Humanities

Grab handouts Get ready for notes

HW: Finish “In A Grove” and written response Unit 9 test Wednesday Essay due Friday

“In A Grove”

By Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927)

“Father of the Japanese Short Story”

Mother went insane after his birth; raised by uncle

Interested in Chinese Literature

Schooled with future authors

Killed himself

“In A Grove” (1922)

Modernist short story modernism reveals a breaking away from established rules, traditions and conventions, fresh

ways of looking at man's position and function in the universe and many (in some cases remarkable) experiments in form and style. It is particularly concerned with language and how to use it

A samurai is murdered in a grove. Characteristics of a samurai?

Seven “witnesses” give their account Each has inconsistencies Read as if reader is asking the question

Questions human’s ability to give and receive objective truth

Basis for Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashomon

Tips to reading a short story

1. Use writing to think1. Journal, Cornell Notes, or

annotate

2. Explicate the title

3. Keep track of characters

4. Pay attention to first paragraph

5. Take notice of style1. How does this aid the

author

2. Use language we’ve used this year

Take notice of the structure For example, “In a Grove”

is very different. How does this affect the story?

When done, spend time with the work in writing Summarize main idea Synthesize important

points/ideas Question what the author

wants us to think Be honest with yourself –

what don’t you understand?

“In A Grove”

Read the story Quiz tomorrow

Who did it? Why does each lie? OR what is a lie and

what is truth? What purpose do these lies serve?

What institutions does the story attack? How would you turn this into a film?

Who did it? What does each person gain by taking responsibility?

Motives of the three who confess to the killing? Tajomaru The woman The samurai

All seven testimonies are filled with inconsistencies

Woodcutter: “daily quota of cedars” in an “out of the way grove”

Japan had severe cutting restrictions at this time Buddhist Priest:

For a guy that “took little notice about [the woman’s] details,” he was sure able to give us a lot of details

Policeman: This guy is just inept.

Succeeds only because Tajomaru falls off horse Because the arrows “look like the ones owned by the dead

man” he concludes he must be the murderer. “Providence” is on his side so this is part of a divine plan.

All seven testimonies are filled with inconsistencies

Old Woman: Why is it important that her daughter “has never known any man

except Takehiko” Tajomaru:

How does he tie a “sword-bearing warrior” to a tree merely by surprise?

Trusts the wife to stand idle while he crosses swords with her husband Woman:

She fails to remove the bamboo leaves from her husband’s mouth before she stabs him.

Why would she go to the trouble of removing the ropes? Samurai:

Elevates a rapist to a position of nobility and denigrate his newly raped wife.

His wife is able to outrun Tajomaure in the dense forest, even though the criminal “instantly snatched at her? How does an agile robber fail to defeat a lady with flowing robes and hair?

An outside party removes the sword

Why is the narrative a collection of testimonies?

Let’s see how this compares to the movie later this week.

Relate the setting of the forest to other works you have read / seen.

Dante’s Inferno Adam and Eve

What is the role of women?