THEJAY
THE JAY by Yasunari Kawabata
Plot
A teenage girl by the name of Yoshiko lives with (and takes care of) her grandmother and her younger brother. The grandmother is almost blind and needs a lot of care. They hear a mother Jay outside and the grandmother tells them that it is looking for its baby, which fell out of the nest the night before (Yoshiko is confused how a nearly blind woman could have seen all of that but she doesn't say anything). Her brother comes in and tells her that he saw their mother and that she was married and really beautiful. Yoshiko and her younger brother had been told by their father that he had divorced their mother because she always wore flashy clothes and spent their money really fast. Yoshiko felt that it was something more but her father would always get angry if they brought it up. Yoshiko's father also arranged for her to marry someone and after her brother comes in and tells her about seeing their mother, she starts to get really upset and doesn't want to get married. She goes out into the garden and ends up finding the baby jay but its really weak and couldn't move. She gave the jay a drink and it started shouting out for its mother. The mother came and took the baby jay away. As this was happening Yoshiko wished that her parents were there to see what had happened.
Characters
Main:
Yoshiko: Yoshiko is the main character of the story and she is the person who takes care of the house, her brother, and her grandmother. She is being forced by her father to marry and, though she isn't looking forward to it, has accepted that it is something that she has to do.
Grandmother: We never learn the grandmother's name but she is mostly blind and provides Yoshiko with helpful wisdom. She says that she doesn't remember what Yoshiko looks like (because she's nearly blind) but yet, she knows why the Jay is chirping outside and is able to describe why it was there, what happened to the baby jay, and she seems to know where the baby was as well
Plot
A teenage girl by the name of Yoshiko lives with (and takes care of) her grandmother and her younger brother. The grandmother is almost blind and needs a lot of care. They hear a mother Jay outside and the grandmother tells them that it is looking for its baby, which fell out of the nest the night before (Yoshiko is confused how a nearly blind woman could have seen all of that but she doesn't say anything). Her brother comes in and tells her that he saw their mother and that she was married and really beautiful. Yoshiko and her younger brother had been told by their father that he had divorced their mother because she always wore flashy clothes and spent their money really fast. Yoshiko felt that it was something more but her father would always get angry if they brought it up. Yoshiko's father also arranged for her to marry someone and after her brother comes in and tells her about seeing their mother, she starts to get really upset and doesn't want to get married. She goes out into the garden and ends up finding the baby jay but its really weak and couldn't move. She gave the jay a drink and it started shouting out for its mother. The mother came and took the baby jay away. As this was happening Yoshiko wished that her parents were there to see what had happened.
Characters
Main:
Yoshiko: Yoshiko is the main character of the story and she is the person who takes care of the house, her brother, and her grandmother. She is being forced by her father to marry and, though she isn't looking forward to it, has accepted that it is something that she has to do.
Grandmother: We never learn the grandmother's name but she is mostly blind and provides Yoshiko with helpful wisdom. She says that she doesn't remember what Yoshiko looks like (because she's nearly blind) but yet, she knows why the Jay is chirping outside and is able to describe why it was there, what happened to the baby jay, and she seems to know where the baby was as well