Week 15 dialogue
All I Asking For is My Body Part II
Kiyoshi’s mother has been ill before and now she is ill again. This makes Kiyoshi worry. While his father goes out fishing it is Kiyoshi’s job to look after his mother and the younger children. He has an older brother, but this is his job. Kiyoshi gets Obaban for his mother when she is doing poorly. Obaban tends to his mother and seems to be the only one who can lift her spirits. Kiyoshi’s mother is very superstitious and tells him how she is the one who brings bad luck to their family. She says that she feels she will die young. She also tells Kiyoshi that you could be punished if a close relative had done something bad, she could be a substitute and that might be why she feels so ill.
Obaban explains the concept of bachi to Kiyoshi. It is the punishment for doing something bad and getting away with it. She tells him that if his mother can find a substitute for her bad luck she might be freed from it. Soon after she visits Kiyoshi's mother Obaban dies and they all go to the service. Afterward Kiyoshi’s mother seems to feel better so Kiyoshi thinks that maybe Obaban was her substitute and now his own mother will be spared. While he did not want Obaban to die he wants his mother to live more.
Hi BetteJo,
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine how Kiyoshi must have felt, wanting one life to be saved but another had to go? He must have felt some inner turmoil by feeling happiness that his mother lived. Good write. Thanks. Barb
Its funny how his emotions played into the events that followed his mothers trip to the hospital. he was overjoyed when he found out that Obaban died because he believed that his mother would be saved but after their trip to Obaban's house he thought that he would walk in and she would be right there smoking her pipe sitting crosses legged. He didnt want either one to die but he got so caught up in his mothers superstition that he was happy it was Obaban that did.
ReplyDeleteHi BetteJo,
ReplyDeleteYour post has me wondering about the nature of superstition. I remember playing volleyball with a teammate who refused to wash her socks the entire season because she believed the socks were good luck. In reality, she was playing well, but in her mind, she needed the socks. The same is true for Mrs. Oyama. The superstition itself isn't important; rather, it's the meaning she gives the superstition that really matters.
Thanks for giving me more to think about.
Lauren
Hi BetteJo,
ReplyDeleteI think you give a very good explanation on your second paragraph of why Obaban is Kiyoshi’s mother substitute. I also believe that this must have been a very emotional situation for Kiyoshi as Obaban was a very important person in their lives but the lost of his own mother would have been a greater pain to overcome.
Estela
Hi Bettejo
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of the concept of bachi and if it has an equivalent in traditional American culture. I couldn't think of one quickly. Maybe that is because we are used to getting away with, or even being rewarded with doing things bad, unlike Japan where there was more honor and justice perhaps.
Thanks