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Essay / The Craft of Writing: An Analysis of Akutagawa
How is it that the purpose or direction of a person's life always seems predetermined? Nowhere is there a checkpoint for determining what one's hopes and aspirations are and magically expecting them to come true. The only plausible explanation for this is that it simply won't happen. Society has cast a dark shadow in the sense that there is little hope of venturing outside the expected boundaries. This is one of the main themes of the story “The Writer's Profession”. Horikawa Yasukichi experiences this firsthand as he is so caught up in the so-called confines of society that it prevents him from accomplishing anything and puts an abrupt end to his dream of being an acclaimed author. critical. No matter what he tries to do, the only success the Navy school professor has when it comes to putting pen to paper is writing eulogies in a time of despair. The title that incorporates it seems forever inescapable, causing Yasukichi to act outright, almost depressing to a certain extent. This frightening fact, along with how others perceive it, shows how a simple title can tarnish not only one's livelihood, but also the will to live. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The seemingly endless list of preconceived notions regarding Yasukichi was the turning point in his behavior as it was the first of many breaking points for him. These are the same titles that led to his own myopia in terms of painting himself in a brutally harsh light: Navy school teacher. A Navy school teacher. A simple title that seems innocuous, but put in context, it's a death sentence for Yasukichi. In his mind, he dreamed of soaring above the clouds and making his mark in the literary world. Unsurprisingly, this dream was to remain just that, a dream. A headline like that is meant to stick tighter than molasses on a sweltering August afternoon: “It’s true, he taught English, but that wasn’t his real job.” Not in his mind, at least. His life's work, he believed, was the creation of literature” (165). The key phrase in this quote is "He felt", because at this point Yasukichi is not facing reality because he has not yet accepted the limits that society has placed on him. This raises the question of what a title actually implies. In this case, Yasukichi was given a strict title, but the real problem evolves when he becomes consumed by that title. He lacks the ability to see beyond this and accepts the daunting reality that he is expected to do business within his limited domains. On the rare occasions when he was asked to write an article, it was to write eulogies. It seems almost ironic that his achievements, in the literal sense of the word, are about death and this goes hand in hand with the direction his career as an author is taking. With a different profession or qualifications, Yasukichi may have had the success he had always hoped for, but the title he acclaimed did not allow it. This shows the power of a three-word title and how it can stop one from achieving their dreams. A Navy school teacher. One may have the will to try to escape one's assumed role, but people will do everything in their power to make sure that doesn't happen. This was the case for Yasukichi because he opened himself up to the world of criticism. He was placed in an incredibly difficult situation as he was sometimes praised for his work. It gave him a false sense of hope and once he reached that level ofconfidence, it just prepared him for a harder fall downward. When receiving instructions for Lieutenant Honda's eulogy, Captain Fujita finished by saying, "Let your famous pen do the rest" (163). This is false for many reasons and especially because Yasukichi is in no way famous for his literary works. The only thing of value that came out of Yasukichi's "famous pen" were his two previous eulogies. By directly referencing the pen, rather than Yasukichi, this indicates that there is nothing famous that he himself created. He remains irritated at first because he thinks he is above writing eulogies and should concentrate his attention on his short stories which appear every two months. With a little convincing, he finally resolves to write the eulogy in no time. Something put together so recklessly should be the sacrifice Yasukichi made to have time to continue creating his latest short story. During the eulogy delivered at the funeral, he was impressed by such an outpouring of emotion from Lieutenant Honda's family. For once, he had achieved the goal of every author: to bring out pure feelings in the audience. The idea behind this is that it would be almost impossible not to be able to evoke emotion in an audience at a venue like a funeral. No half-hearted human being would ever criticize a eulogy regarding the devastating circumstances. Following a boost in confidence even greater than the captain's, Yasukichi reads a devastating review of his latest short story written by a well-respected critic. This is devastating news, because he realizes that even when things seem to be going well, someone will ensure failure: "His eulogies worked, his stories failed miserably: it was funny to everyone world except Yasukichi himself. When will fate be kind enough to raise the curtain on this sad comedy? (171). The quote itself perfectly describes how no matter what Yasukichi tries to accomplish, there is always a seemingly immovable obstacle in the way. This almost constitutes a final battle as Yasukichi invokes the same spell to save him, which supposedly ruined his life. Consequently, failure is the only possible status. The emotional difficulties that follow those on vision quests will eventually lead to some sort of demise. Yasukichi experienced this in the sense that his will to continue slowly diminished. From the beginning of the text, the reader is plunged into a somewhat depressing scene. The idea of death is immediately brought up and Yasukichi's response is even more disturbing as he simply rejects it and becomes more concerned about how he is now forced to write another eulogy. As he considers what to do, he realizes that he has no inner drive to write something meaningful and claims he is slipping into a state of melancholy. Writing about the death of a man he barely knew is a somewhat numbing task. The mere thought of death is enough to send anyone into a spiraling frenzy, but it was different for Yasukichi. He lost the passion he once spoke of for literature. The simple distraction of an unwanted task was enough to change course as his mental state began to change. In mentioning the eulogy and the lack of thought that went into it, the text quotes: "It contained nothing of which he need be ashamed." Such sensitivities had been scraped from him long ago, like the surface of old razor leather” (169). The idea of seeing such a normal emotion removed from Yasukichi's head is for, 45(2), 331-351.