Images of the disabled and the aged in modern Japanese novels Essay

Images of the disabled and the aged in modern Japanese novels - Essay ExampleThe novels be contradictory in that while Oe represents a nuclear family, Ariyoshi depicts a Japanese family with all the three generations living together, however, the transition, though slow, towards a modern society is shown finished protagonists thoughts. The two novels thus can be compared through their depiction of Japanese families.We shall first discuss A Personal Matter by Oe Kenzaburo. Nobel Laureate Oe Kenzaburo (received Nobel Prize in 1994), is a famous novelist who first entered the literary scene in 1958. Despite his initial successes, the real international reputation came to him with A Personal Matter, a story written with the perspective of a young father, Bird, who has to deal with the fact that his tyke is a monster. The story draws ingestion from Oes personal experience. Oes son, Hikari, was born with a severe brain-damage disorder. The story is almost an outlet for Oe to show how h e dealt with various feelings when he had to decide nigh his own monsters future. No doubt, he chose the protagonists way.Bird is a rebellious character to begin with (maybe that is what makes him choose the right row in the end) in the opening chapter, Oe shows how Bird thinks that a child is like a cage. Bird thinks that marriage itself is a cage but with a child, that open cage is now shut down. With his skeptical view of marriage and child, a brain-damaged child proves an ultimate shock. He just cannot believe that his own child is a monster. He is afraid to raise the child he pities him and resents him. His conflicted emotions that arise as the childs father and as a chemical formula human being leads the events in the story.Bird goes through feelings of disgust to acceptance in the novel. Initially Bird wants to kill the baby, something that even Oe contemplated for Hikari. When he finds himself unable to do that, he thinks of allowing the child to die a natural