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Naoya Makino
100106040
English 1121
Section 06
Mr. G. Pybus
Langara College
16 April 2007
“A Father and His Son” is a biographical essay by David Remnick about
Kenzaburo Oe, a Japanese writer who writes both fiction about Hikari—his severely
brain-damaged son—and non fiction about changing the tradition in Japan. After
Hikari’s birth, Oe, a Nobel Prize winner in Literature, realized the value of individuals,
and he argues that the old emperor system creates too many conformists and too few
individual thinkers. The second significant message of this essay is that it is important
worries that conforming may lead a serious consequence if no one speaks out.
claims, “the handicapped are stigmatized more than in many countries” (114). Hikari,
Oe’s disabled son, “saved” Oe’s life since Hikari helped Oe to realize the importance of
individuals (111). Before Hikari was born, Oe was a traditional person who had obeyed
the emperor: he had not had a strong “sense of identity” and he had been thinking about
committing suicide (112). Hence, when Hikari was born severely brain-damaged, Oe
“escaped from [his] baby” as Hikari was not typical (112). However, after seeing the
miraculous growth of his son, he realizes that individuals are more important than
conforming. Even though Hikari is not able to contribute to the country, now he grows
very slowly, but certainly. In his fiction story titled “Aghwee the Sky Monster,” in
which parents attempt to kill their children, Oe tries to shock readers into examining the
individual opinions. As a result of the emperor’s centrality, Oe claims, there are too
many conformists and not enough individual thinkers. After World War II, the emperor
lost power and the parliamentary government gained power, reducing the office of
emperor to a mere ceremonial function, but Oe asserts that the emperor’s “centrality in
Japanese culture did not fully recede” (117). This means that the Japanese still conform
like they did during the emperor’s reign. As an example of the emperor’s “centrality in
Japanese culture,” according to Oe, there is informal censorship in Japan (117). In 1960,
when he wrote about a teenage right wing fanatic who stabbed the leader of the socialist
party, Oe was forced not to publish “Seventeen,” his comment on the event, because Oe
and his publisher feared for the lives of their families and themselves (118). This
example shows that instead of being allowed to express their individual opinions, the
that “it is in politics … that Oe hopes for a Japanese exceptionalism” (121). He wants
the Japanese to speak in their own way, without being influenced by other people, so the
Japanese are able to discuss important decisions. For instance, the Japanese government
has sent the Japanese Self-Defense Forces on foreign missions: Oe contends that the
discussion was not enough because of too many conformists. If everyone conforms, a
discussion would not be activated, so he is afraid that important topics, like sending
arguments. Moreover, he claims that Japanese “empty” culture creates even more
serious consequence. According to Oe, Japan is a “happy wasteland” (120): the younger
generations are not interested in politics, and the mass-media-culture emphasizes “the
flashy emptiness of a video game” (120). Due to the lack of engagements in politics and
remaining within youth culture, the Japanese is less likely to speak and intellectualize
their own thoughts. Thus, it is important that people should speak out without minding
others.
speak out instead of conforming. Oe comments on the debate about the principle of
eternal peace that “to obliterate from the constitution the principle of eternal peace will
be nothing but an act of detrayal against the people of Asia and the victims of the atom
peace and not to repeat the same war, the people should speak their own thoughts.