Mansa Musa Diary
It is early in the day and I am getting ready to set off on the hajj with Mansa Musa. I'm going to the hajj to offer advice and record observations. I'm packing my journal and my pen to get ready to record my observations. We are heading to the Muslim holy city Mecca. This would spread the African king's name far and wide. I have brown hair and black eyes. I am 13 years old. I counted and see about 60,000 people going to the hajj, 12,000 slaves who were Mansa Musa's personal servants, 500 slaves who carry gold, 1000 camels, 80–100 camels who carry gold, 100–300 pounds of gold each camel, and 24000 pounds total amount of gold.
Clinical Idleness Essay
Clinical Idleness Stage
After the intense phase of HIV contamination, the sickness moves into a phase called the "clinical inactivity" organize. "Inertness" implies a period where an infection is living or creating in a man without delivering side effects. Amid the clinical dormancy arrange, individuals who are tainted with HIV encounter no indications, or just gentle ones. (This stage is here and there called "asymptomatic HIV contamination" or "incessant HIV disease.")
Amid the clinical dormancy arrange, the HIV infection keeps on imitating at low levels, regardless of the possibility that it can't be distinguished with standard research facility tests. On the off chance that you take Craftsmanship, you may live with clinical inactivity
Synthesis Essay On Gender History
The history of gender is a tentative subject in the United States. Much of what is known of American history is written from a domineeringly white male perspective. This course has resolved to identify the breadth of information missing from the equation of gender history in the early twentieth century and continue the conversation. However, it would be inappropriate to solely look at gender. Gender is multi–dimensional, and as such there are a multitude of factors that need to be accounted for when analyzing gender history. Race and gender establish a coevolution between one another, and in many ways race defines gender. The concept of a gendered race creates an overlap of stereotypes that can at times inadvertently define a person's societal
Douglas MacArthur, military chief for World War II, once said,"Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." For those who survive battle and return home safely, an entirely unique battle begins: learning how to move on. Vietnam War veterans specifically felt a lack of respect and acknowledgement from their fellow citizens because of the controversial causes of the war. In the chapter "Speaking of Courage" of The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien's use of the symbolism of circles demonstrates the state of eternal meaninglessness and idleness that Vietnam–War–survivors like Norman Bowker experiences after returning home. In "Speaking of Courage," O'Brien captures Norman Bowker's failure to settle into his new life as a veteran...show more content...
While Bowker was in Vietnam, he often did not have a watch or a way to tell time, so he learned to estimate the time of day by the position of the sun. O'Brien states, "he clamped the steering wheel slightly right of center, which produced a smooth clockwise motion against the curve of the road. The chevy seemed to know its own way. The sun was lower now. Five fifty–five, he decided–six o'clock, tops" (138). In this situation, Bowker's sense of time implies once again his life's resemblance to a circle; on a radian clock, the hands rotate around and around the center, never changing their pattern and never traveling anywhere new. Norman Bowker, both literally and figuratively travels in an endless circle, incapable of making progress in his new life as a
Essays In Idleness By Virginia Woolf
Konko. "Essays in Idleness" (30–36)
"Essays in Idleness is a compilation of fragments of writing by the Japanese author Kenko, that he wrote in his moments of idleness and boredom. These writings seem to flow as freely as thoughts and range in themes, from love and beauty to death and the home, but a recurring theme in Kenko's writing is a longing for the past as he describes changes in the culture and traditions around him. Kenko notices the changes in things such as language which is constantly changing. In fact, people today still struggle to understand the way that language changes as they grow, from new words being created and definitions being changed continuously. Kenko however, understands that you can not hide from time, change, and death and explains that even if you shut yourself away from the world in an effort to avoid it, the "enemy called change" will always attack one way or another. He may long for the past and for tradition, but he doesn't try to run away from it, as he understands that change is inevitable. Instead, Kenko chooses to write about the past and how things have changed, as he believes that writing and possessions linger long after people die and writing is one of the ways to keep a time alive.
Woolf, Virginia. "Street Haunting" (256–265) In Virginia Woolf's essay, 'Street Haunting", she explores themes of perception and identity through a story about walking through an empty London street during the evening to buy a pencil, a seemingly mundane task. Woolf puts into words the thoughts and feelings we may have when were alone and vividly captures these moments in her writing, the way people make stories in their heads and dwell on what might have been. She warns that our minds can take us to dangerous places, "deeper than the eyes approve", and that we can lose ourselves in our thoughts and start to question our identities, wondering, "Is the true self which stands on the pavement in January, or that which bends over the balcony in June?" The way Woolf uses description in this essay makes the scenes seem to come to life and make you see things in a new light, such as how she describes entering a new room, as an adventure, or how she describes second–hand books. She also
Mental Illness In Schools Essay
How Mental Health Disorders Affect Social Inclusion of Peers in School
Students in the classroom come from a variety of backgrounds. Their lives are shaped by their families, their communities, but also their peers in school whom they will spend hours a day with throughout their educational career. The ability to form relationships with others, to create lasting friendships that grow and evolve with time, is detrimental to all children and their development. Lacking the ability to do so, whether it is directly because of their conditions or because of how other students perceive them, can dramatically harm them emotionally and mentally.
The purpose of this report is to examine how mental health disorders affect a student's social interactions with their peers, namely how it limits such interactions and how this...show more content...
This increase in understanding in the class room and overall school system can be achieved through the implementation of several programs created that target students as well as programs for instructors as well as adding informational posters throughout the school (Weisman et al., 2016, p. 710).
Programs aimed at the instructors usually follow the action plan "ALGEE" an acronym that means "assess the risk of suicide or harm; listen non–judgmentally; give reassurance and information; encourage appropriate professional help; encourage self–help strategies" (Jorm, Kitchener, Sawyer, Scales, & Cvetkovski, 2010, p.1). Being able to follow these steps not only has the potential to recognize struggling students and identify when stigmatizing activities are occurring, but makes the teacher someone whom they know they can turn to even if they have been excluded and isolated from their
Atsumori
Four Characteristics of Buddhist Literature
Atsumori is Nō drama from Japan. Nō drama was "originated as drama for the upper and samurai classes (the educated classes) and was heavily influenced by Buddhism" (Gibson). Atsumori has four characteristics of being Buddhist literature because Buddhist beliefs are woven into the drama, it talks about the afterlife of Atsumori, the focus "on the emotion of the character rather than the audience" (Gibson) and yugen.
Atsumori was killed by Kumagai during a battle, Kumagai then became a Buddhist priest because of his "grief at the death of Atsumori" (Seami). Since he became a Buddhist priest, Kumagai changed his name to priest Rensei. Priest Rensi now "pray[s] for the salvation of Atsumori's soul" (Seami). Atsumori asks priest Rensi to "pray the Ten Prayers for" (Seami) him and he does but wants to know the name of the one who is asking. Buddhist beliefs are incorporate into the drama very well.
In order for Atsumori to be happy in the afterlife, he has to attain nirvana and has not because he wanted revenge for his death. In the end of the drama, priest Rensi "has obtain salvation for his foe; so that they shall be re–born together" (Seami). This is another Buddhist belief that was included into the...show more content...
Nō drama, again is "heavily influenced by Buddhism" (Gibson) and the emotion of the character allows the audience to understand what the person in going thru. Also permits the character "to purge his/her emotions to have a happy life (or afterlife)" (Gibson). Atsumori allows himself to remember the events before his death and felt the emotions that he went thru. The feeling of perplexity when "the Royal Boat and the soldiers' boats have sailed far away" (Seami). At the end Atsumori says "No, Rensi is not my enemy. Pray for me again, oh pray for me again" (Seami) which allows Atsumori to feel at peace with his former
Analysis Of Natsume Soseki 's Kokoro
Natsume Soseki's Kokoro illustrates the struggles of a young man (the narrator) who was alienated from his family and his loneliness as he pursues acceptance and love by building a friendship with an elder. As a parallel to this, the elder (Sensei), sought an end to his social isolation through his love to a woman whose qualities were not tainted by modernity. K, Sensei's childhood friend, had also hinted his struggles in isolation as he tried to keep to his idealistic principles. This paper will analyze the isolation and loneliness that was faced by the Japanese people during a period of significant modernization and how they approached it and attempted to solve the conflict between tradition and modernity.
Meiji Ishin was a time of revolution in 1868 that restored practical imperial order to Japan under Emperor Meiji, thus reconstructing the government. Many people had high hopes in this new order of government but the older generation was torn between their tradition and modernization. In Kokoro, Sensei was a character that illustrated loneliness and isolation in his individual struggles with this conflict. In the present, he said that he represented neither the new or old tradition but rather a representation of a person who was caught in–between the traditional belief and modern belief. Here I quote, "You see, I am an inconsistent person. This inconsistency may not be so much a natural part of my character as the effect that the remembrance of my own past has had on
Anais Nin, a Cuban author, once said, "We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection". Writing is like photography. It has a thousand different meanings and will always be there for times of reminiscing. It has been an important part of my life by enabling me to convey my inner thoughts that cannot easily be spoken. It serves as proof of my greatest memories, but also moments of despair. However, there were several obstacles and hurdles that had prevented me from writing to my desirability.
Despite that, the journey that I have encountered through writing has led me to overcome challenges and has transformed me into a more skillful writer. During the stages of writing, the most difficult part for me is...show more content...
However, the persuasive essay assignment I had to do for my writing class this semester changed my perspective. I chose to write about how frequent testing benefits college students. I also encountered writer's block when I began this writing assignment, and decided to take a different approach. I began making an outline of how
I was going to structure the essay, and used my annotated bibliography as a reference to which points I needed to address. To my surprise, the outline really helped aid me through writing my paper rather than limit me. It was the foundation of what my writing would become, and reminded me of my main focus if I ever got sidetracked. The outline also helped me direct each key point in my persuasive essay, such as, "Frequent testing is beneficial to students because it promotes better study habits, decreases risks for stress, and aids in the learning experience overall." In my opinion, this statement is conveyed in an affirmative tone, which is something I had a hard time with in my past writings. I used to have a hard time with this because I never used to be confident in my opinions. Due to the lack of confidence, my writings resulted to a temporary downfall. The uncertainty of my opinions became visible in my writing.
Nonetheless, through the discovery of myself, I learned to voice my own opinion. Besides writing more affirmatively, I also had difficulty using sources to support
my
Analysis Of Kimi No Na Wa
Kimi No Na Wa, or Your Name in English, is a film that was released in April 2017. Kimi No Na Wa tells the story of two high schoolers who swap bodies. Taki is a high school boy who lives in Tokyo. He has a job in a busy Italian restaurant and dreams of becoming an architect. Mitsuha is a high school girl who lives in rural Japan and fantasizes about life in Tokyo. Due to a supernatural occurrence of a comet, Mitsuha and Taki are able to swap bodies. Through their body swaps, they are both able to experience a life that was unknown to them. Taki and Mitsuha bring light to two different lifestyles within Japan. One life highlights the traditional culture. The other life highlights the modern culture. Through the body swaps, the difference...show more content...
Additionally, Mitsuha's craving for the modernization of Tokyo shares parallels to Ghost in the Shell. Batou states, "if man realizes technology is in reach, he achieves it. Like it's damn near instinctive" (Ghost in the Shell). While Mitsuha is Taki's body, she is seen using various parts of modernity that is not available to her in Itomori. She instinctively spends Taki's money on various sweets and uses his phone to take pictures and text Taki's crush. While Taki does not use his phone to the same extent of Mistuha, he uses his phone to log what he does while he is in Mitsuha's body. In contrast to Taki, Mitsuha actions embodies how many millennials act with their usage of their phones.
Existing alongside the lively modern culture is the traditional Japanese culture. In the movie, traditional Japanese culture is still alive in Mitsuha's hometown. "Mitsuha nevertheless becomes an embodiment of furusato (hometown): of premodern traditions that consist of communal intimacy, folkloric practices, the pre–rational and occult pagan belief system" (Noh, Nostalgia in Anime). "Furusato, a term that, as Robertson explains, is linked to the word 'furu [i] (old) signif[ying] pastness, historicity, age, quaintness and the patina of familiarity and naturalness that cultural artifacts and human relationships acquire with age, use and interation" (Napier, 293). Mitsuha is the embodiment
Jefferson And Idleness
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "Determine never to be idle... It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing." I do not believe that Jefferson intended to say that we should never take time to rest, rather that we can accomplish more when we do more. I agree with his principle because always doing something keeps our minds occupied, increases productivity, and helps us to be more creative. The good thing about working on something on something all the time is that it takes our minds off of bothersome situations. Often, the situations arise again after a while, but it can help to take the shock out of an issue that happened suddenly. Similarly, it gives us time to cope with problems that occur throughout our daily life. It also keeps
Complexity: Analyzing Industry and Idleness
ENGL 331 Restoration & 18th Century Literature
Complexity: Analyzing Industry and Idleness
On the surface, William Hogarth's overall message seems simple; those who work hard and continue to stay diligent, as well as focused, will relish in riches whilst those who slack off like Tom Idle are destined towards poverty. However, if read more closely, Hogarth actually challenges that superficial reading by the immense amount of detail put into each plate specifically in regards to each person. At first glance, we are able to see exactly what he intended, Francis Goodchild's good fortune contrasted against Tom Idle's misfortune. In addition to this, Hogarth intended for another message to be received. As Hogarth praises Goodchild throughout the plates, he also effectively criticizes not only his work ethic, but him solely. More or less, Hogarth's purpose with Industry and Idleness was to raise the moral of the lower class people and encourage the reader to look past the superficial reading for something more fulfilling.
It is vital to look at both apprentices' backgrounds by analyzing the many hidden messages and themes that Hogarth inserted into each plate. By doing this, the reader can get a renewed sense of contemporary society during this time frame. Aside from this, it can also help to understand the ethics of the eighteenth century and the aspects of life. This plate series is based on a "moral code" in which Hogarth gives specific notions of morality directed towards
The shift in ideals of femininity is what accounts for Oseki's plight in The Thirteenth Night. Her story indicates that her son (Taro)'s birth was what led to Isamu's sudden transformation. His abusive behavior centers on her being "a woman without education" (Higuchi and Tanaka, 1960, p.382). The fact that he mocks Oseki for being "too stupid to confide in", and that "he is keeping [her] in his house merely as wet nurse for Taro" is significant – Oseki's lack of education is perceived to have rendered her completely incapable of performing the roles of 'wife' and 'mother' as defined by Meiji society (Higuchi and Tanaka, 1960, p.383). This is in spite of how she was brought up in a time when education for girls was not considered necessary, and that Isamu had been informed of her background when he courted her. Speculated to have climbed the social ladder through academic achievements, Isamu is the "quintessential self–made man", an "established literary type" and embodiment of 'modernity'...show more content...
Not only was Oseki's experience telling of the constructed nature of feminine ideals and gender roles, it also served to highlight the objectification and commodification of women within male–dominated networks of expectations and ideologies. While Higuchi herself was not pushing for any feminist aims explicitly, the end result of eliciting the reader's critique of the Meiji Japanese society makes The Thirteenth Night a crucial work in reflecting the gender issues then. Higuchi's use of Classical Japanese in her writing could also be seen as a deliberate attempt to carve out a uniquely–feminine sphere within the male literary sphere and challenge male hegemonic writing practices. As such, the Classical Japanese that Higuchi employs in her writing can be interpreted as a 'feminine' language as
Reflection Of Water In Siddhartha
Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, tells about how Siddhartha, the main character, is not taught by any essentialistic truths that Buddha may have to offer, but by the non–essentialistic behaviors in the movement of the water. The motion and life–likeness of water is classified as an important symbol of the impermanence that Buddhists embrace in their thinking. Water to Siddhartha and his mentor, Vasudeva, is not just something for them to ferry people across, but a teacher to help them understand the constantly changing nature of existence. The water taught Siddhartha many lessons, but most importantly it taught him to live in the present, the past always comes back; hence, life is transitory and truths impermanent. Siddhartha gains his first lesson...show more content...
The motions symbolize how in Buddhism the now is perfect, that everything comes back to you, and in life you have to go through many things to gain different aspects of a whole. These three concepts, Siddhartha learns from the flowing of the water, help him in the concepts of the cyclical journeying during life. The living in the now, the past coming back, and life being transitory form different journeys in their own ways, and become reasons that help in the idea of the constant journeying Siddhartha will go through during life. Buddhism teaches the same topic, that life keeps going and you are always in a constant state of journeying to achieve components of a whole, Enlightenment. The water acts as a symbol in Buddhism because it teaches the exact same things the religion lectures about. The water symbolizes a metaphor for the journey of the Buddha, or Siddhartha, learning from multiple different ways of living, to find a life–style knowledgable enough for him. Siddhartha is Buddha and his journeys lead him to become a ferry man that learns from the water who's life–likeness is equal to the laws of Buddhist thinking,
Analysis Of Yasunari Kawabata's Thousand Cranes
Gandhi once was asked what he thought of western civilization, answering that "it would be a very good idea", and in Yasunari Kawabata's Thousand Cranes, Kawabata exposes the emerging movement from tradition to westernization in post–war Japan. Kawabata enriches his novel with a variety of intricate relationships between children and their parents, exposing how the loss of tradition begins at home. Ironically, Kawabata then depicts how even the teachers of tradition manipulate it with their hate and jealousy, tainting the new generation's knowledge of tradition, and thus moving them away from it. This movement away from tradition allows the new generation to easily recognize and be influenced by Japan's newfound westernization. Therefore, through parents, Chikako's poison, and the new generation; Kawabata explores the decaying tradition of the tea ceremony, expounding the shift from tradition to westernization in post–war Japan.
Children observe their parents, assess them carefully, and know their parents better than parents do their children, which explains why the power parents have towards influencing their children is limitless. In the novel, Kawabata exposes this power by linking the parents and their children together, revealing how as parents begin to lose their tradition, so do their children. The protagonist of the novel Kikuji states that "he had never been tempted to take up the [tea ceremony] himself, however...his father had never pressed him [to]" (Kawabata
Yoshida Kenko's Theory On The Beginning And End
Then, when the time reaches 12:00, everyone happily cheers, and fireworks are set off. Kenko's theory about the beginnings and ends holds true in this situation. Everyone celebrates the end of one year and the beginning of the next year, but no one celebrates throughout the year. This is because the beginnings and ends are the most interesting and memorable moments of events.
In addition to his theory on the Beginning and End, Kenko also writes about his theory on the importance of perishable beauty. Kenko begins essay 25 by stating that the world is unstable, and that "times change and things disappear: joy and sorrow come and go; a place that once thrived turns into an uninhabited moor; a house may remain unaltered, but its occupants will...show more content...
Kenko's opinion of art is that "Expert knowledge in any art is a noble thing" (Kenko 45). Kenko believes that learning an art is a worthy pursuit, and even gives tips on how one should approach the learning process. In essay 150, Kenko describes a common approach beginners take when learning an art. The beginner says, "I won't rush things and tell people I am practicing while I am still a beginner. I'll study by myself and only when I have mastered the art will I perform before people. How impressed they'll be then!" (Kenko 134). This is the wrong approach for beginners, Kenko states. A novice should mingle with the experts, accepting their comments and criticism, and learning from them. Even without natural talents, a novice can surpass the experts after years of practice, and eventually become an authority in his art, gaining public recognition and a good reputation. Kenko reminds readers that even the most skilled experts were once incompetent, and had many faults. However, through persistence and diligence, they became paragons and teachers of their art. Kenko also states that although being knowledgeable in an art is admirable, it does not make one man better, or more accomplished, than another man. For example, a stupid man who is a skilled at Go is ignorant if he believes he is superior to an intelligent man who is unskilled at Go (Kenko 165). People should not criticize others
Man’yōshū vs. Kokinshū and Their Significance
The Man'yōshū and the Kokinshū are perhaps among the most revered and earliest collections of Japanese poetry. The Man'yōshū, meaning "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves (or Generations)," is believed to be compiled by the poet Ōtomo no Yakamochi sometime after AD 759 during the Nara Period. It contains over 4,000 poems, mostly tanka, that date before the end of the eighth century, and the writings are somewhat divided chronologically into four periods. Almost two centuries later, the Kokin waka shū or Kokinshū, meaning "Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern," was compiled under the imperial command of Emperor Daigo in AD 905 during the Heian Period by several well–known poets like Ki no Tsurayuki. Unlike the Man'yōshū, the Kokinshū's...show more content...
In addition, the Kokinshū also contains the manajo, or Chinese preface, which served as a political statement to China about the recognition of Japanese poetry as its own. The Man'yōshū, on the other hand, though it had many concluding envoys for its poetry, did not have a preface written by its compilers or poets. The Man'yōshū and the Kokinshū also had different poetic forms, styles, and themes. While the majority of waka in both collections were tanka (short poems), the Man'yōshū contained much more chōka (long poems) and sedōka (head–repeated poems) than the Kokinshū, which only contained about ten of these altogether (Miner, 161, 163). By the time of the Kokinshū's compilation in the Heian Period, both chōka and sedōka had greatly decreased in popularity. In terms of style, the Man'yōshū portrayed makoto (sincerity) while the Kokinshū displayed miyabi (courtly refinement) (Varley, 60–61). For instance, in dealing with love, the
Hopeless Love : Act Of Worship
Hopeless love: Act of Worship "When the coffee came, she held out the silver sugar bowl for him to help himself from first, and as he took it their fingertips came into brief contact. She apologized immediately, but a suspicion plagued her that he had seen the contact as premeditated on her part. It continued to plague her in the maddening heat on the train, so that every time the steady waving of the professor's fan suddenly stopped her heart seemed to stop with it. She had never reacted in this way before. Perhaps the sense of responsibility she'd felt ever since the train had left Tokyo Station had made her oversensitive? The incident, for which there was no way of apologizing naturally, continued to weigh on her till, combining with the heat, it made it impossible for her to enjoy the scenery outside." In Yukio Mishima's short story Act of Worship we see Tsuneko, a housekeeper of Professor Fujimiya, accompanying him on a pilgrimage to the Kumano shrines in the professor's hometown. Along the way she begins to feel uneasy towards everything. There could possibly be a more hidden meaning behind why Tsuneko is anxious. This paper argues the possibility the Tsuneko is possibly falling for the Professor. Let's start at the beginning, Tsuneko admits that the only relationship between the Professor and herself is strictly business. However, we're all human and life, or in this case love, will always find a way. In this passage, nothing really is happening if you look at it
The Diary Of Lady Murasaki
In the essentially dual religious system in Japan, ideologies and traditions play a heavy role in the everyday life of the Japanese people. Shintoism and Buddhism intertwine and complement themselves in Japanese culture, despite Buddhism coming in from mainland Asia. A particularly powerful idea from Buddhism is mono no aware, the realization and acknowledgment of the impermanence and its place in the world. This idea that nothing stays the same forever manifests itself heavily in Japanese literature, whether in personal writings or fictional works. Despite spanning hundreds of years, each work was shaped by and include manifestations of mono no aware. I intend to underline and pinpoint instances that mono no aware is influencing these works, and discuss similarities and differences between them. In this paper, I have three works that I will explore, each one corresponding to a different time period before the pre–industrial revolution; The Diary of Lady Murasaki comes from the classical period, Essays in Idleness from the medieval, and the immensely popular play Chushingura from the pre–modern era. Kenko, the Buddhist monk and author of Essays in Idleness, took great satisfaction in the idea of impermanence. A hefty amount of this work deals with Kenko talking about Buddhist values and the beauty of change. He felt that "if man was never to fade like the dews of Adishino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered forever in the world, how things would
Since the modern era, Japanese literature has adopted new writing aspects as a response of Occidentalism. Some Japanese writers have manifested through their literary works this substitution of culture that besides of being just external changes, it left deep internal conflicts of adaptation in the society. Accordingly, the short story "The Elephant Vanishes" by Haruki Murakami, one of the most popular Japanese writers of the 21th century, portrays an alienated man who is obsessed with the vanishing of an old elephant and its keeper. Murakami gives the old elephant a symbolic meaning; therefore, its disappearance seems to question the existence of the traditional way of life in Tokyo. Further, the author has a lot of western influences in...show more content...
This is often seen in major industrialized cities like New York where people is unsociable in their own communities; hence, this cannot be considered as human progress. In the story, the author creates an ambiguous environment by describing the changes in the infrastructure of the town. In consequence, the main character is an unknown solitary man and represents the whole new society of the modern world. He seems to be emotional isolated due to the loss of identity created by the replacement of culture; in that way, he develops a unique bond to the relationship between the old elephant and the keeper. This isolation is the result of the Japanese economy modernization because large corporations establishes businesses where the population works long hours. Thus, the society has to modify the way of life. Therefore, the character's only salvation is this relationship which might represent his hope for a real human connection. In the 20th century, Japan experienced an American enculturation. In the story, the main character works as a salesman of kitchen equipment presumably for an American corporation; that is why, he must use the word "kitchen" instead of the Japanese word. (Goossen 409). This implies the process of Americanization and at the same time the break with the Japanese traditional culture. This is very difficult to understand because it is a traumatic process in which the Japanese society had to renounce the deeply rooted traditions and substitute them for