For Monday: Akutagawa, 3 stories: "Dr. Ogata Ryosai," "O-Gin" & "Loyalty"

Instead of giving you another set of questions (really!) I'm going to let you simply read these three stories and we'll do a brief in-class response on Monday. But as you read, here are some ideas to think about to help you:

SOME CONTEXT: These stories both take place closer in time to the present, and showcase a time when Japan is coming into contact with foreign ideas--in this case, Christianity. "Dr. Ogata Ryosai" is a Buddhist doctor who is very suspicious of the new Christian converts in his village (he doesn't understand them, or their customs, which is why he calls the crucifix a "kurusu" and Christians "Kirishitan"). 

In the story, "O-Gin," the narrator is the opposite of the doctor, a Japanese-Christian convert who sympathizes with his fellow Christians, O-Gin and her family. 

In "Loyalty," however, we're back in a medieval Japanese world, with its strict politics and social obligations. 

* Consider how each story dramatizes the struggle between duty and desire, or love and caste. Why do so many of the characters seem to go against their duty and choose love? Is this a 'selfish' attachment?

* What makes the narrators of the first two stories unreliable? Why can't we trust Dr. Ogata Ryosai or the narrator of O-Gin? What makes their views and storytelling a bit too limited?

* Why do the servants respond so differently to the demands of the master of their House in "Loyalty"? Does the story suggest which one is right? What are the implications for each one's decision?

* In these stories, what makes Japanese culture such a difficult society to navigate? Why is it so hard to follow the rules?

* Even though these stories are about Buddhists and Christians, how might the Bhagavad Gita weigh into their conflicts of duty/dharma and love/attachments?