Essay Questions

Summarize the binary oppositions in “Rashomon”. How do the binaries dissolve?

Glory versus Lowliness: The two binaries are present in the opening paragraph: “[The "Rashoømon" was the largest gate in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. It was 106 feet wide and 26 feet deep, and was topped with a ridge−pole; its stone−wall rose 75 feet high. This gate was constructed in 789 when the then capital of Japan was transferred to Kyoto. With the decline of West Kyoto, the gate fell into bad repair, cracking and crumbling in many places, and became a hide−out for thieves and robbers and a place for abandoning unclaimed corpses.]”Before West Kyoto’s degeneration, the gate characterized glory due to its proportions. The gate stood out because it was, arguably, well conserved. However, following the decline, the gate leaped into lowliness. However, the binary disintegrates because, even though the gate’s glory has nose-dived, still it covers samurai’s servant from rain. Furthermore, the god-forsaken status of the Roshomon adds to the survival of the ‘old woman’ and the servant because they earn a living, no matter how aberrant , from it. Accordingly, even though majority of the people would not hold the gate in high regard, the gate bears some glory for some people.

Evil versus Good: Akutagawa claims, “ At this instant if anyone had brought up the question of whether he would starve to death or become a thief−the question which had occurred to him a little while ago−he would not have hesitated to choose death. His hatred toward evil flared up like the piece of pine wood which the old woman had stuck in the floor.” The servant engages the Evil versus good binary to evaluate the old woman’s action. According to the servant, the old woman is malevolent because she blatantly jerks hair from a lifeless body. Categorizing the old woman’s action as evil prompts the servant to conclude that it is better to pass on than to take part in such malevolence. Nevertheless, the binary crumples when the servant partakes an equally malicious action. The aggression that he employs when stripping the old woman, who he regards as evil, her clothes is immoral. So, the servant cannot be exonerated from his actions, and neither can the old woman be vindicated because their actions are analogous.

How does “Yam Gruel” anticipate Postmodernism?

Akatawaga integrates Intertextuality when apprises the reader, “I would specify his name, but unfortunately it is not recorded in the ancient chronicles… So in this story he will be called "Goi." This information , which comes, in the exposition, alerts the leader about the fictional Details in “Roshomon.”

Also, the fox depicts Magical Realism because it delivers Toshihito’s message. A vassal informs Toshihito, “Last evening about eight o'clock Her Ladyship fell unconscious and said, 'I am the fox of Sakamoto. I will give you a message my lord has sent today. So step up to me and listen.' All of us got together before her. Then she said, 'My husband is coming just now with a special guest. Around ten o'clock tomorrow morning send men as far as the outskirts of Takashima and take two saddled horses.' That was the message she gave us." Therefore, the fox they stumbled upon before arriving at their destination was a disguised human. Ordinarily, there is not no Biological provision for humans to transmute into fox and vice versa. So the conversion (human to fox and vice versa) in “Yam Gruel” is magical realism.

What binary is does Akutagawa deconstruct in “Yam Gruel”?

Goi’s assertion, “I wonder if I shall ever eat my fill of yam gruel" alludes to the Satiation versus Hunger binary. Goi deems the trivial amount of yam gruel that he is served at the banquet not appropriate to gratify his hunger. However, at Tsuruga, “naturally enough, when Goi, who had watched these things (preparations of yam gruel), was served yam gruel in a huge pitcher, he felt satiated even before tasting the delicacy.” Goi’s questionable satisfaction deconstructs the Satiation versus Hunger binary by proving that gratification does not come with enormous quantity but the utility of a small, rational amount of yam gruel.