Prakhar Sinha - niceeeee PDF

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Word Count: 466 Prakhar Sinha Professor Sorenson JPN 010 10/11/20

What is the relationship between the coldness of the snow country and the relationships of the novel “Snow Country” by Yasunari Kawabata? For a novel titled “Snow Country”, the author is never explicit as to why it is important that we are in the snow country to begin with. This is because, this idea should be left to the reader to explore. One interpretation is that this novel takes place in the snow country whatever feelings that are shared between characters in this novel will remain in ice in the snow country. All we see of the snow country is when it is at its coldest; this is when the novel takes place. This is the only time Shimamura ever visits. We can see the coldness at its best in the relationships of this book. The most glaring example being the relationship between Shimamura and Komako. Before continuing, it’s important that I clarify what I mean by cold, coldness in the sense of love and relationships refers to lack of warmth and compassion from one or both sides. If the resolve and passion of one character is not met in full by the other. The relationship between Shimamura and Komako is one that develops over the course of the whole novel and it is evident that there is it there never was any real depth to their relationship. This can be observed on page 101 (eBook version) of “Snow Country” where Shimamura and Komako are having an exchange. On this page of the eBook, following a Komako-Shimamura pattern (Komako speaking first), the number of lines spoken by each character in the exchange is recorded: 2-4-1-7-1-5-1-5-2-5. The details of this conversations are irrelevant, what is more important to look at is the length of the different exchanges. What is most striking is how many more lines Komako has as opposed to Shimamura. This is supposed to be an exchange between two, at the very least, friends talking about their feelings. One could argue that a good friend would listen and not interject when the other is talking but Shimamura follows up with no thoughtful criticism or advice for Komako after the entire exchange, hinting at the fact that he was not nearly as invested in their conversation as Komako was. This type of cold unreturned love is seen in other relationships as well, take for instance, the relationship between Komako and Yukio works in much the same fashion. The relationship between those two was so cold in fact, that Komako was hesitant to see him on his deathbed. Just a reminder that Komako was working as a Geisha just so that she could pay off Yukio’s- her fiancé’s- medical bills. She was unwilling to see Yukio, just so that she could spend a little more time with a new love that she had met very recently, that evidently did not love her back the same way she loved him....