THE INFLUENCE OF PATRIARCHY ON OTOKO AND KEIKO’S
LESBIANISM IN KAWABATA’S BEAUTY AND SADNESS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ANGELA ASTRID S. C. A. 044214024
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
BEAUTY AND SADNESS
By
ANGELA ASTRID S. C. A. Student Number: 044214024
Approved by
Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani., S.S., M.Hum Date: Advisor
Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum Date:
iii
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
THE INFLUENCE OF PATRIARCHY IN 20TH CENTURY JAPAN ON OTOKO AND KEIKO’S LESBIANISM IN KAWABATA’S
BEAUTY AND SADNESS By
ANGELA ASTRID S. C. A. Student Number: 044214024
Defended before the Board of Examiners on September 27, 2008
and Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name Signature
Chairman : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. ______________________ Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. ______________________ Member : Adventina Putranti S.S., M. Hum ______________________ Member : Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani., S.S., M.Hum ______________________ Member : Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum ______________________
Yogyakarta, September 27, 2008 Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University
Dean
iv
Around here, however, we don’t look backwards
for very long...
We keep moving forward, opening up new doors
and doing new things, because we’re curious....
v
This thesis I dedicate to
my lovely parents
my brother and sister
and all of my friends
vi
that I could finish my thesis. Who always listen to my prayers, who bless me all the time, who never leave me alone. I believe He always give us the best for me in my entire life.
My deepest gratitude is for Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani.,S.S.,M.Hum, my Advisor, and also Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum as my Co-Advisor, who have guided me in writing this thesis. Thanks for the time and the chance that she has given to me. I also thank all lecturers of English Department for assisting me in going through the years of my study in Sanata Dharma University. Thanks to the Secretariat staff for giving me all the information that I need.
My deepest gratitude is also dedicated the most patient parents that I have ever known in the whole world F.X Yoseph Sumardi and Emerentiana Cicik G. who always guide me to be a better person and teach me precious values needed in my life. Thanks to my brother and sister with whom I share laughter and everything I need to face. To my best friends that I ever had, Dita, Intan, Nelly, Elin, Amel, Caca, Martha, Candra, Wisnu, Rizka and the Selvita’s gangs and all of my friends in Sanata Dharma University for the wonderful friendship that we shared almost 4 years. I miss all of the nice moments that had happened.
God Bless you all.
viii
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW ……… 8
A. Review on Related Studies ……… 8
1. Patriarchal Mode of Production ……… 25
2. Male Violence ……… 28
3. Relations in Sexuality ……… 29
4. Patriarchal State ……… 33
5. Patriarchal Culture ……… 35
B. The forms of oppression experienced by Otoko and Keiko ..……… 37
1. Oppression through Education ..……… 38
2. Oppression through Love ..……… 40
3. Oppression through Physical Dependence ……… 42
4. Oppression through Stereotype of Women ……… 43
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C. The influence of patriarchal oppression on Otoko and Keiko’s
x
Japan on Otoko and Keiko’s Lesbianism in Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
A society shapes the life of each individual who is a member of that society in different ways. There are many factors that determine how a society influences an individual. One of them is gender; men’s experience in a society is naturally different from women’s experience in the same society.
The work under discussion is a novel entitled Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata, which is set in early twentieth century Japan. The novel features Otoko and Keiko, a lesbian couple, as the major female characters. This undergraduate thesis aims to examine how patriarchy in the society around them influences their lives and their sexual orientation as lesbians.
Three problems are formulated in this thesis. The first problem examines the aspects of patriarchy portrayed in the novel. The second problem examines the forms of oppression experienced by the characters Otoko and Keiko under patriarchal society. The third problem examines how patriarchal oppression on Otoko and Keiko as women influences their sexual orientation as lesbians.
Library research method is applied to conduct this study. The primary data is obtained from Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness. The secondary data are collected from books, theses and articles on the Internet. Theories used in this study are Walby’s theory on patriarchy, Firestone’s theory on manifestation of patriarchy in society, Dworkin’s theory on patriarchal strategies to perpetuate their oppression, Giddens’ theory on sexual orientation and Rich’s theory on lesbian existence. Feminism is used as the approach because this study discusses Otoko and Keiko’s position and experience in the society due to their sex as women, as well as the result of their position and experience.
xi ABSTRAK
ANGELA ASTRID S.C.A. (2008). The Influence of Patriarchy in 20th Century Japan on Otoko and Keiko’s Lesbianism in Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Suatu masyarakat membentuk kehidupan masing-masing anggotanya dengan cara yang berbeda-beda. Ada banyak faktor yang menentukan bagaimana suatu masyarakat mepengaruhi setiap individu. Salah satunya ialah jenis kelamin; pria tentu memiliki pengalaman yang bereda dari wanita, walaupun mereka hidup di masyarakat yang sama. Karya sastra yang diulas dalam skripsi ini ialah novel berjudul Beauty and Sadness karya Yasunari Kawabata, yang bertempat di Jepang pada awal abad duapuluh. Novel ini menampilkan Otoko dan Keiko, sepasang lesbian, sebagai tokoh utama wanita. Skripsi ini membahas bagaimana patriarki dalam masyarakat di sekitar kedua tokoh tersebut mempengaruhi kehidupan dan orientasi seksual mereka sebagai lesbian.
Tiga pertanyaan dirumuskan dalam skripsi ini. Pertanyaan pertama membahas aspek-aspek patriarki yang ditampilkan dalam novel ini. Pertanyaan kedua membahas bentuk-bentuk penindasan yang dialami Otoko dan Keiko dalam masyarakat berpaham patriarki. Pertanyaan ketiga membahas pengaruh penindasan patriarki terhadap orientasi seksual Otoko dan Keiko sebagai lesbian.
Penulis menggunakan metode studi pustaka untuk menyelesaikan Studi ini. Data utama berasal dari novel Beauty and Sadness karya Kawabata sedangkan data tambahan diambil dari berbagai buku, skripsi, serta artikel di Internet.Teori-teori yang digunakan ialah teori tentang patriarki oleh Walby, teori tentang perwujudan patriarki di masyarakat oleh Firestone, teori tentang strategi patriarki dalam melangsungkan penindasan oleh Dworkin, teori tentang orientasi seksual oleh Giddens, dan teori tentang lesbian oleh Rich. Pendekatan feminisme digunakan karena isi skripsi ini berkaitan dengan posisi dan pengalaman tokoh-tokoh novel ini dalam masyarakat yang bersumber dari jenis kelamin mereka.
1
A. Background of the Study
Scholars as far back as Plato had conceived the nature of literature as an
imitation of life (http://www.rowan.edu/philosop/cloenwy/Aesthetics/philos_
artists_onart/plato.htm). To put it more specifically, Wellek dan Warren see
literature as a social institution representing social reality:
Literature is a social institution using the medium language which represents ‘life’ and ‘life’ is a social reality even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary imitation (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 94).
According to Langland, the society in a literary work is “not only a concept and a
construct in fiction, but also in life”, which can be revealed “through human
relationships, through the characters’ patterned interactions and their common
expectations of one another” (1984: 6). Based on those ideas, all events in a
literary work are a representation of phenomenon in real life (whether as a social
reality or an individual’s subjectivity), and thus cannot be separated from various
factors, causes and effects.
The novel Beauty and Sadness (Utsukushisa-to Kanashimi-to) was written by Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata and was first published in 1965. It is one
of Kawabata’s last novels before his suicide death in 1972
2
which is almost a Kawabata signature”. Christopher Fulton calls the novel a
“timeless prose,” in which everything “is either sad or beautiful” (1985).
The novel contains many challenging issues, such as sex with underage
child, exploitation, psychological problems, adultery, lesbianism, suicide attempt,
and possibly homicide attempt. However, its portrayal of lesbianism through the
couple Otoko and Keiko is particularly interesting, especially seen in the context
of the novel’s time and place setting, namely Japan in the 1960’s.
Homosexuality (gay and lesbianism) has been existing for centuries in
Japan, but until the late 20th century, it was not accepted in Japanese culture. Any
homosexual practice or feeling had to be disguised, for example through
cross-dressing in entertainment field. According to James Welker, in the 1960s
lesbianism was confined to the bar scene, which was “occupied by and tailored to
the heterosexual majority”; during the 1970s to the 1990s, lesbianism began to
emerge in the general Japanese society through activist organizations (2002:
122-125). According to Erin Subramian, in the field of literature, apart from Yoshiya
Nobuko’s romance Yaneura no Nishojo in 1920, there was no considerable Japanese literary work about lesbians until the 1990s. Until now, many people in
Japan still regard lesbianism as perverted, abnormal, or oversexed (Hattori in
http://www.yuricon.org/essays/women_loving_women.html).
Therefore, with such literary tradition and society’s mindset of his time, it
is remarkable that Kawabata wrote about lesbians exactly as ordinary human
beings. The description of Otoko and Keiko as lesbians is not explicitly
conversations, disagreements, even discussion about their work as painters. In
brief, the lesbian characters in this novel are portrayed as people, who are capable
of feeling and are influenced by their past life, just like any other people.
On the other hand, this novel is also a portrayal of women in men’s world:
the main character of the story is a man, Oki Toshio. The story begins with Oki’s
observation, musings, and memories in the train. Although the story is told from
omniscient third-person point of view, the story is centered on Oki’s life. Not only
his old lover and affairs, his family (wife and children) is also featured
prominently. A lot is mentioned about Otoko’s past, but mostly it is related to her
affair with Oki (and its aftermath). Kawabata, the author of the novel, is a man
himself. The society in which the story is set is a society that favours men; a
society where a married man can make a young girl pregnant and get away with it,
even gain personal benefit from it with the society’s approval (Kawabata, 1975:
30-31).
To take the notion further, such society is a reflection of the real-life
society, in which women all over the world are “relegated to a secondary
position” (Guerin, et al., 1999: 196). Suganuma argues that “not only lesbians but
Japanese women in general are denied the subjectivity necessary to own their
bodies and desires,” and one of the causes of women’s lack of sexual subjectivity
arises from society’s patriarchal structure. Indeed, in Japan as well as many other
places, the society as well as families are governed by men, which matches
4
family or in the society at large– with authority descending through the father”
(1992: 127).
Therefore, considering the aesthetic quality of the novel, the intriguing
aspect of the story, in relation with the society and setting depicted there and the
relevance to real life issues, the writer finds it interesting to conduct a study to
examine the relation between the two female characters’ lesbianism and the
patriarchal society around them. To be precise, the writer wants to discuss how
patriarchy in the time, place, and society in which the story is set affects the lives
of those characters, and eventually their sexual orientation as lesbians, either
directly or indirectly, partially or completely.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to guide and limit the subjects under discussion, the research
questions are formulated as follows:
1. What aspects of patriarchy are portrayed in Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness?
2. What are the forms of oppression experienced by the characters Otoko and
Keiko under patriarchal society?
3. What is the influence of the patriarchal oppression on Otoko and Keiko’s
lesbianism?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study aims to answer the research questions formulated above. The
the novel; the second objective is to identify the influence of patriarchy
experienced by Otoko and Keiko, and the third objective is to discover the
influence of the patriarchal oppression on Otoko and Keiko’s lesbianism.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding regarding the terms used in this thesis, in this
part the writer provides definition of some key terms based on relevant printed
and online references.
1. Patriarchy
According to Humm, patriarchy is “a system of male authority which
oppresses women through its social, political, and economic institutions” (1992:
408), while Andersen views patriarchy as “institutionalized power relationships
that give men power over women” (1997: 384). Thus, a patriarchal culture is a
culture that is “organized in favor of the interests of men” (Guerin, et al, 1999:
196).
As proposed in Humm’s definition, the practices of patriarchy occur in
various spheres of life, such as social, politics, economy, and sexual relation;
according to Andersen, as a sexual system, patriarchy is “a system of power in
which the male possesses superior power and economic privilege” (1997: 356).
Such condition can continue because men have greater access to and privilege
over “the resources and rewards of authority structures inside and outside the
home” (Humm, 1992: 408), therefore perpetuating women’s disadvantaged
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2. Lesbianism
Encyclopædia Britannica Online defines lesbianism as “the quality or state of intense emotional and usually erotic attraction of a woman to another woman”
(http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9384264). However, lesbianism does not
always refer to erotic or sexual activity. According to Bonnie Zimmerman (in
Guerin, et al., 1999: 211) lesbianism is “a kind of relationship in which two
women's strongest feelings and affections are directed toward each other”, which
may or may not include sexual contact. Therefore, lesbianism refers to the most
intimate bond between two women, whether sexual, emotional, or both.
3. Feminism
In her book Feminisms: A Reader, Humm defines feminism as “a doctrine of equal rights for women (the organized movement to attain women's right) and
an ideology of social transformation aiming to create a world for women beyond
simple social equality” (1992: 406). Likewise, Goodman defines feminism as “a
recognition of the historical and cultural subordination of women … and a resolve
to do something about it” (1996: x). Despite its diversity, feminism is “concerned
with the marginalization of all women” into secondary position (Guerin, et al.,
1999: 196). Therefore, basically feminism refers to a way of thinking that women
are treated unfairly because of their sex, and a movement to overcome and act
4. Lesbian-feminism
Lesbian feminism is one of the various strains which developed from
feminism; it emerged in the 1980s as “a kind of annexe of feminist criticism”
(Barry, 2002: 141). It is a belief in which women identify with fellow women,
commit themselves together for political, sexual and economic support, as
opposed to the male-female relations which oppress the females (Humm, 1992:
407). According to Barry, based on lesbian feminist position, lesbianism shows
resistance to existing forms of social relations and radically reorganizes those
relations, since it turns away from involvement with patriarchal exploitation and
8 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review on Related Studies
Several studies have been made about the work, the author, and the topic discussed in this thesis. Here are some of the studies related to the work (the novel
Beauty and Sadness), the author (Yasunari Kawabata), and the topic (lesbianism
in Japan).
The first study is an undergraduate thesis by Linangkung Sri Indarsih, entitled “Revealing Messages through the Characters in Yasunari Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness”. This study examines the major characters, their view about
love, and the messages revealed through them. The characters have different views about love. Otoko views love as “a sacrifice” (Indarsih, 2007: 50), so she
did not complain when Oki took away her virginity, made her pregnant, and left her without marrying her. As a possessive person, Keiko views love as an obsession. Oki views love as “passion and money” (Indarsih, 2007: 51); the
passion comes from Otoko’s youth and beauty, and the money comes from writing about his experience with Otoko.
Also, the author conveys his message indirectly through the characters. According to Indarsih, this story has three messages. First, mothers have an important role in their children’s life, as demonstrated by Otoko’s mother.
Oki lives happily (gets money and fame) after writing about his experience with Otoko, while Otoko suffers from that experience. Keiko, Otoko’s pupil, decides to
do revenge out of hatred, and Oki loses his son as the result. Thus, the other messages are: hatred always brings sadness, and never feel happy on other’s suffering.
The second study is an article published in the Hudson Review in Autumn 2006, entitled “The Tyranny of Beauty: Kawabata”. Here, Brian Phillips discusses
Kawabata’s works in general, using examples from several novels: The Lake, Snow Country, Thousand Cranes, The Sound of the Mountain, Beauty and
Sadness. Phillips discovers some common aspects in the protagonists in some of
Kawabata’s works. They are men whose minds are full of memories and dreams. They travel somewhere and often have relationship with a young woman. They
share some qualities: “moral weakness, extreme perception of beauty, the sense that other people have only a phantom existence” (Phillips, 2006).
“Beauty” and “sadness” are constant elements which go together in
Kawabata’s works. Despite the “deep, strange, penetrating beauty” of Kawabata’s works, they do not merely present beauty, but also the darker side as its
consequence:
10
According to Phillips, the characters in Kawabata’s works are affected and lured
by beauty until they lose their ability to act, perceive the world, and love or understand the people in their lives. They withdraw to an “unreal aesthetic world”, which “comes at a large human cost” when faced with reality. In conclusion, the
beauty that moves the reader is “the same power that has made the characters cold or cruel or desperate”.
The third study is an article entitled “Women-loving Women in Modern Japan” by Erin Subramian. This article discusses the development of lesbianism (defined as female-female sexual and romantic relations) in Japanese society.
Historically, until the first half of the 20th century, “homosexual desire was seen as a mental illness”. It was therefore disguised, for example through Takarazuka
Revue, a musical play with all-female performers, half of whom dressed as men and played male roles, while the other half dressed as women. There were also clubs and bars with onabe (women dressed as men) bartenders. An extreme
solution was “lesbian double suicide,” which occurred several times at that period. It even accounted for “around thirty percent of all suicides between 1932 and 1935”. In the 1980s, homosexual-related activism and movements began. The first
Japanese homosexual organization JILGA (Japan International Lesbian and Gay Association) was founded, followed by other similar organizations, including
lesbian-only organizations. Now there are also parades and weekend gatherings which accommodate lesbian community.
However, outside the field of political and social movements, lesbians still
caused by stereotypes of lesbians in the mass media and pornography as
sex-obsessed women. According to Ayako Hattori’s “Lesbian Feminism in Japan” as quoted in Subramian’s article, many people see lesbianism as something alien, identical with abnormality:
Homosexuality is often linked either to pornography or to the West; Japanese are hesitant to believe that homosexuals can be “normal”
Japanese people. (in Subramian, http://www.yuricon.org/essays/women_loving_women.html)
Another obstacle faced by lesbians in Japan comes from financial problems.
Women’s incomes are often lower than men’s, so many lesbians have difficulties to live together.
This thesis uses some of the ideas from the studies above, for example the
role of mother, Oki’s happiness and Otoko’s sacrifice and suffering as described in Indarsih’s thesis, the concept of beauty which makes people cold or cruel from
Phillips’ article, and lesbians’ problems and position in society from Subramian’s article. However, this thesis develops those ideas from a new point of view, with the focus on patriarchal society and the characters’ lesbianism. This thesis also
discovers something new, namely the relation between the characters’ experience, feelings, even sexual orientation, with the condition in their patriarchal society.
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B. Review on Related Theories
1. Theory on Patriarchy
There are many theories on patriarchy, which cover a wide range of subjects. One of them is Walby’s theory from her book Theorizing Patriarchy.
Walby defines patriarchy as “a system of social structures, and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women” (1990: 20). Walby defines a model of
six aspects, or structures, of patriarchy, which consist of:
a patriarchal mode of production in which women’s labour is expropriated by their husbands; patriarchal relations within waged labour; the patriarchal state; male violence; patriarchal relations in sexuality; and patriarchal culture (Walby in Acker, 2005: 43).
In a patriarchal mode of production, the wives’ domestic labour is
exploited by their husbands without any payment. Patriarchal relations within waged labour refers to the different treatment experienced by male and female
workers in the workforce. For example, female workers are often paid lower than male workers at the same position, or female workers cannot reach higher positions in the office. The patriarchal state refers to either the government or the
laws produced by the government, which often give more advantage to men or put women in a disadvantaged position. Violence acts done by men to women, due to
men’s superior physical strength compared to women, can serve to keep women under control. Indirectly, the threat of male violence also intimidates women not to fight against the laws or conventions in the society. Patriarchal relations in
sexuality refers to the different ways men and women regard sexuality and the different positions occupied by men and women in a sexual relation, namely men
to any idea or practice instilled in the society, which regards women differently
from men and disadvantages women. For example, the idealization of women as “the fair sex”, which also limits their capacity to their physical appearance (Walby, 1990: 20-24).
Each of those aspects is comprised of its own system or subsystem, with its own means of reproduction of domination and exploitation. As discussed by
Ferguson in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-class), Walby divides the aspects of patriarchy into two spheres: public and private. The private (household) sphere
consists of three aspects: mode of production, sexuality, and violence by male. The public sphere consists of three other aspects: relation within waged labour,
the state, and culture. Different strategies are used in each structure and each sphere. In the private sphere, for example, exclusionary strategy is used. Exclusionary means the women are “oppressed on a personal and individual
basis”, done by individual male patriarch, namely the breadwinner of the household. In the public sphere, segregationist strategy is used. Public structures like those cannot “oppress individual women or exclude them directly”, so the
main focus is to control women's access to public arenas, and maintain gender differences. In practice, all six structures of patriarchy have different forms and
relationship, but they are related one another, and work together towards the same goal, namely the subordination of women as well as “supporting, reflecting and
maintaining patriarchy itself” in general
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2. Radical Feminist Perspective on Patriarchy’s Manifestation in Society
According to radical feminist perspective, gender is a fundamental system which is constructed in the patriarchal society. In this gender system, humans are classed based on their biological sexual difference; men are the oppressor class,
while women are the oppressed class (Madsen, 2000: 152). Gender oppression is “the most fundamental form of oppression” and becomes the foundation for
further oppressions, such as economic and cultural opporession. Thus, all meanings within society are determined in terms of men’s sexuality as the dominant group (2000: 153-154).
As discussed in Madsen’s book Feminist Theory and Literary Practice, Shulamith Firestone argues about the manifestation of patriarchy in society: first
is the “education” of women and children
to accept their place in a lower class, a ridigly segregated class modelled upon the sexual class that is ‘woman’, through the twin mythologies of femininity and childhood (2000: 158).
Due to such process of education, the women regard their subordination to a lower level as a normal thing, as part of the nature. Second is love as a “political force for unequal power relations”. According to Firestone, men and women
comprehend and practice love and romance very differently:
men idealise, mystify and glorify the individual women with whom they fall in love in order to obscure her inferior class status; women, in contrast, pursue the male love and approval that will raise her up from her subordinate class position and validate her existence (2000: 159).
As we can see in the quotation above, men view love as a recreational, idealistic action to people in lower position, while women view love as a way to make her
oppressed class results in “physical and economic dependence” (2000: 158) and
“gendered divisions of culture as well” (2000: 159).
Another writer, Andrea Dworkin, discusses about strategies taken by patriarchal society to perpetuate their oppression: firstly, by promoting the
“stereotype of women as conservative, home-bound, and nurturing” (Madsen, 2000: 160). Thus, women are, in a way, forced to “conform in their social
behaviour to this paradigm” (2000: 161). Madsen calls it “the objectification of women” or “the creation of cultural artefacts from women’s bodies” (2000: 155). Secondly, through male violence, either sexual or physical. Women who oppose
or do not conform to patriarchal values face the threat of violence from men. It can range from rough physical violence like “rape, wife beating, forced
childbearing, medical butchering, sex-motivated murder”, to indirect violence like “destitution, ostracism, confinement in a mental institution or gaol” (2000: 161). For example, women are confined in when and where they can go, or what clothes
they can wear. If they do not conform to that confinement, they might be abused by men, and it will be seen as their responsibility. In addition, the women’s rights to contraception and abortion are also restricted.
3. Giddens’ Theory on Sexual Orientation
According to Anthony Giddens in his book Sociology, The American
Psychological Association defines sexual orientation is “an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual or affectional attraction to another person” (in Giddens, 2006: 652). In general, human beings have one of three sexual orientations: attraction to
16
individuals of the same sex is described as homosexual; attraction to either sex is
described as bisexual. According to Giddens, human beings’ sexual orientation is formed by the combination of several factors:
Sexual orientation derives from a complex interplay of biological, psychological, social and cultural factors (2006: 655).
Biological factor refers to the inherent physical traits, such as genes, the
brain, and hormones that help determine an individual’s sexual orientation. For example, there have been researches that show “neurochemical and
neurophysiological differences between individuals of different sexual orientations” (2006: 655). Meanwhile, according to Bailey and Pillard in 1991’s Archives of General Psychiatry (in Giddens, 2006: 655-656), studies conducted at
Northwestern University and Boston University suggest a strong genetic component for sexual orientation. If an individual is homosexual, his or her twin
sibling has a bigger chance of being homosexual as well, especially for monozygotic twins. Thus, considering this biological factor, an individual might be homosexual since birth.
Psychological factor refers to “the self-esteem and psychological well-being” (2006: 655) of the individuals related to their sexual orientation. If an
individual can successfully integrates his or her sexual orientation into other aspects of his or her life, it will be good for his or her mental health (2006: 656). Homosexuality is also often related to psychoanalytic theories, which usually
focus on the role of parents and family, but not the society as a whole.
The social and cultural factors refer to various elements outside an
of social and cultural factors, sexual orientation “emerges from a conscious or
unconscious training regimen” which is imposed by “parents, teachers, peers, and society in general” (Giddens, 2006: 657). For example, the way a child is raised at home may affect his or her sexual orientation when he or she reaches adolescence,
sexual crimes may alter the victims’ sexual orientation, and so on. Thus, these factors may influence human beings’ sexual orientation at any age.
Besides, Giddens discusses lesbianism specifically. According to Giddens, lesbianism often gets less attention than male homosexuality, for example in studies and researches. On the other hand, lesbianism “may be simply a sexual
preference”, but it also functions as a political choice more than male homosexuality. Lesbianism is associated with feminist movement and feminist
groups, with the aim “to establish female solidarity and a woman-centred culture and life-style” (2006: 673).
4. Rich’s Theory on Lesbian Existence
According to Adrienne Rich in her essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”, one of the strategies to control feminine sexuality is through what she calls “compulsory heterosexuality”:
the most fundamental form of oppression experienced by women is heterosexually and specifically this enforced, compulsory heterosexuality (Madsen, 2000: 170).
It is the assumption that women are naturally attracted to men (2000: 171); that “sexuality” refers to male sexuality, with feminine sexuality as the “variant (or deviant)”; masculine heterosexuality is the norm, and feminine heterosexuality is
18
“sexually arousing”, and “the ‘erotic’ is defined in terms of masculine power”
(2000: 155). On the other hand, women are trained culturally to romanticise their submission to men. The example is the pornographic images which present women as “natural sexual prey to men” who love being victimized; which implies
that “sexuality and violence are congruent” (2000: 171). Thus, the reform of discriminatory laws is not enough to end the oppression, because women’s
sexuality is still controlled by men. The power imbalance between men and women will keep occurring.
Meanwhile, Rich argues that “all women are originally female-identified”,
since the original love object for children, both male and female, is the mother. During the process of “becoming a woman” in patriarchal society, a woman also
undergoes the process of becoming heterosexual, or male-identified. Actually, according to Rich, women have their own experience, values and culture, which are very different from patriarchal heterosexual culture. Women’s unique
experience, values and culture are often rendered invisible and marginal, even taboo (Madsen, 2000: 171).
According to Rich, lesbianism is “a kind of feminist separatism” which
comprise elements such as: the participation of all women in the woman-identified experience called ‘lesbian continuum’, which can be found in every
woman’s emotional being; the erotic as the sharing of joy among women; women’s choice of women as “passionate comrades, life partners, co-workers, lovers, community” (in Madsen, 2000: 170-171). Physical sexual lesbianism is
as an addition to the cultural and historical lesbian continuum. Through those
ways, lesbian existence challenges male power’s strategies.
C. Theoretical Framework
This part will discuss the contribution of the above theories and reviews in solving the problems. Walby’s theory on structures of patriarchy is used to answer
the first question, namely to identify the aspects of patriarchy portrayed in the novel. The writer will identify aspects of patriarchy in the novel based on Walby’s model of six structures of patriarchy. Then, Madsen, Firestone, and Dworkin’s
radical feminist perspective on the manifestation of patriarchy in society is used to answer the second question, namely to identify the forms of oppression
experienced by Otoko and Keiko under patriarchal society. By applying the theory about the manifestation of patriarchy and patriarchal society’s strategies to maintain its dominance, the writer can discover Otoko and Keiko’s experience
under a patriarchal culture. For the last question, Giddens’ theory on sexual orientation is used to identify the influence of patriarchal oppression on Otoko and Keiko’s lesbianism, along with Rich’s theory on lesbian existence, which
functions to support the discussion on Otoko and Keiko’s lesbianism. Meanwhile, the related studies are used to provide more insight and information about the
20
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is a literary work entitled Beauty and Sadness,
written by Yasunari Kawabata. The novel was written in Japanese, entitled
Utsukushisa-to Kanashimi-to, and was translated to English by Howard Scott
Hibbett. It was first published in 1965 by Chuo Koronsha, Tokyo. For this study,
the writer uses the edition published by Tuttle Publishing, which was printed in
2000. The novel consists of 206 pages, which are divided into nine chapters.
According to Pegasos website (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kawabata.htm),
the novel has been adapted into films twice: first in 1965, directed by Masahiro
Shinoda, and then in 1985, directed by Joy Fleury. Additionally, the author,
Yasunari Kawabata, was the first Japanese novelist to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1968 “for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility
expresses the essence of the Japanese mind,” according to the Nobel Foundation
official website (http://nobelprize.org/nobelfoundation/publications/lectures/WSC
/lit-68-80.html).
The type of work is a novel, which Van de Laar and Schoonderwoerd
define as a relatively long invented narrative in prose or “a work of art in so far as
it introduces us into a living world, in some respects resembling the world we live
in, but with an individuality of its own” (1963: 162-163). The story is presented
The novel is about Oki Toshio’s reunion with his ex-lover, Ueno Otoko.
Twenty years ago, Oki, a writer who was already married, had a love affair with a
schoolgirl named Otoko. Oki was thirty years old and Otoko was fifteen years old
then. Otoko got pregnant but the baby died after birth. The baby’s death gave
Otoko a serious psychological trauma; she became suicidal and had to be
hospitalized. Oki stopped meeting Otoko and went on with his life and family.
Otoko’s mother brought Otoko to move to another city, Kyoto. Soon, Oki wrote a
novel about their affair, complete with all details. The novel became Oki’s best
work, both from the financial profit and the critical acclaim. Presently, Oki wants
to see Otoko again, and uses New Year’s Eve event as a reason to meet her. Now
Otoko works as a painter and lives with her young pupil, Keiko. They have a sort
of lesbian relationship, but Otoko can never completely forget Oki and her dead
baby. Keiko wants to do revenge on Oki for causing Otoko endless misery, by
seducing both Oki and his son, Taichiro.
B. Approach of the Study
This study uses feminist approach, which essentially is a literary criticism
approach based on the ideas of feminism movement (Barry, 2002: 121). Feminism
emerged as a reaction to the condition in society, where women are considered
inferior to men. As a category, women are considered as a deviant category as
opposed to men as the standard category; the existence of women is defined and
interpreted by the male-centered society. It was in response to such condition that
22
other words, the feminism movement includes “a recognition of the historical and
cultural subordination of women … and a resolve to do something about it”
(Goodman, 1996: x).
Feminist literary approach is very diverse. Feminist approach recognizes
many divisions, in geography (American, English, and French feminist approach)
as well as in affiliation with other fields of study (psychoanalysis, Marxist,
cultural studies, eco-feminism). Thus, there are many kinds of feminist approach,
each with its own ideas and focus. However, all kinds of feminist approach share
some common characteristics: they have a collective identity as women who try to
achieve their rights and discover themselves, with the aim to understand and
define themselves as women (Bressler, 1999: 188), they are concerned with the
marginalization of all women and examines women’s experience “from all races
and classes and cultures” (Guerin, et al., 1999: 196-197).
In his book Beginning Theory, Barry (2002: 134) lists some practices of
the feminist approach, such as: analyzing images of the female body as presented
in the text, analyzing cultural forces (for example the value of women's roles in a
society) and how the society shapes a woman's understanding of herself and her
world, and discovering a specific female language. This study focuses on the
second practice, namely the cultural forces and the society’s impact on women.
This approach is used because it is the most relevant approach to the work
and topic under discussion: the characters are women, and this study is discussing
the characters’ position, and consequently their way of life, in the society due to
C. Method of the Study
Library research is applied as the method of this study, since the data is
obtained from books and texts which are related to the topic and work under
discussion. The primary data is the novel Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari
Kawabata, while the secondary data is collected from relevant books, academic
writings, and articles from the Internet.
The review of related studies are taken from Indarsih’s undergraduate
thesis entitled “Revealing Messages through the Characters in Yasunari
Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness”, Phillips’ article in the Hudson Review entitled
“The Tyranny of Beauty: Kawabata”, and Subramian’s article entitled
“Women-loving Women in Modern Japan”. The theories used in this study are Walby’s
theory on patriarchy, radical feminist perspective on patriarchy, to be precise
Firestone’s theory on the manifestation of patriarchy in society and Dworkin’s
theory on patriarchal society’s strategies to perpetuate their oppression, Giddens’
theory on the factors which sexual orientation derives from, and Rich’s theory on
lesbian existence. Besides, this study also uses several additional resources as the
reference, such as Wellek and Warren’s view on literature, Humm’s definitions on
patriarchy, feminism, and lesbian feminism, Barry and Bressler’s view on literary
24
Several steps are taken to conduct this study. Firstly, the writer reads and
understands the work under discussion, namely Kawabata’ Beauty and Sadness.
Secondly, the writer tries to find the topic, and then formulate the problems in the
form of questions. Three questions are raised in the problem formulation,
concerning the structures of patriarchy found in the novel, the forms of oppression
experienced by the characters under patriarchal culture, and the influence of the
patriarchal oppression on the characters’ lesbianism. Then, the writer finds the
references, such as theories, related studies, approach, and definitions, which can
help the writer to answer the questions. Lastly, the writer writes down the study
25 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer will answer the research questions formulated in
the first chapter. The discussion is divided into three parts. The first part will
identify the aspects of patriarchy portrayed in Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness,
the second part will identify the forms of oppression experienced by Otoko and
Keiko under patriarchal society, and the third part will discover the form of their
lesbianism, as influenced by their experience under patriarchal society.
A. The aspects of patriarchy in the novel
This part analyzes the aspects of patriarchy in the novel, which are
classified based on Walby’s model of structures of patriarchy. This thesis only
discusses five out of six structures of patriarchy outlined by Walby because the
sixth structure, namely patriarchal relations within waged labour, cannot be found
in the novel. The significance of this question is to determine whether patriarchy
exists in the society described in this novel, and if it does, what kind of patriarchy
exists in the novel.
1. Patriarchal Mode of Production
Production refers to “the action of manufacturing, growing, extracting, etc
things” (Hornby, 1995: 923), or any action that produces something. Thus, in a
wider sense, any work that people do can be regarded as production, whether they
26
mode of production which is based on patriarchy. In a patriarchal mode of
production, the work of the wives within the household, such as cooking,
cleaning, and preparing food, is exploited by their husbands without any payment
(Walby, 1990: 20-21). The wives produce some work, which is enjoyed by the
husbands and children, but the work is not appreciated or given any
compensation. As discussed by Ferguson in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
all women, since trained into the gender roles of patriarchal wife and motherhood, are potentially those whose unpaid housework can be so exploited (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-class).
In this novel, the husband’s exploitation of his wife’s labour is represented
by Oki Toshio and his wife Fumiko as the only heterosexual married couple in the
novel. Firstly, a wife must do domestic chores, such as cleaning and cooking for
all members of the household. She does it without any payment.
At midnight his wife and daughter might still be bustling about, preparing holiday delicacies in the kitchen, straightening up the house, or perhaps getting their kimonos ready or arranging flowers. Oki would sit in the dining room and listen to the radio. As the bells rang he would look back at the departing year (Kawabata, 1975: 4)
In New Year’s Eve, the women in Oki’s household were busy with domestic
works, while Oki himself was free to sit, think, and listen to the radio. Oki also
had a son, but the son did not work in New Year’s Eve, either.
As a wife, Fumiko had to sacrifice her career and income. She actually did
the same kind of work before and after her marriage. Before her marriage, she had
been a typist for an agency. She typed other people’s documents and earned some
money. After her marriage, she typed her husband’s writings and earned nothing.
lovers' game, the sweet togetherness of newlyweds, but there was more to it than that (1975: 33-34).
Oki even asked Fumiko to type the manuscript of his novel about his love affair
with Otoko.
The love affair itself had made Fumiko depressed. At twenty-two, she was
still relatively young. She “would go out at night, carrying the baby on her back,
and wander along the railroad tracks,” and sobbed for hours in the garden (1975:
35). Naturally, typing the detailed description about it depressed her even more.
Oki realized that having Fumiko type it “would be to cause her pain and
humiliation”, “would be cruel”, and “would reopen the wounds of her jealousy
and pain” (1975: 35-36), but he still did it. As a wife, Fumiko consented without
complaining, saying that she “will be part of the machine”, although sometimes
she would pause and weep quietly (1975: 37). She did not get anything for her
hard work and the stress she endured.
Nevertheless, Fumiko said not a word about A Girl of Sixteen. She seemed
to think a “machine” ought not to talk. The manuscript ran to some three hundred and fifty pages, and for all her experience would obviously take many days to complete. Soon she had become quite sallow and hollow-cheeked. She would sit staring nowhere, clinging to her typewriter as if possessed, her brows knitted grimly. Then one day before dinner she threw up yellowish substance and slumped over (1975: 37-38).
The work even endangered her own health and caused her to have a miscarriage.
Within a week after finishing it she had a miscarriage. Apparently the cause was the emotional shock of the manuscript, rather than the typing itself. She was in bed for days, and her thick, soft hair, which she let hang in braids, thinned out a little (1975: 40).
Another unpaid responsibility of a wife is to care for her husband and
28
hospital to look after it” while Oki “took advantage of his wife’s absence to go to
meet Otoko” (1975: 35). When Fumiko got angry at Oki after discovering
Otoko’s pregnancy, she injured herself and her husband. She prioritized taking
care of her husband over herself, although her injury was more serious (1975: 36).
Even after Oki and Fumiko’s son had already grown up, it was still
Fumiko’s duty to wake him up. Oki kept telling her to wake their son up, instead
of doing it himself (1975: 135-136). All of those works will last for a lifetime,
“[b]ecause there's no retirement age in the housewife business” (1975: 134).
2. Male Violence
Male violence is another structure of patriarchy according to Walby. Male
violence covers violence acts done by men to women. Male violence functions to
keep women submissive and under control, as well as to show the superiority of
men to the society, in order to prevent any possible resistance in the future.
In the novel, violence takes the form of sexual abuse done by Oki to
Otoko. It is classified as statutory rape, defined in the bulletin issued by U.S.
Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention as:
Statutory rape is a general term used to describe an offense that takes place when an individual (regardless of age) has consensual sexual relations with an individual not old enough to legally consent to the behavior (Flores, 2005: 2).
Such act is considered as rape because under-aged individuals are still unable to
think clearly, unstable and easily intimidated when engaging in sex-related
activities. They are not yet ready, both mentally and physically.
Otoko was fifteen and Oki was thirty when they had their affair.
Years ago, at fifteen, when she felt Oki’s hand on her breasts Otoko had said: “Don’t do that. Please!” (1975: 117)
Oki did not listen to her and continued his advances. She “accepted whatever he
did, gave whatever he asked” (1975: 122). Once, she hurt Oki by biting him and
asked Oki to “hurt her too” (1975: 32). Otoko’s inconsistent reactions show that
she was still too young and not ready for sex. Therefore, if Oki, as a married adult,
took advantage of such a young girl and even “plan in advance his lovemaking
techniques, their sequence, and the like”, with his heart “throbbing with joy as he
walked along thinking about it” (1975: 121-122), it was clearly an act of sexual
violence. Oki himself admitted to having “destroyed her girlhood” (1975: 27).
Male violence is also an inseparable part in sexual relationships. Men often
treat their partner roughly in sex-related activities, from holding hands to sexual
intercourse. When a male character called Taichiro was alone with a girl he likes,
Keiko, he fantasized about biting off Keiko's fingers (1975: 178). When Oki had
sexual intercourse with Keiko, he treated her violently upon finding out that she
was not a virgin.
Meanwhile it became obvious that she was not a virgin. He began to handle her more roughly (1975: 85).
When Keiko told Oki not to touch her left nipple and covered it with her hand, he
“forcibly pulled Keiko’s hand away and looked at the left nipple” (1975: 143). In
fact, “her resistance made him all the more eager” (1975: 144). Thus, he did not
respect her wish and insisted on his own wish by force.
30
There is an unequal relation between men and women in sexuality. Men
are placed in the advantaged or superior position, while women are placed in the
disadvantaged or inferior position. Such division is based on mere biological
difference, namely because women are the ones who get pregnant and give birth.
However, in a patriarchal society, the unequality extends to social and cultural
aspects. As a consequence, men do not have any obligation or responsibility
resulting from a sex act, while women do.
Oki took Otoko's virginity when she was only fifteen (1975: 9) and
continued their affair until Otoko got pregnant. Oki could easily left her anytime
he wanted to. Even Otoko’s mother, the person who is the most concerned about
Otoko, did not dare revile Oki in fear that he would suddenly just abandon them.
For the time being Otoko's mother had suppressed her anger and resentment toward him. Her daughter was all she had, and once her daughter was pregnant, even by a man with a wife and child of his own, she no longer dared revile him. Her spirit failed, though it had seemed even stronger than Otoko's. She had to rely on Oki to see that the child was born in secret, and to arrange for its care afterward (1975: 13).
The baby died at birth; Otoko was sixteen years old then (1975: 12). Oki brought
Otoko to a low quality clinic, which endangered Otoko’s life and might have
contributed to the baby's death.
Otoko had given birth in a dingy little clinic on the outskirts of Tokyo. Oki felt a sharp pang at the thought that the baby's life might have been saved if it had been cared for in a good hospital (1975: 14).
Traumatized by her baby’s death, Otoko attempted suicide (1975: 21). Two
months later, Otoko was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. Granted, Oki
She writhed and moaned in pain, pawing frantically at herself. Then her glaring eyes seemed to fix on him. "No, no! Go away!" (1975: 22)
Because men could walk away freely from a sexual relationship, it is the
woman that must beg for marriage. Otoko’s mother begged Oki to marry Otoko.
“I know you have a wife and child, and Otoko must have known that too from the very beginning. So maybe you'll think I'm crazy, at my age, asking it of you...” She was trembling, with tears in her downcast eyes. “Won't you please marry her? You can just ignore me, as if I'm a little deranged too. I'll never ask again. But I'm not saying right away. She can wait a few years, even five or six--she's the kind of girl who'll go on waiting whether I want her to or not. And she's only sixteen” (1975: 28-29).
The ultimate control, namely the power to accept or refuse, is held by the man.
Oki ignored the plea, stopped seeing Otoko and continued his life as if nothing
ever happened, while Otoko had to suffer the physical and mental anguish of
losing a baby and a lover at the age of sixteen. Oki had “gone on to other women”
(1975: 27), while Otoko was “robbed of the possibility of marriage and
motherhood”, as Oki admitted himself (1975: 8). It proves that the man, Oki,
suffered less negative impact from the sexual relationship than the woman, Otoko.
As another example, men have more freedom to be sexually unfaithful. It
is easier for men to have extramarital affairs. Oki had affair with Otoko when his
own wife “was twenty-two and had just given birth to their son” (1975: 35). After
leaving Otoko, he had affair with other women (1975: 27). Even as a middle-aged
man, he easily had sex with Keiko, with the first move coming from him:
He grasped her hand. “Keiko, don’t put any makeup on.”
32
Not only Oki, but also Otoko’s late father used to have a sexual affair. He
had a daughter from his mistress (1975: 67). This special freedom for men is
related to the patriarchal mode of production, where men function as the
breadwinner and women are dependent on men. Otoko’s father, for instance, had
been “in the export-import trade in silk and wool” (1975: 67), so he could
justifiably leave home for some time with the reason of earning money. Otoko’s
mother, who worked at home without any pay, did not have such opportunity.
Such freedom is also related to the view where men’s sexuality becomes
the norm, whereas women’s sexuality becomes the deviation. Accordingly, men
are considered superior to women in their sexuality. Thus, as Keiko said, even
young women might love elderly men, but not the opposite.
“Otoko, women are pitiful creatures, aren't they? A young man would never love a sixty-year-old woman, but sometimes even teen-age girls fall in love with a man in his fifties or sixties. Not just because they want to get something out of it... Isn't that right?” (1975: 95)
With men’s sexuality as the norm, sex is viewed as a symbol of power and
pride for men, and as a symbol of defeat and embarassment for women. Oki wrote
a novel which told the public about his affair with Otoko, down to the details of
how they had sex. The novel was succesful and gave him “a fortunate debut as an
author” (1975: 31). Oki was proud of his sexual experience and felt positively
about its publication. Conversely, the novel “caused Otoko further injury” (1975:
30) and embarassment. Unlike Oki, she was ashamed of her sexual experience.
The unequal patriarchal relation in sexuality between men and women was
also reflected in the public’s response to Oki’s novel about their affair:
In those days people thought it shocking that a teen-age schoolgirl should take a lover, have a premature baby, suffer a lapse of sanity (1975: 31).
People thought Otoko’s actions shocking, yet they did not think it shocking that
an adult man took a teen-aged lover half his age, impregnated her, indirectly
traumatized her and left her. As a proof, even when the public knew that the novel
was based on real story, Oki did not receive any negative reaction or disapproval
from the public for his deeds. On the contrary, the novel “had the longest life and
was still widely read” (1975: 30), which means that people still buy it until now.
Another unequality can be seen in men’s judgment based on women’s
virginity. When a man finds out that a woman is not a virgin, which means that
she has been having sex with other men, he considers her as a cheap woman. He
feels he has the right to treat her as a cheap woman. When Oki saw that Keiko
was not a virgin, he treated her roughly.
Meanwhile it became obvious that she was not a virgin. He began to handle her more roughly (1975: 85).
Oki’s treatment is not fair because Oki himself had been having sex with many
other women, but there was no way for Keiko to find out about it. Even if she
knew that Oki had been having sex with other women, she could not treat Oki
more condescendingly because of that.
The examples above show there are two different set of rules concerning
sexuality; one applies to men, and another one to women. Men's rules give less
34
4. Patriarchal State
In a patriarchal society, the state functions as one of the structures of
patriarchy, through laws and regulations that enable and maintain exploitation or
oppression on women, and also through the lack of laws and regulations that
protect women. Without any laws to protect women, women are prone to become
victimized due to the mode of production, violence, and relations in sexuality. In
this novel, no laws are implemented to protect women’s well-being, as shown in
the events in the story.
In some countries, an adult who has sexual intercourse with an underaged
person, even with mutual consent, is charged with a criminal offence called
“statutory rape” (Flores, 2005: 3). However, in this novel, there is no law to
protect underaged citizens, especially women, against sexual advances from
adults. Oki, a married man, could have a sexual intercourse with and impregnated
an underaged girl, Otoko. There was no legal bond that obliged Oki to support
her, although Otoko was technically dependent on him. Otoko’s mother had to
rely on Oki to arrange the baby’s birth (1975: 13) and beg Oki to marry Otoko
(1975: 28-29). Nor was there any law to protect the mother and the baby’s health.
Oki brought Otoko to a low quality clinic, which endangered both Otoko’s and the
baby’s life. Otoko lived, but the baby died. Oki himself thought that “the baby's
life might have been saved if it had been cared for in a good hospital” (1975: 14).
Otoko’s experience caused her a great deal of physical and mental
suffering, including suicide attempts and psychiatric treatment (1975: 28). She
prevented her from loving other men (1975: 118-121). On the contrary, Oki
suffered no ill effects from the experience. After leaving Otoko, he continued his
life as usual. His family was still intact. He even benefit financially as well as
professionally from his experience with Otoko by writing a novel about it.
Otoko was living in Kyoto. Her mother must have left Tokyo because of his failure to respond to her appeal; probably she could no longer endure the sorrow that she shared with her daughter. What had they thought of his novel, of his winning success with a work that touched their lives so deeply? (1975: 33)
Of all his novels, the one that had had the longest life and was still widely read, was the one that told the story of his love affair with her. The publication of that novel had caused her further injury, eventually turning the eyes of the curious on her (1975: 30-31).
Magazines displayed Otoko’s photograph as “the heroine of A Girl of Sixteen”
(1975: 33), which showed that the public knew the novel was based on real story.
However, Oki did not face any charge or legal consequences of his act. The novel
even gave him fame as a writer and royalties to support his family. His son said,
It's ironic, but the royalties have helped support our family for years. They paid for my education and my sister's marriage (1975: 181).
The fact that Oki got away without any punishment shows that the state system
favors the men’s side instead of justice.
Yet another example is Otoko’s father’s affair. When he was still alive, he
had an extramarital affair with another woman and had a daughter. They had
never married officially, so Otoko’s father had no obligation to support the child.
After he died, the child did not have any right to his inheritance, his name, or any
form of support, although she really was his own daughter. Otoko’s mother found
36
She felt sure that the little girl was her husband's child. There were ways to verify it, but she thought the young woman herself might come to see her. Over half a year later Otoko’s mother was told by the secretary that she had married, taking the child along to her new home. He also intimated that the Eurasian woman had been her husband’s mistress (1975: 68).
The woman had to marry another man in order to get necessary support, such as
financial support and proper identity for the child in the society. It shows that the
way the state is organized, including its regulations, is beneficial to men only.
5. Patriarchal Culture
Every product of human thought is regarded as culture. Consequently, in a
patriarchal society, all products of human thought have a patriarchal bias and
result in a patriarchal culture.
A dominant cultural practice in patriarchal society is the idealization of
women as “the fair sex”. Women are regarded identical to beauty. At a glance,
this practice seems appreciative, but it reduces women's capacity into mere
physical objects rather than human beings. Such practice can be seen in the way
the characters are described in the novel. Female characters are frequently
described based on their physical appearance. Oki’s first recollection of Otoko
when reading about her in a magazine was that “Her figure was as slender as
ever” (1975: 8). Oki’s foremost interest was not Otoko’s life or her works as an
artist, but her figure. Physical appearance was also the first thing he noticed when
he met Keiko:
The moment she spoke to him at the hotel he had been aware of her beauty and now he noticed how lovely she was in profile. She had a longish slender neck, and charmingly shaped ears. Altogether, she was disturbingly beautiful (1975: 19).
Her unpainted, beautifully even eyebrows seemed a shade lighter than her lashes, and gave a look of innocence to her jet-black eyes. She had used only a touch of pale lipstik but her lips were exquisitely shaped (1975: 152).
And here before his very eyes was her lovely profile, the exquisite ears and long, slim neck (1975: 178).
The novel contains countless physical descriptions of the female
characters, such as “her slender neck” (1975: 77), “her rich eyelashes” (1975: 78),
“her beautiful ears” (1975: 81), “slender fingers” (1975: 178), “her glowing
cheek”, and “such beautiful teeth and eyebrows” (1975: 84). This way of viewing
the female characters symbolically reduced them into dismembered body parts.
There is also much more pressure for women to care for their appearance until it
becomes a source of depression, like Keiko said: “But how long will beauty last?
A woman feels sad to think of that” (1975: 77). On the other hand, there was not
even one description of Oki or Taichiro’s neck, eyes, ears, lips, or fingers; the
male characters’ descriptions mainly refer to their thoughts and actions.
Furthermore, patriarchal culture contains an idea that regards female
beauty as dangerous. Women are seen as the temptress of men. If a woman is very
beautiful, she is considered dangerous because she might arouse men’s desire on
her. Keiko is very beautiful and her beauty is repeatedly described by the male
characters as something dangerous, using terms such as “disturbingly beautiful”
(1975: 19), “disturbing beauty” (1975: 27), “the strange, seductive charm of her
eyes” (1975: 75), and “a kind of eerie beauty” (1975: 77).
Since culture involves the whole society, such practice is not limited to
38
account of Keiko as “almost frighteningly pretty” (1975: 44) and “a girl that
pretty with an evil fascination” (1975: 48). Thus, not only are women measured
by their beauty, but they are also to blame if men get aroused as a result of their
beauty.
B. The forms of oppression experienced by Otoko and Keiko
This part discusses the forms of oppression experienced by Otoko and
Keiko under patriarchal society, based on Firestone’s manifestation of patriarchy
in the society and Dworkin’s oppression strategies of the patriarchal society. The
significance of this question is to focus on Otoko and Keiko’s experience of
patriarchal oppression specifically, which will be important in the next part,
namely when discussing the influence of the patriarchal oppression on their
lesbianism.
1. Oppression through Education
Women are oppressed through education to accept their place in a lower
class, as the sexual class of ‘women’. Education does not only comprise formal
education at school, but also education through values passed in the family and
the society throughout one’s life. The oppression through education displayed in
this novel mainly uses the latter form, namely education in family and society.
Firstly, since she was sixteen years old, Otoko has learned from the
example of people close to her to accept women’s position as the passive and
her affair with Oki, it was actually his responsibility to accompany and care for
her. However, Otoko’s mother had to be especially nice to Oki and beg him so
that he would accompany and take care of Otoko in her childbirth, as if she had
been asking for a special favour.
For the time being Otoko's mother had suppressed her anger and resentment toward him. Her daughter was all she had, and once her daughter was pregnant, even by a man with a wife and child of his own, she no longer dared revile him. Her spirit failed, though it had seemed even stronger than Otoko's. She had to rely on Oki to see that the child was born in secret, and to arrange for its care afterward (1975: 13).
Eventually, Oki ignored Otoko’s mother’s request. Otoko’s mother accepted
without confronting Oki or even trying to appeal to Oki for the second time. She
took Otoko to move to Kyoto. Otoko’s mother’s actions demonstrated her
acceptance of defeat.
Within a year Otoko's mother sold their house in Tokyo and took her daughter to live in Kyoto. Otoko transferred to a girls' high school there, dropping one grade behind (1975: 29).
Otoko was living in Kyoto. Her mother must have left Tokyo because of his failure to respond to her appeal; probably she could no longer endure the sorrow that she shared with her daughter (1975: 33).
Indirectly, Otoko learned that men could easily treat women almost any way they
liked, and women could only accept passively instead of fighting back. She
learned that women did not have strong position in their relationship with men.
Secondly, all through her life, Otoko has been educated that women are
incomplete if they do not get married to men, and thus women’s main objective in
life is to marry and have children. That education began from her mother at home.
Otoko’s mother said that “the best medicine for a woman is getting married”
