Post by Justin Yu on Sept 3, 2015 18:40:06 GMT
Upon finishing Mori Ogai's short story, I was lost for words. For a story that is well-known for children, "Sansho the Steward" is quite depressing. Even the 18th century book, "Candide" by Enlightenment thinker, Voltaire, had some elements of humor and hope among its numerous descriptions of the great hardships throughout the world. And "Candide" is far from reading material for children. And yet, I still appreciated the characters that Ogai created.
Although they were young and naïve, the two children were extremely strong-willed even in the face of forced labor and separation from their parents. Even after being sold to Sansho the Steward, the children "refused to bow after they were told to" (Ogai,p11) and continued to devise ways of escaping and meeting their parents again. Although, in a traditional sense, these manners should not be learned by young readers but the larger message is far more important. Anju, the older sister, never gave up on trying to help her brother escape and even gave her life after her brother escaped. Anju had made peace with the world just so her family could have a better life. Again such a thing is not typical of child learning material in the present but is more prevalent in earlier periods of Japanese moral codes which set high standards for family loyalty and protection. And given the particular time the author was alive, the story may have been written with an earlier period in mind as slavery had been abolished come the 17th Century with only a few abiding outside the law like the Wako pirates. But had this been written with a later period (up to the author's present day) in mind, would it have a much different context? As in would the children and the slavers have acted differently?
Although they were young and naïve, the two children were extremely strong-willed even in the face of forced labor and separation from their parents. Even after being sold to Sansho the Steward, the children "refused to bow after they were told to" (Ogai,p11) and continued to devise ways of escaping and meeting their parents again. Although, in a traditional sense, these manners should not be learned by young readers but the larger message is far more important. Anju, the older sister, never gave up on trying to help her brother escape and even gave her life after her brother escaped. Anju had made peace with the world just so her family could have a better life. Again such a thing is not typical of child learning material in the present but is more prevalent in earlier periods of Japanese moral codes which set high standards for family loyalty and protection. And given the particular time the author was alive, the story may have been written with an earlier period in mind as slavery had been abolished come the 17th Century with only a few abiding outside the law like the Wako pirates. But had this been written with a later period (up to the author's present day) in mind, would it have a much different context? As in would the children and the slavers have acted differently?