From the Pillow Book, Sei Shonagon seemed like she was not living in her era. She was way advanced than most of the rest of the women at that time. She touched problems that people specially women wanted to hide such as social problems. She pointed out beautiful things for example Japanese nature but people did not recognize them. As an illustration in the book:”In summer, the night-moonlit nights, of course, but also the dark of the moon, its beautiful when fireflies are dancing everywhere in a mazy flight”. In these words, we can notice that women are more aware of our surroundings than man. Moreover, She was able to identify the beauty of each four seasons: spring,summer, autumn, and winter. She described many actions of people in the Japanese culture that were either praised or condemned. In the “Things that cant be compared”, she wanted to show us everything mostly on earth has an opposite. As a matter of fact, God creates day and night, and ski and earth so forth. Throughout the stories we can reveal themes such as beauty and perfection. She has opinions about everything in her surroundings as I stated earlier. To conclude, Shei Shonagon has a little patience for ugly people and ugly things. I think all of that do not fit in her world.
One thought on “An outspoken wowan”
Comments are closed.
I personally wouldn’t say an out spoken women for everything she felt and wrote was not meant for the eyes of the public. ” I merely wrote for my personal amusement things that I myself have thought and felt, and I never intended that it should be placed alongside other books and judged on a par with them.” I can say that she is intuitive with her surrounding and not ashame to express her feelings on paper. she speaks of things that mostly every person is thinking, but are much to afraid to express or come to terms with those feeling themselves. I can say that a few of the things she’s mention I can personally relate to for example Things that give you pleasure- “Managing to get the better of someone who’s full of themselves and overconfident. This is even more pleasing if it’s a man, rather than one of your own circle of gentlewomen.” I have come across many and was able to humble them a little. It feels good being able to walk away with a lil smirk. I’m sure many can relate with most of her thoughts. I would also like to add that I think her title from The Pillow Book was a great choice, because most of her writting and poems were witten from things she seen and thought. Most people write down their thoughts in a journal or diary which most of the time is done in the privacy of their room laying on their bed with their pillow tucked underneath their head.