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Lemon
Oct 21, 2015 20:48:23 GMT
Post by Airy Yeh on Oct 21, 2015 20:48:23 GMT
I liked this story; it was fun to read. I think the color of the lemon represents the feeling of happiness for the main character. It also represents the beauty of nature in contrast to the more shadowy hues the author perceives in a modern, industrial setting. In the story, Maruzen is a large department store that sells human-made material goods like cologne and clothes. The author once used to enjoy going to Maruzen, but he is not attracted to the fancy store anymore. Rather, he takes great pleasure in a green-store that sells fruit and vegetables. I've had a similar experience like him where I felt so fascinated in the green section of a supermarket after shopping in stores rather like Maruzen all day. It felt so refreshing and kind of revitalizing to see the bright, lively colors of fresh vegetables and fruit after spending so much time seeing clothes, bags, and shoes. I was amazed that their bright colors were of nature and not of a man-made product. I think he felt something similar in the lemon; it represents something wonderful, bright, and happy that has infinite value just because it comes from nature and not from a factory. The lemon is from nature, so it was living while it was growing, and it gives off a feeling of the energy of life. I think the color yellow is often associated with happiness. So the combination yields an idea of liveliness and happiness. In a large picture, I think the color of the lemon represents the value of nature over the modern, industrial, materialism.
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Lemon
Oct 21, 2015 20:54:09 GMT
Post by Airy Yeh on Oct 21, 2015 20:54:09 GMT
Discussion Question: Why was the author no longer attracted to Maruzen? What do you think has changed inside of him to want to bomb it with his lemon and make it explode, when he used to like going there?
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Lemon
Oct 23, 2015 2:27:16 GMT
Post by angelina kurganska on Oct 23, 2015 2:27:16 GMT
Even though the author used to love going to big department stores and buying expensive things, I think now he finds the beauty in the ugliness. Since his disease started making him, he mentions his favorite places to stroll around are the plain looking back alleys and such. Such a big overly-energized place, with the hustle of so many people must make him extremely tired. I think this is why he wants to see all of it collapse and become ruins much like the alleys he is now used to. |
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I Lam
New Member
Posts: 29 
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Lemon
Oct 23, 2015 2:39:28 GMT
Post by I Lam on Oct 23, 2015 2:39:28 GMT
If I had to say, I think that the lemon is something of a sun lighting up the darkness that was suffocating him, and he wanted it to be the same for the equally stifling Maruzen. Just like his depression, the deathly still air of Maruzen should be scattered and blown away! But that's not what you're asking. Perhaps once he became sick, he began to hate the never-changing eternity inside Maruzen. As you said, he turned to what reminded him of life, with its change, difference, and vitality, as things should be, rather than structured and stagnant like Maruzen and the art books within. Maruzen too, he thought, should be reborn under the might of the lemon. Simplicity and beyond!
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