Post by I Lam on Sept 17, 2015 3:58:48 GMT
When I reached the end of this story, all I thought was honestly just, "What did I just read?"
Well, I suppose one thing that does stand out to me in this story is the lack of hard feelings all the characters had towards being victimized, if you can even call it that when you think about their easygoing attitudes--seeing fellow-bears hunted, dying for no good reason other than fur and liver acquisition, and being cheated by a merchant were all kind of just...no biggie. The bears were pretty full on anthromorphized, putting them and Kojuro on equal footing (somewhat) despite still being bears, so this whole story just seems like a very detailed example of the closed cycle of the hunter and the hunted, where the hunter is at once prey for another type of hunter (e.g. the bears were hunted by Kojuro, Kojuro was prey to the merchant, and the merchant could well be hunted by the bears if he were ever in their proximity). They all seemed to submit themselves to being cogs in a wheel, despite the fact that every single one of them had their own (unexercised) will--"I don't feel I want to wade through all those streams," says Kojuro, proceeding to then go wade through streams; "I didn't mean to kill you," says the one who killed Kojuro, etc. In a sense, everyone in this story was just really helpless, and when Kojuro finally died, it just seemed cold, like his time was simply up, and he, despite leaving behind his grandchildren and mother, didn't mind at all, because that was just what fate had planned (but he was probably also glad that he could finally stop wading through all those streams). So perhaps the theme of this story was karma, that there's no sense in fretting over what must be, and also not to fear death.
So my question: Do you think it was the bear the one that killed Kojuro? In my mind, for some reason, when I read that passage I thought, 'some third party shooter with no aim just showed up,' because it seemed to me like the bear definitely charged at a resting Kojuro with killing intent. Maybe it's the translation, but it seems kind of ambiguous.
Well, I suppose one thing that does stand out to me in this story is the lack of hard feelings all the characters had towards being victimized, if you can even call it that when you think about their easygoing attitudes--seeing fellow-bears hunted, dying for no good reason other than fur and liver acquisition, and being cheated by a merchant were all kind of just...no biggie. The bears were pretty full on anthromorphized, putting them and Kojuro on equal footing (somewhat) despite still being bears, so this whole story just seems like a very detailed example of the closed cycle of the hunter and the hunted, where the hunter is at once prey for another type of hunter (e.g. the bears were hunted by Kojuro, Kojuro was prey to the merchant, and the merchant could well be hunted by the bears if he were ever in their proximity). They all seemed to submit themselves to being cogs in a wheel, despite the fact that every single one of them had their own (unexercised) will--"I don't feel I want to wade through all those streams," says Kojuro, proceeding to then go wade through streams; "I didn't mean to kill you," says the one who killed Kojuro, etc. In a sense, everyone in this story was just really helpless, and when Kojuro finally died, it just seemed cold, like his time was simply up, and he, despite leaving behind his grandchildren and mother, didn't mind at all, because that was just what fate had planned (but he was probably also glad that he could finally stop wading through all those streams). So perhaps the theme of this story was karma, that there's no sense in fretting over what must be, and also not to fear death.
So my question: Do you think it was the bear the one that killed Kojuro? In my mind, for some reason, when I read that passage I thought, 'some third party shooter with no aim just showed up,' because it seemed to me like the bear definitely charged at a resting Kojuro with killing intent. Maybe it's the translation, but it seems kind of ambiguous.