Culture and Identity
World Literature
Culture and Identity
It has been said that a life changing event will happen in every generation to change how the world works; for example, the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. These two events caused the entire world to change the course of their actions. The impact was strongest, however, in the lives of the Japanese. It changed almost everything about the Japanese culture, art and identity. Before the bombings of Hiroshima, the Japanese culture was based largely on the samurai traditions: loyalty to death, saving ones face, maintaining honor, pride and honorable death. Most people in Japanese society were not part of the samurai elite, but those philosophies filtered into everyday culture. The people valued the beauty of nature, family, work ethic, simplicity and discipline. All of this changed, however, once the atomic bombs were dropped on the two unsuspecting cities.
“…The Japanese experience is one of an ancient culture that in one nuclear moment in August 1945 was blasted into the future” (Identity Crisis). The bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were almost like the rebirth of Japan. In those two deadly and destructive blasts, Japan had lost an estimate of 230,000 people instantly, thousands more due to radiation and other long-term effects and suffered a great amount of psychological issues for years to come (The Manhattan Project). This affected many aspects of Japanese culture and this is especially seen in the literature of various Japanese authors. What these authors showed was the loss of an individuality, or identity. After American occupancy, the Japanese seemed to lose the traditions that they normally held on to dearly. When Japanese culture and identity are called into play, I think primarily of two pieces of literature that depict the drastic change and loss of identity: MishimaYukio’s “The Damask Drum” and Abé Kobo’s “The Red Cocoon.”
Mishima’s “The Damask Drum” is an
Culture and Identity
It has been said that a life changing event will happen in every generation to change how the world works; for example, the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. These two events caused the entire world to change the course of their actions. The impact was strongest, however, in the lives of the Japanese. It changed almost everything about the Japanese culture, art and identity. Before the bombings of Hiroshima, the Japanese culture was based largely on the samurai traditions: loyalty to death, saving ones face, maintaining honor, pride and honorable death. Most people in Japanese society were not part of the samurai elite, but those philosophies filtered into everyday culture. The people valued the beauty of nature, family, work ethic, simplicity and discipline. All of this changed, however, once the atomic bombs were dropped on the two unsuspecting cities.
“…The Japanese experience is one of an ancient culture that in one nuclear moment in August 1945 was blasted into the future” (Identity Crisis). The bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were almost like the rebirth of Japan. In those two deadly and destructive blasts, Japan had lost an estimate of 230,000 people instantly, thousands more due to radiation and other long-term effects and suffered a great amount of psychological issues for years to come (The Manhattan Project). This affected many aspects of Japanese culture and this is especially seen in the literature of various Japanese authors. What these authors showed was the loss of an individuality, or identity. After American occupancy, the Japanese seemed to lose the traditions that they normally held on to dearly. When Japanese culture and identity are called into play, I think primarily of two pieces of literature that depict the drastic change and loss of identity: MishimaYukio’s “The Damask Drum” and Abé Kobo’s “The Red Cocoon.”
Mishima’s “The Damask Drum” is an
Cited: "A Vision of Japan in the 21st Century." Intsitute for International Policy Studies. 5 Sept. 2006. Web. 19 Sept. 2010. "Identity Crisis of the Japanese People." Identity Crisis of the Japanese People. Ed. Junko Sekiya. Web. 19 Sept. 2010. Kobo, Abe. "The Red Cocoon." Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Twentieth Century 1900-Present. Vol. 6. New York: Bedford/st Martins, 2006. 918-20. Print. "The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945." Department of Energy - CFO Home. Web. 19 Sept. 2010. Mishima Yukio. “The Damask Drum.”