Thousand Cranes Final Project

One of the most important factors that make up a book is the characters. Authors portray characters in various ways. In the novel Thousand Cranes, the author Yasunari Kawabata depicts various characters. One of the characters, Kikuji Mitani is used by Kawabata in the novel. Kikuji represents a character that has been put to the test in the Japanese culture. Kawabata also uses his relationship with other characters to advance the character of Kikuji.
Kikuji is a fairly young Japanese man in his twenties. Kikuji lives alone, being that both of his parents had passed away. One thing that is left out of the novel is a real introduction to Kikuji. We know little of his physical appearance and the only way to find out about the character is by reading the novel. Kikuji lives a basic life where he goes to work and then back home. He is also deeply affected by the choices that his father had made back when he was alive. Kikuji’s father was with several other women in his life and this is one of the main reasons that Kikuji wants nothing to do with his father. It doesn’t matter how much Kikuji tries to get away from his father’s past it still comes back to haunt him. Even though Kikuji knows what is going on around him, he does little to nothing to stop it.
Kikuji is a type of person that will just let things go by him and deal with them at the last moment. Kikuji’s personality can be described as passive because of his way of dealing with life situations. Throughout the story Kikuji is faced with the women of his father’s past who seem like they will never leave him alone. One of the Chikako Kurimoto is basically trying to take over his life. She tries to set him up with a girl without Kikuji’s actual consent. At first Kikuji isn’t exactly in love with the idea but then he begins to fantasize about the girl. After a while Kikuji wants nothing to do with the idea of marrying the girl because he doesn’t want Chikako to be involved with his life. In the novel Kikuji says, “I have bad memories of Kurimoto……..I don’t want that woman’s destinies to touch mine at any point. It’s hard to believe that she introduced us.” (Kawabata 53). This shows how Kikuji had a problem with Chikako but he didn’t directly deal with it, instead he just passed it on to another person. Kikuji is the type of person that will bottle stuff up inside and he never gets the chance to express himself. Being the only real male character in the novel, Kikuji represents someone against the odds. He is being pushed to the limit with his father’s women but he has no real way of dealing with it. When another one of Mr. Mitani’s women, Mrs. Ota, comes into Kikuji’s life he also doesn’t know what to do. He ends up having relations with her but he tries to escape it. Mrs. Ota kills herself before Kikuji gets a chance to talk to her. I believe that Kikuji should try to express himself more often and stop worrying about what other people do around him.
When Kikuji is faced by other people he tends to back down. When he is told that he is going to married to the Iwamura girl by Chikako he doesn’t really express his disapproval. At the beginning of the novel Kikuji doesn’t really have a clear motivation. As the novel progresses Kikuji is faced with opportunities that interest him. Kikuji begins to like the Iwamura girl but before he can act upon his desires he is told that she is already married. Kikuji also begins to fall in love with Mrs. Ota’s daughter Fumiko. Kikuji is around her frequently and in his mind he knows that he loves her but he never tells her. This is one of the main reasons Kikuji is left alone at the end of the novel, if he would just act upon his thoughts, he would be in a different position. At the end of the book Kikuji is left alone with Chikako, a thought that he dreads. I believe that its Kikuji’s fault that he is alone at the end of the book because he had many opportunities to be with someone. Kikuji represents a Japanese man, which in perspective differs from Western men. In my opinion a Western man would probably put Chikako in her place and fight for what is basically his.
Overall, a key character can help a story advance a lot. One thing that I dislike is that Kawabata leaves a lot of the story out. I feel that not just Kikuji, but many other characters are incomplete and are only an outline of what the character could potentially be. We don’t really know much about Kikuji and we are left to interpret the character. If Kawabata would of included a little more information on the character, then we could of possibly be able to understand the decisions he makes.

Theodicy

When something goes horribly wrong in our lives we tend to wonder what happened. Sometimes we even wonder if it could possibly be God’s fault. Many people begin to believe that God is to blame because he is the acclaimed almighty power. The idea of theodicy defends God’s goodness and justice in the face and existence of evil. I think that we shouldn’t blame God for everything that is going on in our world and for the hardships we have faced in history.
I believe that we shouldn’t blame God for the existence of evil in our world for many various reasons. If we do in fact put the blame on God, then why should we even think that he exists? Just because God doesn’t make his presence known in the face of evil that doesn’t mean that he is doing it on purpose. People tend to think that it is easier to put the blame on someone else rather than taking the heat for themselves. When Leibniz published Theodicy he believed in God. He also believed that God created this world to be the best of all possible worlds. Pangloss, from Candide, also had a similar philosophy. With all the mayhem and destruction going on around him, Pangloss believed that everything happened for the best and he never blamed God. God created this world for all of us and he did it out of his own love and kindness for us. He wanted us to live in the best world possible and that is what he created for us. God put Adam and Eve in a stress free zone, the Garden of Eden. God wanted them to stay there and he basically guaranteed their eternal happiness but they both screwed it up. Many people believe that God was wrong for kicking them out, but why shouldn’t he. God had every right to punish them because he gave them everything else they could ever want and only gave them that one rule. They still decided to eat the apple and it was their own fault and they couldn’t blame God for that. This was one of the first examples of God punishing his children. During Leibniz’s time there were many atheists that tried to prove that God didn’t exist. They began to spread the idea that God and evil are not compatible and that if God existed he would not allow evil to exist. They also said that if God is the creator of the entire universe then he is also the creator and the cause of evil. They also stressed that if God did exist why couldn’t he remove the evil from this world instead of maintaining it. The spread of atheistic beliefs also made it difficult for philosophers like Leibniz to get his point across.
Over the years we have been put through a lot of suffering. If God is the creator, destroyer, and sustainer of this world why is he putting us through all of this? I think that everything that happens to us happens for a reason. If this world was perfect and everything went our way we would never realize how good we have it. Even today we take everything for granted and we don’t see that it could bring us to an early demise. As human beings we aren’t built to last forever and neither is the Earth that we live on. Many philosophers today would disagree with the likes of Leibniz, just because of the time period we are in. There are many things that happen in today’s times that we can’t really find an exact answer for so many people think that it is God’s fault. I personally think that God wants us all to suffer at one given point in our lives. I think that if we can overcome our obstacles and look evil in the eye we can prove ourselves worthy. I believe that if we can overcome evil we can achieve God’s goal for us. God wants us to be able to be happy with ourselves and to reach our full potential. If we didn’t face suffering and obstacles in our lives then we wouldn’t have anything to strive for. I believe that God is everywhere and everything is composed of her. I try never to doubt God because I believe that he has a plan for each and every one of us. Some people think that if we are all God’s children why does he make some of them suffer and die like in third world countries. I think that God makes people suffer like that to show the rest of us that we shouldn’t think that were invincible. I also think that God makes these people suffer for another reason, if we are all truly God’s children why shouldn’t we extend a helping hand to our brothers and sisters. I think that God wants us to show the same generosity that he showed us towards others in need. God created this world for everybody and we can’t be selfish and have it for ourselves. I think that God wants us to treat each other equally because that’s the same way he created us, equal. Instead of blaming God I think we should blame ourselves because most of the wrong that happens in this world is our own fault. God isn’t the one going around killing people and declaring war on other countries, we are. God gave of this world to live and be happy with not only ourselves but with each other. God never wanted us to turn this beautiful world into a nightmare. We as a whole need to realize that if we all act together we can make a big difference in this world and perhaps even eliminate evil from this world.
Overall I think that God is not to blame for the existence of suffering and evil in this world. I think that God had a plan for us since the beginning and we are currently prolonging it. I also stand by my opinion that we as a people should put some of the blame on ourselves. I consider life to be a test that God is putting us through and it is important that we try our bests to pass it. If we can pass the test of life and prevail over the suffering, pain, and evil of this world then we can reach our ultimate goal of happiness.