Memoirs of a Geisha

I. act Memoirs of a Geisha (1997) II. Author Arthur florid (1957- ) III. Setting a. Where Gion, Kyoto, japan b. When archaean 1900s (1930s, knowledge domain War II) IV. Character and Characterization c. Principal Characters i. Sayuri Nitta (Chiyo Sakamoto) Sayuri is the principal(prenominal) fictitious character of the intensity. As a child, she always thought well of others. She has aim and does not give up easily. Her gray eyes are what sour her tie out the most. ii. Mameha Mameha was a well-known geisha girl girl girl in Gion. She was Sayuris older child (not by blood) and mentor. She taught Sayuri what she needed to do for her to dumbfound a successful geisha.She is truly determined and would do anything to achieve her goal. iii. Hatsumomo Hatsumomo was a geisha of the Nitta Okiya, the same okiya that Sayuri came from. She boasts of herself and thinks that no unity is better than her. She despised Sayuri and await her as competition, which led to her numer ous attempts to destroy Sayuris behavior. iv. head The electric chair was the discernment why Sayuri had a purpose to exit, which was the result of his act of kindness to Sayuri when she was a child. He is a person who thinks of others feelings. As a geisha, Sayuri wanted nothing more than for the Chairman to take notice of her. . Nobu Nobu was the Chairmans right-hand man, the Chairman owed him a lot. He is patient and kind. Nobus appearance is peculiar because of his spit out which was damaged by a bomb. He fancies Sayuri and waited most of his look to kick the bucket Sayuris danna. d. Secondary Characters i. autumn pumpkin Pumpkin was Sayuris friend when they were puppylike. Their friendship was destroyed by Hatsumomo, who was Pumpkins older sister. She was sweet and very helpful at first, unless was influenced by Hatsumomo. Pumpkin also became a geisha from the Nitta Okiya, but she was not as famous as Sayuri. ii. AuntieAuntie was the first person to show kindness to S ayuri when she arrived at the Nitta Okiya. She wanted Sayuri to compel successful and to not end up similar her. When Sayuri became a geisha, she continuously helped her through what she needed to do. iii. Mr. Tanaka Sayuri, as a child, idolized Mr. Tanaka and thought that no other man is higher than him. Mr. Tanaka was the person who offered Sayuris father to sell Sayuri and her sister Setsu. He was the reason why Sayuri finish up in Gion. iv. Mother Mother was the sister of Auntie and the possessor of the Nitta Okiya. She was very fond of m peerlessy and would do anything to become reconditeer.She later choose Sayuri as her daughter and as the successor of the Nitta Okiya. v. Dr. Crab Dr. Crab was i of the men who were attracted to Sayuri when she became a geisha. Dr. Crab is a kind of person who would aloneow nothing to stand in his way. He is known for spending a lot of money in the pursuit of mizuage. V. Subject Matter a diachronic fiction rough the life sentence o f a geisha in japan before World War II VI. Thesis/ briny Idea The narrative revolves around a girl whose life was change from rags to riches when her father sold her until she became a well-known geisha in Kyoto.VII. The Part I Like The Best. Why? I was thrilled the most when I was reading the part where the Chairman met Sayuri in the Ichiriki Teahouse afterwarfarefareds the incident with the Minister on the island of Amami. I was so consumed by the book since I badly wanted to know what the Chairman would say to Sayuri. box and disbelief came over me when the Chairman admitted that he knew Sayuri was the child he saw crying near the Shirakawa Stream. VIII. The Part I Like The Least. Why? I did not like the part where the war was going on and Gion closed down.I felt as if the part was not that significant to the main subject area of the story and that the story would just have the same effect to the lecturers without it. As a reader, I thought that this was the dullest part of the story. IX. Vocabulary Improvement 1. Geisha-(n. ) a lacquerese women educated to accompany men as a hostess, performing diverse skills such as dancing and playing instruments * Most Americans contrive geishas as prostitutes because of the pretend geishas who called themselves geisha girls and sold their bodies to American soldiers in Japan during the World War II. . Okiya-(n. ) the lodging house in which a geisha lives until she has paid all her debts from the okiya for sending her to school * Mameha was a geisha who was allowed to live in her own house since she was able to pay off all her debts from the okiya she was from. 3. Danna-(n. ) a geishas patron, a wealthy man who actualizes the geishas needs in exchange for spending time with him in camera * Nobu spent almost his entire life waiting to become Sayuris danna which unforntunately never happened. 4. Shamisen-(n. a three-string musical instrument that is played using a plectrum * Many geishas, if not all, were tau ght how to play the Japanese instrument called shamisen, which they utilise in performances. 5. Mizuage-(n. ) the coming of age ceremony of an apprentice geisha, usually associated with the geishas loss of virginity a large sum of money is to be paid to the geisha in return for her mizuage * According to Mineko Iwasaki, the geisha Arthur Golden interviewed for his book, a geishas mizuage was never won by center of bidding.X. Brief Summary Chiyo Sakamoto, a girl from a little angle village called Yoroido, was 9 years old when her father sold her and her sister Satsu to a man named Mr. Tanaka. They were brought to Kyoto where Chiyo and her sister were separated Chiyo stayed in Gion in the Nitta Okiya as a maid, whereas her sister was brought to Miyagawa-cho where she worked as a prostitute. Chiyo started going to school to become a geisha, but when she learned about her sisters location, she went to touch sensation for her.When they met, they decided that they would hoyden a few days after, Chiyo tried to runaway but failed, which caused her her schooling priviledges. As Chiyo dwelld to live as a maid, knowing that she wont see her sister again, she felt as if she has no purpose in life because he met the Chairman who treated her kindly, which gave her hope for a better future. After this incident, she wanted to become a geisha hoping that she would please the Chairman someday.Mameha, a well-known geisha in the Gion district, became her mentor and trained her to become a successful geisha she then changed her name to Sayuri Nitta, of the Nitta Okiya. Though she had numerous admirers, she wanted no one but the Chairman to take notice of her she strived hard to for this and in the end, she at last learned that the Chairman acknowledged her way back then from the very first time they met.Memoirs of a GeishaMemoirs of a Geisha is a book written by Arthur Golden. The plot takes place in Japan and tells us the story of a young girl a fisher cats daughter and her journey through life to become a famous Geisha, a Japanese female entertainer. The book describes the struggles of a young girl, Chiyo, who is abandoned sold by her father. The story is told in flashback format with elongation to the protagonists present and past. The focal point of the story is constantly on the versed narrator, Chiyo, who later changes her name to Sayuri when she becomes a geisha.Sayuri, who is our protagonist, is eight years old and lives in the small search village of Yorido at the beginning of the story. She lived happily with her family until one day her mother becomes sick. Her father who is a fisherman cant afford the checkup treatment of her mother. Seeing no other way out, he sells Sayuri and her boorish older sister Satsu to Mr. Tanaka the owner of the seafood company which all the villagers work for. Mr. Tanaka brings the girls to the ethnical city of Gion.Satsu who is the less beautiful of the two is sold to a cathouse while Sayuri is sold to the Nitta Okiya, a geisha house. At the Nitta Okiya she meets a arrive of different slew. There is the owner of the Okiya who is referred to as Mother, a bull-dog tone woman, whose main concern is money as described by Sayuri. The main Villain of the story is Hatsumomo , a famous and successful geisha who lives in the same Okiya as Sayuri. Hatsumomo is the main resource of the Nitta Okiya since all the money she earns goes to support it.From the day Sayuri arrives at the Okiya, Hatsumomo dislikes her, she tries to make Sayuris life as hard as possible. At first it is hard to understand why she has that kind of doings towards Sayuri but as the story continues we understand that it is all about jealousy. Hatsumomo cant stand that Sayuri is beautiful and sees that in a few years she might become a successful geisha unless she gets rid of her. Hatsumomo clearly states that she hates Sayuri and doesnt want her in the Okiya I shall destroy you (pg. 78)1 Sayuri comes to the Okiya with a debt which she has to pay off.The debt just keeps getting large because she has to take geisha lessons. Sayuri is taken out from geisha practice,e after some(prenominal) accidents, and made a slave at the Okiya. She has no hopes for her future when Mameha, a character who becomes very principal(prenominal) to the story, comes to convince Mother to let Sayuri continue her geisha practice. She helps Sayuri throughout her career by introducing her to many famous and rich people who can invite her to their parties and by taking her to all important places where the big parties are held.Mameha gives her personal lessons and gives her all help she can and if it werent for Mameha, Sayuri would never have become a geisha. Throughout the story we see how Sayuris character changes drastically, from a simple and a naive country girl to a slave with no future to a graceful famous geisha and when the story turns again, a seamstress trying to survive the second World War. Although the story mostly concentrates on Sayuri and we get to know the secrets of a geishas life, theres a lot more that can be learnt from the story.It tells us about the life in Japan before, during and after the Second World War. The story which is roach in Japan wouldnt have existed if we were to set it elsewhere. Geishas are something unique to single Japan and cant be found in any other elaboration around the world. It tells us about the time before the war when everything was good. Sayuri mentions the war a couple of times, in the beginning but she talks about it as if it were something that was far off and didnt concern her. Then slowly she starts realising that the war is affecting them more and more when they start using ration books.Still, the humankind of the war isnt realised fully by either Sayuri or the reader until it hits you in the face when suddenly the heads of different Okiyas are selling magic trick kimonos and jewels at the black market for their survival. The book mention s real-life incidents such as the outpouring of Tokyo and other big cities. It tells us about the problems that the people of Japan were faced with and how tied(p) graceful geishas are forced to become mean(prenominal) seamstresses, making parachutes for the war.The theme of the book in my opinion is first of all, the life of a geisha since it tells us about how geishas lived and what they had to go through. Arthur Golden takes us into an unknown world and reveals the secrets of what seems to us a glamorous life. The book shows that the life of a geisha is far from glamorous. Both in sense of the well-disposed problems they have to face such as jealousy from other geisha and the struggle to make a good reputation for themselves in wander to survive and also personal problems such as those older geishas, whose skin has rotted and become yellow because of the paints they used, had to face.Another theme of the book whitethorn also be destiny. Sayuris destiny was to become a geisha no matter what came in her way, no matter how impossible it seemed at times, she in the long run succeeded in becoming a geisha and not just that, she even became a very successful and famous geisha of her time. When the book starts and we see the village of Yoroido through the eyes of a young innocent girl, you admiration what does this little girl living in a small fishing village have to do with a graceful and glamorous geisha? Its almost as you wonder whether the title of the book is wrong.As the story develops, we see how Sayuri ends up in the cultural city of Gion, but then suddenly when the story turns again and Sayuri is made a servant at the Okiya you start wondering if the story will instead start pore on Hatsumomo. The book is very slow and boring in the beginning, several(prenominal) times I thought of just putting it down but just then the story takes a new turn.It genuinely tells about a life I knew nothing about before and got really touching the further I got i nto the book. The author has tied in historical events into an interesting story reflecting not only the lives of geishas but also the lives of everyday people of that time. I found the book very interesting and different but a bit slow. Since it is semi-reality based I would recommend it to people both my age but also older people. The story catches your interest whether you are young or old. I would give the book 3 out of 5 points.