Because the novel spans from Chiyo's (or Sayuri) early
childhood well into her adult and motherhood years, what we see is a logical progression
of growing up away from home and learning to live within the rules and boundaries of a
new sense of social class.
As a young daughter of a poor
fisherman, Chiyo (as she's known in childhood) is innocent, imaginative, and hopeful -
but somewhat ignorant and naive. When her mother dies and her father sells her into a
life of servitude, she is blissfully unaware of what fate awaits
her.
When she arrives at geisha school, the unrefined and
still very young Chiyo is only interested in finding and reuniting with her older
sister. She neither understands the new world in which she lives, nor does she quickly
make up her mind to adapt to it - which only makes her first years there more
difficult.
It really isn't until she is "adopted" by big
sister Mameha that Sayuri really begins to learn the art and grace of her womanhood -
and how to use this gift as an advantage in the business she's in. She quickly becomes
one of the most sought after geisha's and her mizuage (price for
her virginity) goes very high. This makes her very valuable to the Mother of her
house.
Through the intricate social and working trials of
life as a geisha - Sayuri develops (rather slowly) a sense of who she is and what she is
worth. Unfortunately - the life she's been sold into has given her a pretty exact
price. While she eventually even discovers her capacity to love - she never comes to
fully understand freedom, certainly not in the way American women understand it. But
she learns contentment with her situation - which in the end - is almost all she (and
the reader) can ask for.
No comments:
Post a Comment