The issue of choice arises when comparing Gabriel Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Yasunari Kawabata’s Thousand Cranes. The men in each novel forever seem to be repeating the lives of their male ancestors. These cycles reveal that man as a being, just like the mythological heros, has no true choice in the ultimate course his life will take. The male characters’ personal development is overshadowed by the identity of their ancestors.
Since the beginning of time, man has clung to the notion that there exists some external force that determines his destiny. In Grecian times, the epic poet Hesoid wrote of a triumvirate of mythological Fates that supposedly gave “to men at birth evil and good to have”. In other words, these three granted man his destiny. Clotho “spun the thread of life”, Lacheis distributed the lots, and Atropos with his “abhorred shears” would “cut the thread at death”(Hamilton-43). All efforts to avoid the Fates were in vain. In every case their sentence would eventually be delivered. And it appears that once the Fates’ ballot had been cast, the characters in Greek myths had no chance for redemption. One must wonder if man, like the Greeks portrayed, has any real choice in determining how he lives.
That issue of choice arises when comparing Gabriel Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Yasunari Kawabata’s Thousand Cranes. The men in Yasunari Kawabata’s Thousand Cranes and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude forever seem to be repeating the lives of their male ancestors. These cycles reveal that man as a being, just like the mythological heros, has no true choice in the ultimate course his life will take. The male characters’ personal development is overshadowed by the identity of their ancestors. Clotho, it appears, has recycled some of her spinning thread. The new male generations, superficially, are perceived to be woven of like design. Kikuji Mitani and the male Buendia’s face communities that remember their ancestors. As a result, their unique communities inadvertently compare the actions of the sons to their respective fathers’, having recognized the apparent similarities. Eclipsed by his father’s aura, within his village, Kikuji’s identity has no separate definition. To most townsfolk, like those at Chikako’s tea ceremony, Kikuji exists as “Old Mr. Mitani’s son”(16). He and his father are therefore viewed as essentially the same person.
Female Characters in The Ivory Swing and The Tiger in theTiger Pit
Female Characters in The Ivory Swing and The Tiger in theTiger Pit
With ” beautifully executed images”, Janette Turner Hospital creates four vivid female character in her two novels. The four characters are Juliet and Yashoda in The Ivory Swing and Elizabeth and Emily in The Tiger in theTiger Pit . Each of the above is invested by Turner Hospital with a deep consciousness.
In the view of Janette Turner Hospital, women are
immensely uncertain. They are never sure of what they want.
However, when it comes to dealing with external conflicts,
they are very strong-willed. On the other hand, she also
indicates that maternal love is strong. Women have
passionate beliefs in the importance of the family. As the
stories follow, these feminine personalities are gradually
proved.
Before leaving for India, Juliet had a hard time
deciding whether to stay with her professor husband, David,
or move to Montreal to stay with her former lover Jeremy.
Uncertain as usual, all Juliet wants is to ” maintain the
balancing act.” She could never summon up the courage to
face new circumstances. Her mind is never firm enough to
challenge the present state. So she makes her choice in the
order of morality. She stays with her husband and leaves for
India with him. It is more likely that the fate designated
Juliet’s future. She is married to Dave on her own accord.
Therefore, she does what a good wife is supposed to do.
1. Reviewed in : Booklist v.79 p.994 Apr 1, 1983
2. ” The Ivory Swing ” p.18
In Kerala, where David is on sabbatical to study
primitive Indian culture, the couple encounter…
… middle of paper …
…hat the situations are, women would suffer to protect
their children. Maternal love is always shown in the first
place. On top of the above, Tuner Hospital also implies that
women have passionate belief in family. Both of the two
books The Ivory Swing and The Tiger in the Tiger Pit are
written sensitively. Yet the latter is not as successful as
the former one. ” 50th wedding anniversaries and family
reunions of any kind ought to be left to the manufacturers of
greeting cards.”
12. ” Life with Father ” by Judith Fitzgerald
Reviewed in : Books in Canada v.12 p.33 Nov 1983
BIBLIOGRAPHY :
HOSPITAL, JANETTE TURNER,THE TIGER IN THE TIGER PIT. TORONTO, McCLELLAND