Alec Schonfeld

Bewitched

In Akinari’s short story “Bewitched” we are introduced to a young man who meets this beautiful “girl” and is immediately infatuated with her. I chose an image that is the symbol of anti-feminism. The theme of anti feminism isn’t introduced into the story until later on, when you first begin reading Akinari even seems to be generous to women and Manago in particular. “At the same time, it occurred to him that he had never heard of such a beautiful, refined looking woman living in this neighborhood (Akinari 633)”. To start this short story we see how Akinari compliments the looks of Manago by describing how beautiful she was. However, as the story progresses we see how the narrative changes and Manago goes from being a beautiful girl to a “devil”. “That devil has come after me here Keep me away from her! (641)”. In such a short story we see how the author goes from one end of the spectrum to the other. This is why I chose the image of an anti-feminism sign, although Akinari starts with describing how beautiful a women Manago is, the story ultimately ends with her being depicted as a devil and all just how evil she was. Anti-feminism was certainly prevalent in 18th century Japan when this story was written and we see how Akinari’s writing is influenced by the time period he lived in.