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Post by Alan Wong on Dec 8, 2015 21:30:27 GMT
When I think of the protagonist and his wife, I can't help but feel sorry for them. Having a spouse come down with a crippling and deadly illness shortly after marriage is hardly what most couples imagine for themselves. I think the relationship between the husband and wife could be described as strained. The illness has obviously taken its toll on the wife, leaving her bedridden. However, it has also caused her mind to be affected; the pain of the disease and the monotony of being in the same place constantly result in her obsession with death. The husband, although he tries his best to accommodate his wife in the way he thinks best, is ultimately unable to see or do things the way his wife wishes. Because he is not dying, he still has to deal with life issues such as work and bills. These life issues conflict with the wife's desires and results in the couple arguing constantly. Whereas the wife wants to enjoy what is left of her life before dying, the husband wants to make sure she does not die in the first place. I think neither belief is necessarily wrong, since for the most part there's no telling what might happen in the end. It seems like when the husband finally gets confirmation that his wife will absolutely die from the doctor, he is at last able to concentrate on that fact. He's no longer overly preoccupied with the concerns of daily life and is finally able to enjoy a moment of happiness (rare, since the illness) with his wife.
Discussion Question: What do you think spring represents in the story?
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Post by Caden Hong on Dec 9, 2015 14:27:57 GMT
The change of season in a sense seems to signify a change in their relationship. At the end, it says that “they had made total preparation for death” (123). This is a huge change from the way they were in the beginning because like you said in your post, the husband wanted to keep his wife alive for as long as possible while the wife wanted to enjoy what was left of her life. They were in different states of acceptance/denial of the wife’s death. I think that the introduction of spring represents this change — now that both husband and wife are fully prepared for death, their attitudes and mental states are in harmony. The husband brings flowers to the wife from a carriage and the wife accepts his gift graciously. If they were in their previous “winter” state of mind, then they would have fought — the wife would have yelled at her husband for spending too much time outside for unnecessary things, while the husband would have defended himself by saying that it was for him. Because spring came around the time of their big change in attitude and behavior, I feel that it somehow represents their new, healthy relationship.
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Post by Won Young Seo on Dec 9, 2015 16:24:50 GMT
I thought that the wife had died at the end (the image of a body lying still holding flowers reminded me of a person in a coffin) and so the spring represents a rebirth of the man. He's freed from the garden can now live his life again. The wife too finds release from her pain and guilt towards the man through a relatively peaceful death.
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Post by Airy Yeh on Dec 9, 2015 20:03:46 GMT
I didn't know whether it meant death or the content feeling of accepting death. Either way I think its significance is that the couple was able to accept death and appreciate their presence for each other as they waited for death. They have come to terms with death not in a negative way but in a peaceful readiness and acceptance.
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Post by Hiba Rashid on Dec 10, 2015 5:38:11 GMT
I had the same question by the end of the story. After the husband receives news that there is no hope for his wife, he goes to his garden where he lays on the grass and picks up "blades of grass with great care from the dead lawn" and asks himself "what is death?" (p. 121). This scene is set in the winter, the cold and harsh season that parallels this stage of his life and his emotions. In the last couple of pages, spring arrives and so has a more peaceful, beautiful time in the couple's life. Spring signifies everything that is not death. Spring is a season when the days become longer, flowers bloom and nature comes to life. By giving the flowers to his wife, perhaps the narrator hopes to give her the beauty and life that is found in spring. It is these flowers that bring her a sense of happiness and peace, instead of the winter flowers he offers her previously. And contrary to the meaning of flowers as life, perhaps it is these flowers that finally allow her to leave the world in peace.
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Post by Mina Kaneko on Dec 10, 2015 17:52:52 GMT
I agree that the flowers represent an acceptance of death. Similarly, I think spring represents some kind of relief of burden: for the wife, dying is an end to unbearable suffering; for the husband, the burden of caring for her when there is only so much he can do. Even though they love each other, the illness has taken its toll on their relationship. While of course they don't actually want her to die, after all this suffering (from the illness, but also suffering from fighting with one another), they've now finally accepted her fate. Spring is the acceptance of death, relief from burden, and peace without suffering.
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Post by angelina kurganska on Dec 11, 2015 5:05:46 GMT
I agree. I think since in Japan spring signifies a new start to many things (children starting school, sakura blooming, etc.) the "spring riding in a carriage" represents a new start for the couple. Although I think the wife will soon after die, she will start a new life and so will the husband.
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Post by hfranceLeaft on Aug 23, 2020 15:19:53 GMT
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Post by hfranceLeaft on Sept 1, 2020 19:48:02 GMT
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