II, during which huge amounts of western modernization and values fluxed into Japan. Consequently, they brought some sort of friction against the traditional Japanese values. There are many contradictions alluding to this issue in the story: Toshiko and her husband, Toshiko’s son and the new born baby, kimono and American-style suit and etc.
From the beginning of the story, it is easy to find that Toshiko is a traditional woman, dressed in Kimono. She does not like the new “American” ways. She feels uncomfortable when she sees her husband dressed in “American-style suit, puffing as a cigarette” (132), “gesturing flamboyantly” (133). She “sat silently thinking back on” the incidence, while “her husband chattered cheerfully with his friends” (133). There is a sharp contrast in the behavior and dress of Toshiko and her husband. Her husband is extravert, pompous and dandy, very much Americanized while Toshiko is reserved, sentimental and traditional. The message behind the contradiction is that a big number of people were transformed to embrace western culture and they were gradually adopting western ways of life, while losing their own traditional traits. Yet, this message is implicit, because it was hidden behind the surface.
Toshiko, like Mishima, feels disgraced about how things are changing and she still maintains the old traditions from her dress to her mind. That is also why “she had been foolish to hope that he would spend the evening with her” (132) rather than his social circle. By contrast, her husband likes being socially active and gradually loses the concept of family. That is also the influence by the negative western culture and values, which does not only change the way people dress and talk but also erode their mind and make them abandon the value they once cherish, such as family.
Yet, it is somehow surprised to find Toshiko independent of her husband, which is not the traditional image of a Japanese woman who is inferior to her husband. Probably the independence is originated from the values which she finds no one can share with her. She notes that “their life together was in some way too easy, too painless.”(134) It implies that Toshiko and her husband do not have much in common. They cannot talk deep and communicate spiritually. On most of the situations, they live superficially and separately. That is why Toshiko finds “it would have been difficult for her to put her thoughts into words” (134), since they do not live in the same world. Her traditional thoughts cannot intersect with her husband’s westernized values.
Then there is the incident in the story about Toshiko and their nurse. The nurse was hiding her pregnancy when all of a sudden she gave birth to a baby boy. People’s behavior at that time does reveal something. Toshiko’s husband was “[rescuing] [their] good rug”(133). The doctor “told his assistant to wrap the baby in some newspaper, rather than proper swaddling” (133), showing “his scorn for this mother who had given birth to a bastard under such sordid conditions”.(133)
On the contrast, Toshiko “fetched a brand-new piece of flannel…having swaddled the baby in it, had lain him carefully in an armchair.”(133) Series of actions shows Toshiko’s care and maternity for the new-born life. On the other hand, others’ behavior represents the characteristic of a considerable part of the society, indifference and callousness.
When Toshiko’s husband was at a night club with his friends bragging about the story as if “it were no more than an amusing incident which they chanced to have witnessed” (133), “Toshiko was dumbfounded”(133), feeling embarrassed and disgraced at her husband’s indifference and callousness and how things are moving farther and farther away from Japanese old traditional values towards another direction. Such a change is driven by an exogenous force, that is, some western values.
Throughout the story Toshiko pictures the newborn baby, “on the parquet floor the infant lay, and his frail body was wrapped in bloodstained newspaper”(133). She was immersed in her wild thoughts and being paranoid. Toshiko thought of the child three times in the story: when she was at the party, when she was sitting in the taxi and when she was alone in the park. Toshiko feels that because the baby was not treated with respect at birth, so “he can never become a respectable citizen”(134) and thus the baby will not lead a successful life and will be inferior to everyone else. She could not help thinking of her own child and thought of the horrible encounter of her child and the new born infant in the future, when “the other boy, who has been sinned against, savagely stabs him with a knife…”(134). This kind of thoughts indicates her willingness to sacrifice for her own child. What’s more, Toshiko’s son is likely to be intenerated as the Japanese tradition while the newborn infant can be seen as the force of Americanization or westernization. This force is trying to win over the tradition force by “[stabbing] him with a knife”, which is the huge amounts of western culture fluxing into Japan, trying to overwhelm the traditions.
At the end of the story Toshiko was walking through the park. She saw a homeless man lying in newspapers on a park bench and it suddenly reminds her of the newborn baby. That was the image of the child she pictured in her mind. “She did not feel the least afraid and made no effort to free herself” (136) because she is ready to sacrifice for her own baby subconsciously after thousands of paranoia presumptions. Moreover, she is trying to repay the debts and redeem the callousness of the society, which result in the miserable life of the discarded child. On the other hand, she was too insignificant to resist the “[reaching out] powerful hand” (136), which represents the invading foreign cultures.
The birth of the nurse’s baby boy who was wrapped in newspapers can be interpreted as a birth of a new society, the Japanese society after WWII, the society Mishima depicted, as Toshiko feels that this society is filled without sense of honor or responsibility, a culture that has lost its morals. To matters worse, traditional Japanese values was threatened, cornered and even being killed in face of the overwhelming western culture. Toshiko is the incarnation of Mishima, who sacrificed himself for the depravation of the society in face of the influx of western cultures.
Aaron Qi
“Swaddling Clothes” depicted a traditional Japanese woman, Toshiko, who witnessed the birth of an infant out of marriage. She was the only one who cared about the baby and began to immerse herself in the wild prediction of the baby and her own son that she pictured. The author, Yukio Mishima, who committed suicide in 1970, was trying to arouse public attention of the invasion of western culture and the diminishing traditional values. In this story, Toshiko’s son is likely to be intenerated as the traditional Japan while the newborn infant can probably be seen as the new Japan influenced by western culture. Therefore, Mishima is trying to show readers how the new Japan would “kill” the traditional Japan.
The story took place twenty years after the World War II, during which huge amounts of western modernization and values fluxed into Japan. Consequently, they brought some sort of friction against the traditional Japanese values. There are many contradictions alluding to this issue in the story: Toshiko and her husband, Toshiko’s son and the new born baby, kimono and American-style suit and etc.
From the beginning of the story, it is easy to find that Toshiko is a traditional woman, dressed in Kimono. She does not like the new “American” ways. She feels uncomfortable when she sees her husband dressed in “American-style suit, puffing as a cigarette” (132), “gesturing flamboyantly” (133). She “sat silently thinking back on” the incidence, while “her husband chattered cheerfully with his friends” (133). There is a sharp contrast in the behavior and dress of Toshiko and her husband. Her husband is extravert, pompous and dandy, very much Americanized while Toshiko is reserved, sentimental and traditional. The message behind the contradiction is that a big number of people were transformed to embrace western culture and they were gradually adopting western ways of life, while losing their own traditional traits. Yet, this message is implicit, because it was hidden behind the surface.
Toshiko, like Mishima, feels disgraced about how things are changing and she still maintains the old traditions from her dress to her mind. That is also why “she had been foolish to hope that he would spend the evening with her” (132) rather than his social circle. By contrast, her husband likes being socially active and gradually loses the concept of family. That is also the influence by the negative western culture and values, which does not only change the way people dress and talk but also erode their mind and make them abandon the value they once cherish, such as family.
Yet, it is somehow surprised to find Toshiko independent of her husband, which is not the traditional image of a Japanese woman who is inferior to her husband. Probably the independence is originated from the values which she finds no one can share with her. She notes that “their life together was in some way too easy, too painless.”(134) It implies that Toshiko and her husband do not have much in common. They cannot talk deep and communicate spiritually. On most of the situations, they live superficially and separately. That is why Toshiko finds “it would have been difficult for her to put her thoughts into words” (134), since they do not live in the same world. Her traditional thoughts cannot intersect with her husband’s westernized values.
Then there is the incident in the story about Toshiko and their nurse. The nurse was hiding her pregnancy when all of a sudden she gave birth to a baby boy. People’s behavior at that time does reveal something. Toshiko’s husband was “[rescuing] [their] good rug”(133). The doctor “told his assistant to wrap the baby in some newspaper, rather than proper swaddling” (133), showing “his scorn for this mother who had given birth to a bastard under such sordid conditions”.(133)
On the contrast, Toshiko “fetched a brand-new piece of flannel…having swaddled the baby in it, had lain him carefully in an armchair.”(133) Series of actions shows Toshiko’s care and maternity for the new-born life. On the other hand, others’ behavior represents the characteristic of a considerable part of the society, indifference and callousness.
When Toshiko’s husband was at a night club with his friends bragging about the story as if “it were no more than an amusing incident which they chanced to have witnessed” (133), “Toshiko was dumbfounded”(133), feeling embarrassed and disgraced at her husband’s indifference and callousness and how things are moving farther and farther away from Japanese old traditional values towards another direction. Such a change is driven by an exogenous force, that is, some western values.
Throughout the story Toshiko pictures the newborn baby, “on the parquet floor the infant lay, and his frail body was wrapped in bloodstained newspaper”(133). She was immersed in her wild thoughts and being paranoid. Toshiko thought of the child three times in the story: when she was at the party, when she was sitting in the taxi and when she was alone in the park. Toshiko feels that because the baby was not treated with respect at birth, so “he can never become a respectable citizen”(134) and thus the baby will not lead a successful life and will be inferior to everyone else. She could not help thinking of her own child and thought of the horrible encounter of her child and the new born infant in the future, when “the other boy, who has been sinned against, savagely stabs him with a knife…”(134). This kind of thoughts indicates her willingness to sacrifice for her own child. What’s more, Toshiko’s son is likely to be intenerated as the Japanese tradition while the newborn infant can be seen as the force of Americanization or westernization. This force is trying to win over the tradition force by “[stabbing] him with a knife”, which is the huge amounts of western culture fluxing into Japan, trying to overwhelm the traditions.
At the end of the story Toshiko was walking through the park. She saw a homeless man lying in newspapers on a park bench and it suddenly reminds her of the newborn baby. That was the image of the child she pictured in her mind. “She did not feel the least afraid and made no effort to free herself” (136) because she is ready to sacrifice for her own baby subconsciously after thousands of paranoia presumptions. Moreover, she is trying to repay the debts and redeem the callousness of the society, which result in the miserable life of the discarded child. On the other hand, she was too insignificant to resist the “[reaching out] powerful hand” (136), which represents the invading foreign cultures.
The birth of the nurse’s baby boy who was wrapped in newspapers can be interpreted as a birth of a new society, the Japanese society after WWII, the society Mishima depicted, as Toshiko feels that this society is filled without sense of honor or responsibility, a culture that has lost its morals. To matters worse, traditional Japanese values was threatened, cornered and even being killed in face of the overwhelming western culture. Toshiko is the incarnation of Mishima, who sacrificed himself for the depravation of the society in face of the influx of western cultures.
posted by Aaron Qi at 4:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home