For tomorrow's assignment, please consider the following questions from the author's first entry on pages 3-11:
- What are the main character’s feelings about being sent away while greatly sick?
- How do the people close to him treat him differently than his family in Tarumi?
- Why does he want to make the trip alone?
- How different are the two experiences of the main character in Hong Kong and Tarumi?
For tonight's blog, please re-read pages 3-11 and comment on the references in the text made to silence, or quiet. What do you think of the silence, or quiet? How is it represented in TSG?
I look forward to your reponses.
16 comments:
In this beautifully crafted story by Gail Tsukiyama, “The Samurai’s Garden”, the idea of silence or quietness is represented in a unique way. On page 9 Stephen Chan says, “This early autumn there didn’t seem to be anyone else here, just me, Matsu, and a complete, white silence.” The main character, Stephen, has just arrived in Turami, Japan and is being picked up at the train station by Matsu, his father’s servant. As Matsu, this quite yet intriguing figure, leads Stephen to his grandfather’s house on the beach, Stephen begins to observe all of his surroundings. As he takes it all in, he notices the loneliness in the village. This quote shows the idea of silence described with a color. By a white silence Stephen means a plain and dull silence. Stephen travels to Turami because he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis and they didn’t want the other children in the family to get ill. This story seems to revolve around silence, especially in Turami with Matsu and the loneliness in the village. A since of quietness and silence reappears once Matsu takes Stephen to meat Sachi in Yamaguchi. Again as a result from illness, the village of Yamaguchi is a shy village for they are mostly infected with Lepers. The people of Yamaguchi are people that were rejected from the city when the outbreak of Leprosy arose in Turami, Japan. They built this village outside of town where the Lepers could live without conflicts or having to dishonor their family. Gail Tsukiyama describes silence in an almost deathly manner. So far in this novel, Stephen Chan and the atmosphere of the story revolves around this concept of silence and quietness.
Although the silence is important, I do not think the quiet itself is the direct significance of what the author is trying to represent by pointing it out. I think it is a combination of things. The first is that I think the silence represents the profound change that is coming. “I wanted to find my own way, so this morning I persuaded my father to let me travel alone…” (3) Alone is the key word here. Surrounded by his family and caretakers, the silence is a feature that accompanies his isolation and independence. The silence could be one of the factors that make this place a special and a different experience for him then the city. It does an example of showing this change even when he first arrives. “Matsu silently walked in his quick gait a few steps ahead of me, as if he were by himself. I increased my pace, pushing myself to keep up…In between I felt consumed by the quiet.”(9) This is just another example of how the quiet is representing his isolation, independence, and change, rather than being just “quiet.”
After reading pages 3-11 of TSG, I am able to discern that Stephen is feeling two different emotions: loneliness and dread. Stephen states on pg. 4, "I hated to leave my family and friends, even though I hadn't been allowed to see them. I felt lonelier than ever." A few sentences later, he states, "In some ways I can't help thinking my time in Tarumi will be a quiet resembling death." In both of these references, he is showing that he is dreadful of the journey because he knows that he will be lonely. In the previous quote, Tsukiyama's reference to the word “quiet” is extremely powerful because she relates it to loneliness and death, which is not the first thing most people think of when they hear the word.
Stephen's family means the world to him- him and his siblings Anne, and Henry are all very close, but he is exceptionally close with his younger sister Pie. He also has a stable relationship with his parents although his father is often traveling for business. They care about him immensely, especially during his time of weakness with TB. In Tarumi, only Matsu is there to care for him. He is very reserved and doesn't speak much to Stephen causing him to feel alone. "In between, I felt so consumed by the quiet, so many different from the summers I had spent here surrounded by my family and the noise of playful children." Stephen is experiencing culture shock- he is not used to not being around civilization and other humans. In the previous quote, Tsukiyama refers to the quiet as force that is possessing Stephen.
Stephen wants to take the trip alone because he hasn't had much time to himself since he has been sick. Also, being alone gives him a chance to improve his painting skills.
The experiences for Stephen in Hong Kong and Tarumi are extremely different. In Hong Kong, although Stephen is sick, he is still surrounded by people and is having a strong social life filled with steady relationships with friends and family. In Tarumi, Stephen is alone, which is something that he is not used to at all. With this alone time Stephen is forced to "begin a journey of self-exploration and personal discovery." Along with the social differences, there are also differences in scenery. In Hong Kong, the streets are overpopulated and crowded. In Tarumi, it is very quiet and calm which brings relaxation to Stephen. He even says, "It's a ceremony I found refreshing after arriving from the dirty streets of Hong Kong."
In the book The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama the feeling of silence and serenity is present almost all the time throughout the beginning of the book. We start capturing some scenes of a quiet and peaceful environment even in the beginning of his journey to the beach house. For example when the train leaves the outskirts of the city and he starts glimpsing at the beautiful landscapes we get the feeling of peace and comfort of the environment. Later in the book some more clear examples of the silence and peace embodying the environment in the story are shown. For example when the main character is arriving at the house and says “I felt consumed by the quiet, so different from the summers I had spent…” (TSG 9) we start noticing that the character is noticing the quietness and peace that surrounds his environment.
So far in the story, the loneliness of Stephen Chen exploded the first 15 pages in The Samurai’s Garden. Stephen Chen grew up in Hong Kong with his family. He stopped his studying because of his illness and moved from his house in Hong Kong to his grandfather’s house in Tarumi, Japan. When he became ill, fell into solitude. As his illness was getting diagnosed, his mom tried not to let his sister, Pie, get too near with him. Even at the night right before he left, he had to turn his little sister away, who only wanted to say goodbye to him because he doesn’t want her get sick as well. The feelings of loneliness didn’t stop after he arrived in Japan. Due to the job of Stephen’s dad, they didn’t spend much time with each other. When they finally met, the dad only had two things to say to his son: one is “Do you have enough money”, the other is “You know you can always reach me at the downtown number.” It is not hard to imagine how bad his relationship with his dad is and how lonesome he was when he arrived in Japan.
Silence is represented in different ways in “The Samurai’s Garden.” One of these representations in the story is loneliness and sorrow. In the first few pages, the word “alone” is used and emphasized on multiple occasions. For instance, on page 4 Stephen is thinking to himself when he says, “In some ways I can’t help but thinking my time in Tarumi will be a quiet resembling death.” This shows how he believes that once he gets out of the city and is no longer with any of his family, it will be lonely and sad, almost like death.
Meanwhile, silence is also used to show awkwardness. On page 5 Stephen and his father are driving to the train station and it is a very quiet car ride because his father and he both know that he will be away from all of his family members for an extended amount of time.
Another important way silence is used in this book is to show change. This is showed in a few different ways. One way is at the start of the book when Stephen is holding his brand new “empty and quiet” book of Japanese parchment paper and he plans to record events in the book. The further he goes and the older he gets, the more change will be recorded on the pages of the book. Another way change is expressed through silence is Stephen’s big move; going from the busy city of Hong Kong to the quiet “summerhouse-town” of Tarumi. When Stephen first arrives, the caretaker, Matsu, is very quiet and only speaks to Stephen when necessary. Whereas later in the book, the more adapt to the change from the city to the quiet beach house Stephen is, the more Matsu speaks and the less silent the quiet beach house becomes.
The silence or quiet in this story mainly revolves around the main character, Stephen. It is evident that through his elongated time of sickness he secludes himself in communication with others besides his sister Pie. An example of Stephen being quiet can be found on page eight when Stephen states, “I waited, letting others disembark first, then followed behind them.” Along with this quotation an example of silence during his train adventure experiences, “The train was half-filled with elderly Japanese men and women and mothers with small children who exchanged conversation with one another in hurried whispers. They mostly spoke of their children from what I could understand, and I was relieved when we finally left the outskirts of the city and I could focus my attention on the fleeting landscape outside the window.” Some people may defend Stephen’s silence in this case because the people were talking about their own children and he does not have any, however, when you are on a train and here about other kids your age during the early 1900’s it seems normal to include yourself in communication and compare yourself through speech with similarities and differences of the mothers children. Although Stephen states that this trip will provide him with internal adventures and an opportunity to work on his passion, painting, he ultimately takes this trip because of the loneliness he has felt after being sick for a long time. “With my father only a few hours away in Kobe, and my mother planning to visit me in a matter of months, I could only breathe in both the fear and attraction of facing the unknown.” This quote states that Stephen has fear to travel and take a risk of being completely alone along with a positive remark to the risk saying it is an attraction of facing the unknown. Stephen is not only weak because of sickness, but he is also weak in belief in himself due to the loneliness he has experienced from both family and friends. If he is able to find the attraction of facing the unknown throughout this trip which would include finding himself, then he will be able to speak and be loud instead of being quiet and silent.
The book shows many aspects of life, and especially emphasizes the feeling of the main character.
From the beginning it shows us many decryptions of the emotions.
Before Stephan leaves to Japan, he thinks it will be a horrible experience. In page 4, "I hated to leave my family and friends, even though I hadn't been allowed to see them. I felt lonelier than ever. In some ways I can't help thinking my time in Tarumi will be a quiet resembling death."
People in his family treat him differently because he is extremely ill. In page 3,"I'll never forget the frightened look in my mother's eyes the day i returned. It was like an animal's fear for her young. I couldn't stop coughing long enough to catch my breath. When King and a manservant carried me up the concrete steps of our house, my mother stood in her green silk cheongsam, lips pressed tightly together in a straight line as if she were holding back a scream."
The reason he wanted to make the trip by himself was because the trip was getting delayed. His father's business was hanging in the balance, and transportations had been interrupted all over China. He wanted to get there faster, because he was feeling sick in the city.
The biggest difference between Hong Kong and Tarumi is that Tarumi's air was much fesh than Hong Kong and also it was very silent and calm in Tarumi compared to Hong Kong.
After re-reading pages 3-11, there were different ways of how Stephen Chan showed some examples of quiet or silence. Because he was sick, he had to live as a quiet man. People would't come to see him and he was living a lonly life. One example of Stephen Chan having a quiet or silence moment in his life was when his dad was taking him to the train station. It was really awkward for him to be in that situation because he didn't know what to say to his father. "The drive to the train station was quiet, my father asking only twice if I was feeling well enough to travel"(TSG5). Because there was nothing to say in the car, both men had to stay quiet until somebody had something to say. Another example of quiet or silence was when Matsu picked up Stephen Chan fromt the train station and was walking back to the beach house. Because they both didn't have anything to say or talk about, Matsu decided to walk ahead of Chan and didn't say anything to him. "Matsu silently walked in his quick gait a few steps ahead of me, as if he were all by himself"(TSG9). Because it was hard for him to talk to anybody, i feel that it kept him to be silence and quiet in the book.
In the “The Samurai’s Garden” written by Gail Tsukiyama, it talks about that Stephen who has TB, traveled alone to Japan in order to see his father and heal his disease. Lots of scenes in my reading so far have a significance of silence and quiet. For example, at the beginning of the story, it is said “I want to find out my own way, so this morning I persuaded my father to let me travel alone from his apartment in Kobe to my grandfather’s beach house in Tarumi”. It is such long way from Hongkong to Japan that he needed to travel alone, destined to be silent and quiet. In addition, he walks fast because he is not willing to communicate with other people and because of his illness, he becomes quiet. “This early autumn there didn’t seem to be anyone else here, just me, Matsu, and a complete, white silence”, I think silence may become the key to help Stephen recovering because there is no air pollution when there is not too many people around him. With the silence and quiet, it may cure his illness.
In the “The Samurai’s Garden” written by Gail Tsukiyama, it talks about that Stephen who has TB, traveled alone to Japan in order to see his father and heal his disease. Lots of scenes in my reading so far have a significance of silence and quiet. For example, at the beginning of the story, it is said “I want to find out my own way, so this morning I persuaded my father to let me travel alone from his apartment in Kobe to my grandfather’s beach house in Tarumi”. It is such long way from Hongkong to Japan that he needed to travel alone, destined to be silent and quiet. In addition, he walks fast because he is not willing to communicate with other people and because of his illness, he becomes quiet. “This early autumn there didn’t seem to be anyone else here, just me, Matsu, and a complete, white silence”, I think silence may become the key to help Stephen recovering because there is no air pollution when there is not too many people around him. With the silence and quiet, it may cure his illness.
When I think of silence or quite, the first two words that came into my mind were bustle and noise. Silence or quite couldn’t exist without in comparison with the feeling of bustle and noisy. In addition, Stephen was moved from crowded Hong Kong to a garden house in Tarumi, Japan. After arrived in the garden house, he wrote:” The house appears smaller than I remember, though it feels comfortable here, with a simplicity I could never find in crowded Hong Kong.” From the quote, I noticed that Stephen likes the garden house in Japan because it is simple and easy. However, silence or quite does not always means something good to Stephen. Ching and Stephen’s mother were always taking care of Stephen that he feels Matsu is quite. “Never once had he stopped, or even asked to see if I was all right. My mother and Ching world have fussed over me, made me rest every five minutes.” Quite and silence that made by Matsu wasn’t made Stephen felt good because he was tired and hot, and Matsu didn’t ask him if he needed a rest.
After reading pages 3-11 in TSG, I believe that silence and quiet are to very unique words. These words are used on page 9, “In between, I felt consumed by the quiet, so different from the summers I had spent here with my family surrounded by the noise of playful children. This early autumn there didn’t seem to be anyone else here, just me, Matsu, and complete, white silence”. I believe that this silence and quiet brings comfort to the man. I feel that silence and quiet is the “cure” for this Chinese man. In the reference from the book he refers to the silence as white silence this leads me to think whether he has ever experienced such silence in his life. This quiet and silence I think will bring him his health with time.
The book Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama is a “coming of age” story about a young man who is very very sick and is basically secluded by himself. In the first entry of the book he is portrayed as lonely and earning for connections with his family and the “outsiders.” He is sent away from his home in Hong Kong to live with his father in Japan. From what I believe to be as his Journal entries that his happy that he finally has the freedoms of being able to leave his father’s house to travel alone to his grandfather’s house “It had taken me nearly two weeks to convince him- you would think I was a child, not a young man of twenty. It seemed a small victory, but I’ve won so few in the past months that it means everything to be me” (TSG pg 3). Once he arrives at his grandfather’s house he writes vivid details of great silence. I believe he is referring to loneliness in his accounts of silence. “In between, I felt consumed by the quiet, so different from the summers I had spent here surrounded by my family and the noise of playful children. This early autumn there didn’t seem to be anyone else here, just me, Matsu, and a complete, white silence” (TSG pg 9). This sentence he explains how he feels great silence and I believe he references how silence is hand in hand with his loneliness when he talks about how the house was full of noise from his family and all the small children.
In the story "The Samurai's Garden" the main character is a young man that is sick. This young man has a great desire to travel,even though he is sick. He wants to travel to Kobe, because it shows how it took two weeks to convince his father to let him travel alone while being sick. While he is at home he is always being watched wether it be his mother or one of the maids. He is never left to do what he wants, just what these people think is best. Once in Tarumi, from the start Matsu treats him differently from his other family members. Matsu will not treat him as an "invalid". The young man is not used to this because typically everyone waits hand and foot on him.
When the young man says he finally convinced his father to let him travel alone, he also later states that this make be the steps to his recovery of this sickness he has. This traveling can help him but he also mentioned quietness a lot. I feel that the quiet is going to be very important because it can be hard to find whats wrong with many distractions. He says Tarumi is much more quiet than what he remembers, because what he remembers is when they were kids being noisy. This silence could help him figure out what could be wrong.
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