How the Motif of Death creates the Somber Mood
I. Through the recurring motif of death the author creates a somber mood A. The Doctor’s Wife by Sawako Ariyoshi B. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
II. Using an unaffected tone the author reveals deaths that are important to the novel.
A. “On a night so cold that the herb garden was covered in frost the woman gasped her last breath. K, at the time, was too preoccupied with her own nausea as she sat by Otsugi’s bed in prayer. And her mother-in-law departed from this world without learning of her pregnancy” (Ariyoshi 149).
1. Otsugi as the antagonist is a main character in the novel, and even though she …show more content…
Kae and Otsugi’s imperfect mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship is the catalyst for The Doctor’s Wife and throughout Kae’s life in the home they have been quietly feuding for Seishu’s attention, but through the common bond of them each losing a child they take comfort in their common bond in an attempt to fill the empty space their loss has left behind.
B. ““It’s just his mood,” she once said. “He is just depressed.” She seemed to think that my father was depressed because of the Emperor’s illness. I could not agree with her”…“ When the newspaper announcing the Emperor’s Death arrived, my father said: “Oh! Oh!” And then “Oh. His Majesty is gone at last. I too…” My father fell silent” (Soseki 91).
1. The student’s father was most likely born into the Meiji era and most likely with the similarities between his own sickness and the Emperor’s he has built a bond in his mind, through with their fates appear parallel. This bond is apparent to even the student’s mother who believes that her husband is depressed because of the Emperor. Due to this bond the father has created in his mind he feels that when the Emperor died that it is he who should be next and he comes close to expressing that, when he falls silent to how tender the subject of his own death is to his …show more content…
Through the recurring motif of death the author creates a somber mood A. The in The Doctor’s Wife is to contrast the climax or resolution of the book where Seishu performs the first successful breast cancer surgery. Through the motif of death the author creates a conflict as clear as night and day to amplify the resolution. 1. The reader is kept on a constant roller coaster with the deaths throughout the book and the distant tone the author uses throught the third person point of view that is used. The distant tone makes the story seem more like the work of fiction it is and down plays the historical aspect of the book. B. The purpose of Kokoro to tell of a tragic fictional story of a misanthropic natured man. Using the first person 1. The reader of the book often feel that they can relate to both the character of the student and of Sensei. The student is young and naïve he often only thinks inwardly, he feel doesn’t realize his negate attitude that he has with his father until it is too late. The author can also relate to the character of Sensei because Sensei is a loner character which is emphasized in the first person point of