great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Rue Saint-Denis is located in Paris, France and is commonly known as a popular Paris red light district. Though prostitution is illegal in Paris, the area is well known to be filled with sex workers. The two central streets, called Rue Saint Denis and Rue Saint Martin, are one of the oldest streets in Paris and meet together at an archway entrance. The arch was built in 1671 and resembles the Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile (which came later on in history). This red light district also has many shops and restaurants, outside of sex shops, and it is not considered an extremely unsafe area, as many tourists do visit the area for fun. Because of the tourist attraction, it is rumored that the working women within the district seek to scam people with their temptations and charge large amounts for their services. Although the area has a deep historical background, it has also been mentioned in works such as Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.

Ihara Saikaku, from Life of a Sensuous Woman: The narrator’s various and often contradictory relationships with men compels Saikaku to present several kinds of ambiguity.

 Several comments points to the love/hate relationship the narrator has with her profession. At times she seems to enjoy it, and at other times, it distresses her. There is the comment that although she feels guilt, she soon forgets the guilt. What do others think? Does the narrator feel true guilt? Should she feel guilt? Does she feel true regret? Should she? Susanna makes a very interesting comment, when she says that after the narrator’s failed relationship with the Samurai, that Saikaku sets the tone for the entire narrative, that love isn’t possible in this world. What do others think?

Others point out the ambiguity between love and lust, that we began discussing in class. Questions that came up: Is the narrator actually looking for love, or is she satisfied with the physical relationship? Does she actually find love? What is her definition of love (or does she have one)? What is your definition of love? If she does find love, is there a kind of progression or disintegration in her ability to find love (Jorge G.’s interesting idea)? Does she truly try to connect with others, or is she often manipulative?

Maria brings up the idea of her being “married” to the priest; in fact, she is his “temporary wife.” Does she experience anything of true marriage, or is this “marriage” simply a euphemism for prostitution?

Some other questions your comments provoked:

Is her narrative a confession, and if so is her “confession” an apology? And if you agree with that, who is she apologizing to? (Daphne’s question) Is she in fact simply apologizing to herself? Does she need to apologize to anyone else? Do any of us?

Is she happy in her life? Does she delude herself when trying to have a positive attitude about her situation?

Did she lead an immoral life, and if so, whose value system are you judging her by, hers or yours?

Do we have the right to judge others from our own value system?

Does she take responsibility for her life?

Does she gain maturity and insight as she grows older?

Ihara Saikaku depicts many different scenarios and relationships that the narrator has with men in his story, Life of a Sensuous Woman  that took place in Japan in the mid 1600’s. This story mainly consists of symbolism for love, sex, and lust. The author reflects a society where women are simply portrayed as to what’s called, objective prosperity. In one instance the narrator becomes into a street prostitute. Saikaku also portrays a society where women that were originally born into poverty should sell their bodies as if it were an object. This directly symbolizes prostitution. She states that, “I just followed my desires wherever they went– and I ruined myself.” The author reveals to us how merchants deceives these women into becoming a prostitute. All the narrators occupations were in relation with one another. Being a wife/mistress, a teacher, and a prostitute, she experiences similar scenarios in each. It gave her insight regarding the different perspectives in each. After analyzing the author’s purpose, his first statement in the story made sense. “A beautiful woman, many ages have agreed, is an ax that cuts down a man’s life.” He illustrates the life of a young woman and her sexual life beginning with her childhood.

• Farhan Zaman

Ihara Saikaku had several different relationships with several different men, however in my opinion her first relationship was the most important because it was the only man she fell in love with. Throughout the story Saikaku explains all her different encounters with men and all of them are based on sex except the one with the young samurai, she says “he was of a low rank and wasn’t good-looking but his writing, even in his very first letter, sent me into another world.” This was the first time we are able to see Saikaku has feelings for this man, there were other men who were good looking and of higher rankings that pursued her but she was uninterested, she said “There’s nothing as strange as love”. When the samurai lost his life for being with her, she was distraught “I couldn’t tell whether I was sleeping or awake.  I couldn’t sleep, but I couldn’t get up either.” Eventually Saikaku had learned to cope and forgot about this man, however every relationship Saikaku had after that was based on sex and not love.  

-Katarina Stojanovic

The story is based in the different experiences and relationships Saikaku experienced throughout her life.  As Katarina mentioned, the most important and crucial one is her first.  When she was just a young girl she fell in love with a samurai, “Why have you come all the way here to see me, like wind visiting a rotting old tree” in my opinion a clear proof of a real love and real hope from someone who is experiencing strong feelings and expects the same in return.  I believe she did that question waiting for an answer in return and unfortunately in never came and I feel that marked her at a very young age.    The next experience she had was also disappointing in my opinion, “I’ve always been an unlucky woman, but with the lord I was fortunate.  He was tender to me, and we enjoyed our lovemaking.  But things didn’t work out.”  Once again, another failed experience, that went from bad to worst and I believe was something that make her lose hope and giving up on love which explains the rest of her live and future experiences.  

• Joaquin Azcue

The narrator has lived a life with many adventures that were all different and yet very similar. The common trait in all these stories seems to start or end with curiosity & love which evolves to many other things. When she was a little girl, she was infatuated with the concept of love and felt like she understood what it meant. And because she wondered how the feeling would feel she acted on that curiosity and satisfied the physical need. However, the actual need for love was absent and she was always searching for that love to truly satisfy her curiosity. She says how she would over hear other couples making love, “Naturally I began to want to make love myself.”. That was when it was sparked and it continued to adulthood where she manipulated a man and said “Why don’t you love me instead?”. What turned into a favor, became feelings and she yearned for the love that she never really got but always wanted from someone.

-Onu Mezbha

Michelle:

“I was very young when I learned about love. I was still a flower in bud, you could say. And after that I had so many experiences that the pure water of my mind turned completely the color of sensuous love, like the water in the Uji River….. I just followed my desires wherever they went- and I ruined myself.” The sensuous woman of the story, by Saikaku, explains that she learned “how to love” at a very young age.

In the tale of the “Mistress of a Domain Lord”, the daimyo Lord was spending the year in Edo near the castle of the shogun. Throughout that same year, his wife died leaving the Lord worried about the continuous rule of his clan over the domain. With this, the old retainer went on a search to look for the most beautiful woman for the Lord to bear a baby boy for him. Out of all the women in Kyoto and Edo, the ‘sensuous woman’ was the chosen one. Through her relationship with the Lord, she became an official domain mistress explaining her lavish living with him saying “Everything was so luxurious, well, in the day I couldn’t believe my eyes….” Although she was enjoying her time as an official domain mistress, her relationship with the Lord soon came to an end. “I’ve always been an only lucky woman, but with the Lord I was fortunate. He was tender to me and we enjoyed our lovemaking but things didn’t work out…. The Lord kept losing weight and finally he became so weak and haggard he was just awful to look at.” Within the tale, the sensuous was blamed for why the Lord became physically weak wearing titling her as the woman who liked fancy sex. In this relationship, the sensuous was more ‘sexually empowered’ compared to the daimyo Lord led to his ‘sickness’.

Rebecca:

As Michelle mentioned, the narrator had been previously used to short relationships with men in which she was more in control. However, in “A Monk’s wife in a Worldly Temple” as the head priest’s secret wife, she became less in control and even more objectified. She was hidden underground, alone all day, every day. As would be expected, this caused her to become depressed. “I began to lose interest in living.” However, strangely enough, she begins to love the priest and her lifestyle. “Later I got used to the situation, and I even came to enjoy it.” This is the narrator behaving in manners that show she had Stockholm Syndrome, a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. Hostages like the narrator develop feelings for the captors possibly as a coping mechanism, but not always. Later on, the narrator ends up making her big escape, which is impressive as this is not usually the next action when someone suffers from this. It is often hard to get out of the situation, but the narrator had a lot of courage and determination, and a stark wake up call.

Susanna Domosi

The first ever relationship that the narrator has with a man is a case of forbidden love because the man is a samurai. The narrator was only eleven years old when she was having this affair with the samurai: “It was hard for us to meet, but I managed to arrange things sometimes, and we were able to make love. Rumors started, but I couldn’t stop myself” ( Saikaku, 595). The narrator shows no restraint in this section of the book and does not foresee the consequences of their affair at the time. Since the Samurai she was seeing was killed and she was punished by being sent back to her family, it is instilled in the narrator from a very young age that real love is not beneficial  in the society she lives in.

Later on when the narrator is working as a Monk’s wife in a worldly temple, the narrator demonstrates her development by revealing the self control she has built up: “I found myself… wishing he would come back…After a while I forgot my loneliness…” (Saikaku, 601). With age and experience, the narrator gained better control of her emotions and was better able to handle dealing with men in this section of the story. She was now capable of separating her work and her emotions, even though this is something she confesses as being immoral at the end of the story.

Jiwoo Han

         As Susanna stated, I completely agree with her. The love is not beneficial for both a young woman and man in her society. Also, this causes a horrendous consequence with serious punishments, especially for a samurai. On top of that, it seems that this love is not mature. “But the days went by, and you know, I completely forgot about him” (Saikaku, 595). This shows pretty clearly that she does not have a deep affection for a samurai.

     When the woman went to Edo and becomes a mistress of a Domain lord, her way of loving a man appears. “I’ve always been an unlucky woman, buy with the lord I was fortunate. He was tender to me, and we enjoyed lovemaking” (Saikaku, 599). Her relationship with a man is so much dependent on how a man treats her. Her attitude of maintaining the relationship with a man is quite passive rather than active.

     She has, however, changed in the section of A Teacher of Calligraphy and Manners. She tends to be more active to win a man’s love. “Why don’t you love me instead? We’d have to talk about it, of course, and we’d have to set looks aside. But I’m kindhearted, and with me you can realize your love without even waiting. You’ve got a lot to gain with me right now” (Saikaku, 604). By her being more enthusiastic to get his love, she makes love with him. As time goes by, the woman’s attitude to the relationship with a man has changed.

Daphne Young

Although I agree with Jiwoo when he said, “her relationship with a man is so much dependent on how a man treats her,” I disagree with his next statement where he said that the woman’s attitude to relationships with men changed. I don’t think her relationship towards men have changed at all. Throughout the text she seems very selfish, wanting sensuous love rather than the man she is making love to. Her opinion and feelings change almost instantly when the situation is not benefiting her.

We can see this selfishness in her story with the samurai.  Because it was a forbidden love, the samurai was executed while she was only punished and sent away. She mourned for him, but soon she forgot about him. “It’s amazing how quickly a woman’s mind can change.” (595) When she becomes the monk’s wife, at first we can see that she was depressed, but then she began to crave his presence and enjoy her situation. However she gets spooked by a woman she meet and planned an escape. In the section  A Teacher of Calligraphy and Manners, she helps a young man write love letters to a woman he is trying to pursue. Soon she falls in love with him and tells him to love her instead, as he had become very dear to her. However,  almost instantly after some remarks that he makes, she says “there was no shortage of nice men in the capital, and I decided I’d have to look somewhere else.” (604)

In Life of a Sensuous Woman, the narrator reacts to her profession in many ways. One that stands out is that at first, she showcases a feeling of regret. Although she has this feeling of regret towards her profession, the narrator eventually puts it behind her and doesn’t think about the things she’s done. When she goes on to explain her story of the Young Samurai, she states, “I thought about killing myself. But the days went by, and you know, I completely forgot about the man. It’s amazing how quickly a woman’s mind can change.” Her initial reaction is to feel regret and not wanting to be a part of this world anymore. Yet, as time passes, she puts these events behind her and continues about. As she continues to tell her stories, she begins to talk about the time she became the temporary wife of a Priest in exchange for money. In this instance, she mentions, “living like this was depressing enough, but sleeping with the Priest made me even sadder. It was just a job, and there was no love in it.” Her sign of regret is portrayed through this quote. Yet, she goes on to say “Later I got used to the situation and even came to enjoy it.” The narrator shows how quickly a woman’s mind can change as she is able to place this depressing feeling behind her and continue about.

• Jorge

Jorge, I like how you use the one situation with the Priest and show an example of how her feelings for the profession changed. Despite the fact that she was depressed about her way of life at first, as time went on she came to be more accepting of what she did. In fact, at one point, the narrator says, “When I got there, the old retainer thought I was even better than the woman in the painting, so the search was called off.” Through this quote we can see that there is a tone of acceptance in her feelings about what she did. She comes to think that perhaps she’s simply the right woman for the job. And maybe, the readers can connect that she was simply born to be in the life that she was thrust into. But then we move into another situation in which she says, “I was suddenly dismissed and sent all the way back to my parents— again.” This implies that even though she had come to accept her situation and her affinity for the occupation, she still disliked it in many ways— such as that of being on the receiving side of negative judgment. Once again, this can be seen as a shift in her opinion about her profession.

• Aly

Jorge brings up a good point that the narrator senses a great feeling of regret but I believe that she felt a great amount of love for herself and others.  Aly also has good reasoning for why the narrator may have been depressed at times but from the quote “I could make the woman who read one of my letters fall deeply in love with the man who’d asked me to write it”, you can see that she did believe in love and was happy about it.  During this time of being a calligraphy teacher, all the letters she wrote were all about love and it was so easy for her to write about.  Even though she wanted to stay away from men when she started the school soon enough she wanted love again.  When the narrator says “You’re just not getting anywhere with her. Why don’t you love me instead”, it just helps show that even when the narrator does not want or need love, it will always be apart of who she is.

• Preston

Maria:

In Life of a Sensuous Woman, the narrator deals with her relationships with men in various ways. In the section, A Monk’s Wife in a Worldly Temple, the narrator experiences a very poor relationship with the head priest in which she begins to understand the horrors of reality and then rationalize the horrors.
The paragraph began with a priest falling in love with the narrator and her agreeing to be his wife in exchange for silver. This was unusual as she has never agreed to be committed to anyone for money before and being his wife meant she was bound to him and his ways. Although monks and priests were supposed to be respectful, holy beings and vowed to act like model monks, they still sinned and allowed themselves six nights a month to eat fish and poultry and have sex with women as well as visit restaurants where they can meet women. The narrator begins to feel confined and subject to the priests wishes, which causes her to be disgusted by having sex with him and even being around him. On page 601, the narrator says, “It was just a job, and there was no love in it.” This shows the realization of the narrator that although she was his “wife”, this did not mean he was in love with her. The narrator may have agreed to be the priest’s wife because it could have been an opportunity for her to be more than just a women used for sex but have actual meaning and an actual relationship, however this “marriage” was actually ended up killing her inside. In reality the agreement was not an offer of marriage but simply an agreement to fulfill the wishes of the priest. On page 601, the narrator says, “Later I got used to the situation, and I even came to enjoy it.” This quote is contradictory to the few sentences before as it, as the narrator explained the lack of attention and care that the priest had for her. This quote represents the narrator attempting to rationalize the priest’s actions and make it seem fine since she agreed to be his wife. The narrator deals with men in different ways through the story and had dealt with conflict and regret thought her relationship with the priest.

Tara:
Maria, I like how you tied in that the narrator understands the horrors but then she quickly accepts them. It makes me believe that the narrator is unaware of a true relationship, and is willing to turn even the worst situations into a better one. It almost seems as if she does this to feel better about being compensated in return for a marriage and sex.
The narrator in Life of a Sensuous Woman faces many challenges when it comes to relationships and self reflection. In the chapter Mistress of a Domain Lord the narrator goes through a series of acceptance and almost always ends up disappointed. On page 597 the narrator says “ When I got there, the old retainer thought I was even better than the woman in the painting, so the search was called off. Everything was decided on the spot, and I got to set the conditions myself.” In this moment the narrator had accepted that maybe this was the right relationship for her. She appeared to be the perfect fit for the official domain mistress without trying as hard as the other candidates. In the beginning the narrator enjoyed her life in the mansion and she enjoyed making love to the lord. Shortly into their marriage the narrator was accused of making the lord sick and weak by having too much sex with him. On page 599 the narrator says “Those old men didn’t know the first thing about love, but they made the decisions. I was suddenly dismissed and sent all the way back to my parents- again.” In this moment even though the narrator had grown to love her life with the Lord she had to accept the accusations against her. Although there was not much the narrator could have done at that point it seemed as if her disappointment was a familiar feeling, and she needed to just continue on her journey.

Nicole:

Great interpretation, Tara. I liked what you said about turning bad situations into better ones and making the best out of her actions that she now regrets. We know that the narrator has been participating in sex since the age of thirteen. I believe that losing her first love has steered her to have a different approach on sex. She described her sex with this one man as making love but then says her mind changes once he is killed for loving her. “ I completely forgot about that man. Its amazing how quickly a woman’s mind can change.” Page 595 I feel this is how she dealt with her pain. To forget and have everyone after him have no value. I feel that she was able to love once and once it was taken away from her she used sex as a bandage or a way to coming close to “making love” again. She goes on to defend her own heart through out the story when everyone constantly criticizes her about her provocative ways. Over and over attempts to question her morals as well as her ability to love especially the last line in the story where she describes her heart as a lotus. “The lotus flower in my heart opened for you, and before it closed it told everything, from beginning to end” Page 611

Looking back at her life as a prostitute to two young men in need of guidance, a now aged woman tells her life story in relation to love and what she learned throughout. Each section of the story features a new man, and her different approaches toward love as she grows older. Her first love affair was with the samurai. “For four or five days-I couldn’t tell whether I was asleep or awake”, this was the purest she believed is ever been; eluding to herself as “bud of a lotus” and “purity of water”. The story progresses where she is now was a teacher and grew to love a man who was one of her customers. She “made love with the man day and night. When he lost his desire, she would strengthen him with food and continued.” This “love” resembled more like lust than the affection she had for the samurai. Case in point, her ability to love seemed to a have depreciated and become more twisted (Monk temple)as her relations progress with many man, each receiving less.

Francesca Furca:

Love has become intensely popular through out the story about the “Life of a Sensuous Woman”. This “Sensuous Woman” really has showed that she has experienced a lot through out her lifetime, especially when it comes to love. In “A Teacher of Calligraphy and Manner” she begins to share about how she was once a teacher of Calligraphy and it seemed that teaching this writing to younger girls was a way for her to get away from men. She says “To avoid rumors, I completely gave up relationships with men and managed to overcome every temptation to meet them”. Even though she seems to have been using the writing as a barrier from men she eventually begins to sleep with another man. As we move along she begins to worn the man out, but seems as if she is doing it on purpose. She says “I made love with the man day and night. When he lost his desire, I strengthened him with loach, broth, eggs and yams, and we continued”. This made me believe she may have been somewhat torturing him until he couldn’t any more. If we move to the first story, “An Old Woman’s Hermitage” she tells the two men the story of her first love and how terribly it had ended. A few days after he was killed for having relations with her she couldn’t sleep. She says “But the days went by, and you know, I completely forgot about that man.” She then continues and shares that she was only thirteen, which may have shown that she was too young anyways and maybe she really had no love for the man. That this was all a fantasy and that how quickly her mind went from guilt to just forgetting.

Annie Wang:

In the story “From Life of a Sensuous Women”, this “Sensuous women” had explored love at a young age and in the beginning she expressive about herself, “When people did my hair, I wouldn’t be satisfied and I’d redo it myself”. But as the story goes on she seem to have more urge for lust and desire. She says “Whenever I saw women and men lying together, I’d feel excited, and when I’d hear them in the dark, my heart pounded”, from here this is where she begins to think about love and wants to explore the feeling of being loved. After she got caught with the first person she felt shocked and sudicial, but then she goes on saying, “But the days went by, and you know, I completely forgot about that man. It’s amazing how quickly a woman’s mind can change.” This experience eventually changes her, like what Francesca pointed out that eventually she will continue sleeping with numerous men and burn them out.

Jacqueline Devine:

Just as Francesca says in her response, the concept of love surrounds all of the stories told by the woman in “Life of a Sensuous Woman”. Francesca talks about how this intense idea of love wears the woman out throughout her life. I also can see that this need for love and a good life makes the woman quite vulnerable. With each man that she encounters, the woman shows her vulnerability in different ways. In “A Monk’s Wife in a Worldly Temple”, she is locked away by the priest who uses her for sex within the temple. She is help captive, but she succumbs to the situation because she is vulnerable to love and the need for it. The author writes about the woman’s change in opinion by writing, “Later I got used to the situation, and I even came to enjoy it.” Another example of this vulnerability comes into play when the woman is faced with being taken advantage of by a man in the story “A Teacher of Calligraphy and Manners”. She does not plan on falling for the man who is depending on her to write love letters to another woman, but she lets her guard down once she sees that she likes him. Her search for love leaves her vulnerable, and in turn the man puts himself onto her. The woman says, “Taking advantage of the darkness, the man threw himself on me and grabbed me tightly.” She realizes that the predicaments she becomes stuck in are because of need for life and love, and she works through them with every story.

In “Life of a Sensuous Woman”  written by Ihara Saikaku he  begins with the time period with a Domain Lord, whom was looking for a specific type of mistress. The narrator who is a young woman herself gets chosen for an interview and later then becomes the domain mistress. At his place she describe how everything was luxurious and very desirable. “ I’ve always been an unlucky woman, but with the lord I was fortunate.” She was delighted with her time with him and even found love in it,  but it came to an end when he became weak and worn out. After being sent back to her parents house she realized he was unfortunate being that he couldn’t satisfy her. In her next journey with a monk she presents herself as a boy, a young warrior because that was the only way women could enter temples. During her time with the priest she was  in an underground cell and only called up for sex whenever the priest wanted. “It was just a job, and  there was no love in it.” She grew weak, depressed and lost interest in it all. The narrator schemes her way into going back to her parents house by claiming she’s pregnant and never returning again. “With this single body of mine I slept with more than ten thousand men. It made me feel low …” She now regrets everything she had done and was ashamed of herself.  Controversially she grew weak and tired of her profession.