Memoirs Of Geisha Essay Example For Students

Memoirs Of Geisha Essay Plot: This exotic fable is about a young, innocent girl named Chiyo (9 years oldin 1929) who lives in a poor fishing village in Yoroido with her older sisterSatsu, her father and sick mother. Since Chiyos mother is going to die soonand her father cant do much to support their family, he sells his twodaughters into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Chiyo has unusual blue-grayeyes, which later helps her capture peoples attention, especially mens. Unfortunately, her sister is taken to a different district and from this timeon, little Chiyo lives her life in agony because she has no family left andshes a maid serving a notorious geisha named Hatsumomo. Hatsumomo can also bereferred to as a witch because she does anything like spreading false rumors tomake Chiyos life miserable. One day while running an errand for the housethat she lives in, Chiyo falls down on a stone near a river and starts to cryfor she can no longer endure the pain and hardships she is going through at sucha young age. Luckily, the Chairman of a wealthy electric company comes acrossher while hes walking with his business associates. He takes notice of herand goes up to see what is the matter with her. As he lifts her chin up andlooks into her eyes, he is marveled by the beauty her eyes posses. All he can dois stare. He gives her a handkerchief and a few compliments and tells her not toworry because everything will be fine. The Chairman then leaves but he nev erleaves Chiyos thoughts or dreams. He is the only person who has been kind toher all her life and for the past years, all she dreams about is meeting thiswonderful man again and getting to know him. To make a long story short, theChairman never forgets Chiyo and how beautiful she is, so he goes to awell-known geisha by the name of Mameha and asks her to adopt Chiyo as heryounger sister so she can train her to become a geisha too. The Mother of thehouse where Chiyo lives is a wicked woman and when Mameha comes to arrange Chiyoto become her younger sister, Mother agrees but knows that Chiyo wont eversucceed. Hatsumomo tells people lies about Sayuri (her named changed from Chiyoto Sayuri after she became an apprentice geisha) so she can ruin her careerbecause she is jealous. Mameha, on the other hand, is Hatsumomos enemy so sheintroduces Sayuri to popular men so she can wins their hearts and attention. This is the next time Sayuri meets the Chairman but now shes all grown up;she doesnt know if he remembers her. The Chairmans partner, Nobu likesSayuri and he wants to become her danna ? having Sayuri as his mistress. Yearsafter years of struggling to be with Sayuri, he never succeeds. During thiswhole time Sayuri is in love with the Chairman but he never seems to payattention to her. Finally, the Chairman and Sayuri tell each other how they feeltowards one another and he becomes her danna (sort of like a husband, but notexactly). They travel to the United States on business trips and after a fewyears, Sayuri moves to New York City from Gion, Japan to make her living as ateahouse owner and an artist?geisha. 2) Ending: Sayuri is able to find her wayout from becoming the mistress of a few men who are interested in her. All herlife of living in misery comes to an end the day the Chairman comes to talk toher and tells her how much he likes her and has liked her ever since he laideyes on h er by the river when she was just a little girl. Sayuri tells him thathe is what shes wanted all her life and they finally are able to be together. .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede , .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .postImageUrl , .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede , .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede:hover , .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede:visited , .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede:active { border:0!important; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede:active , .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9fb4f129b078b299464723c882ef2ede:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Vegetarian (Health, Ethics And Environmetnal Effects) EssayThey travel together and she settles in New York City and opens a teahouse wheremen go there and engage in a conversation with geishas. The Chairman dies afterSayuri moves to New York City but he lives on inside her heart. 3) a. Maincharacter: Of course, the main character in this book is Sayuri who is a mostlybelievable heroine. Her ambitions were not always rational but this creates amore imperfect and human character. Through her eyes, we see the decadent heartof Gionthe geisha district of Kyotowith its marvelous teahouses andtheaters, narrow back alleys, ornate temples, and artists streets. Hertransformation is seen as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance andmusic; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup and hair; pouring sake to reveal just atouch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for mens solicitude andthe money that goes with it. Soon, World War II begins and the geisha houses areforced to close. Sayuri, with the help of her admirer, Nobu, is taken into ahaven where she spends the remainder of the war sewing balloons (hot-air balloonand parachutes). Growing up without any parents, she leads an awful life butwith the help of the Chairman and Mameha, she is able to work herself up andbecome a dignified woman who captures the hearts of many. b. Problem-conflict:The main conflict is that some geishas in Japan would do anything to ruin thereputation of others because the fewer geisha there are and the more popularthey are, the more money they will make. So Hatsumomo, an envious geisha setsout to ruin Sayuris life who has nothing nor anyone in this world. In thisnovel, Say uri proves to be the toughest one out of Hatsumomo and many othergeisha because she works herself up respectively and wins the admirations ofso many people that she is soon adopted as the daughter of the house she used toserve and live in. After all, the one who deserved all the kindness and respectreceived it although it took many years and a great deal of sufferings. c. Antagonist Id be a liar if I didnt tell you that Hatsumomo was theantagonist in this story although some other people tried to do bad things too. But she was the corrupt one who caused Sayuri so much grief and made her liveunder her control. One time, she told the Mother of the house that Sayuri hasstolen her bracelet and the Mother believed her. She beat Sayuri and asked herto pay for an expensive piece of jewelry she had not even touched. Hatsumomoalso tried to end Sayuris geisha days but Im happy to say that she wentdown herself, d. Climax: The climax of the story was when Sayuri had arranged tosleep with the Minister and have Nobu find her with him. Something happened thatchanged everything. Instead of Nobu discovering them together, the Chairmanwalked in and you can imagine how Sayuri felt. The reason why Sayuri had plannedthis scheme for Nobu to find them was because Nobu wanted to become Sayurisdanna and Sayuri didnt like him although he had been kind enough to her tosave her from working in the factories because he cared about her. Obviously shedidnt like him so she had planned that if Nobu walked in on them together, hewould change his mind about her. But after the Chairman saw her with theMinister, he went and told Nobu. As for Sayurishe thought the Chairman wouldhate her and she would never have a chance with him. She was wrong, for in fact,this incident made the Chairman realize how important she really was to him andhow much he liked her. Therefore, three days later he sought to see her andthats when he told her how he felt about her and she was stunned. This eventturned things around and they ended up being together after 18 years of waitingto make a move. e. Resolution: After Nobu heard how unfaithful she had beentowards him, he completely erased Sayuri from his life. Never did he mention hername again. He had told her before that if she were to betray him, he wouldnever forgive her. So as I mentioned before, the Chairman and Sayuri becamelovers and she became his mistress since he was married. And for the remainderof their lives, they lived pleasantly. f. Theme (deeper meaning) What I tak e tobe the theme of this memoir is that a person can accomplish anything in life ifthey have set their mind on it and if they believe they can get there. Nevergiving up hope and always looking for a brighter day will eventually lead you towhat youre out there searching for. In Sayuris case, she was a slave whowon the heart of a man and worked herself up to become one of the mostsuccessful geishas in all of Japan and to be united with the man she loved whomotivated her all her life. I learned to be courageous from Sayuri and nevergive up dreaming because I believe that if you want something badly, you cantransform your dreams into realties. g. Foreshadowing This could have been seenwhen wherever Sayuri went in the evenings, Hatsumomo followed her and it becameobvious that she was plotting to go to those teahouses and spread rumors abouther to the people she had recently entertained. Another foreshadowing can beseen when the Mother of the house adopts Sayuri because we know that Hatsu momohad been living in that house much longer than Sayuri had and she had hopes ofbeing the one adopted. So it was apparent as to what would happen to her andthat is, she became enraged and fought with the Mother, therefore, she waskicked out of the house onto the streets. The final foreshadowing I was able tosee was when Sayuri was sleeping with the Minister because there were footstepsnear the building and the Minister assumed it was only birds chirping but Ifigured it would either be Nobu or the Chairman and indeed, it was the Chairman.