Honor, Respect and perspective on being a Artist

Why do the younger generation harbor bitterness towards their elders?

A) The War
B) Traditional Roles in a Japanese household

To get a feel for the great, empire of Japan one must investigate what made it so great. During the 1930’s Japan was coming out of a great depression and so that meant the country had to keep stimulating its economy by means: occupation of other countries and war. The nobles were getting rich and commoners had jobs; all was well in Japan.  Not only that but Japan’s culture was thriving again as it did during the beginning of the 19th century.  For instance, the code of Bushido, has influenced Japanese military when it comes to honor.  The code reads if you break a rule then it’s “dishonorable” and you must commit suicide in order to regain your honor.  And as you read Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of The Floating World you hear of the war crimes committed by certain individuals and how they “apologize” to the families who have lost individuals to the war by committing suicide.

Back to the original question however is why do the young people feel they have the right to disrespect their elders?  An obvious reason we can all give is that we’re tired of having our father’s tell us what to do just because they’re the patriarch and that’s how it should be in a traditional Japanese household. For instance when Misuji Ono recalls how his father used to neglect him from being in the reception area because of his “business”, it just made Misuji want to pursue a different career path. Why? Masuji explains, “ I meant I wish to rise above such a life”(47) . Masuji did not think it was right for his father to judge artists for being “weak” , especially go even to say they live in poverty and squalor.  To get a bigger picture I shall explain a little clearer. I’m assuming since Masuji’s father father is a businessman that they’re rich, and to find out that your only son wants to be a artist is bringing shame to the name of the family. So it’s not about Masuji or what he wants but what dad wants for himself and the family name. This creates the bitterness which Masuji transforms to ambition for his future career in painting.

The second reason for the cause of bitterness between generations is the affects of post-war.  Let’s all imagine we live in Japan and we love it;  to see it destroyed by bombs from American planes upsets you a lot in fact it ignites this hate that you eventually vent it towards the older generation who got the country in this mess. This brings us to another recollection of Masuji with the infamous Jiro Miyake. What’s interesting about this encounter is the conversation Miyaki leads about his deceased boss. He justifies that it was right of the president to die in order for the employees to, "... forget our past transgressions and look to the future. It was a great thing our president did"(55). Awful, just terrible how this younger person speaks to defy the choices the elder made during the war - it's all past! But it seems the consequences of the war follow everyone.

To be continued....

Childhood...

Why is Kamal so different from all the men in this society? Does the fact that he is ten years old make a difference. Kamal is looking for attention constantly from his brothers, especially his mother. He is the only one who seems to have a deeper respect for women. Women in this society are either used as maids such as in the case of Amina and her husband Amad or as sexual objects from which men gain pleasure. If they are house wifes as Amina,  they can't leave the house for any reason unless accompanied by their husbands, they learn about the outside world only from what by mouth of their husband, and are basically ignorant of everything except for the teachings of the Koran and what they need at home. Kamal seems to be very different from all his male brothers, he enjoys the company of his mother and two older sisters. Mahfouz describes Kamal's reason for wanting to teach his mother about what he learned at school, " The truth was that he loved the women's company with all his heart and did not want to be separated from them even when working. Seeing them gave him a pleasure nothing else could equal. He loved his mother more than anything in the world (Mahfouz 65)." Kamal spent his time trying to teach his mother  many things he found interesting and in doing that I feel that he is being inclusive with his mother. Kamal seems to think that maybe his mother shouldn't be any different from him or even men. Men are the one's who get educated in this society and Kamal makes a difference. I attribute this difference to his age and experience because he can't have so much respect and admiration for a man like his father who treats him as if he doesn't deserve respect. Mahfouz placed this paragraph to show us probably how men in this society grow out of their admiration and respect for women. Is Kamal going to change later in the story? 

P. 65, top paragraph 

Respect

Respect
Naguib Mahfouz creates a secretive, yet well respected character, Ahmad, in the novel Palace Walk. This character is mysterious enough to portray him to others the way he wants to be portrayed. True feelings are not enough to convince Ahmad to change his ways and find his true identity. From evidence provided by Mr. Mahfouz, research on Islamic culture, different of my classmates written opinions, and from my own opinion, I have concluded that Ahmad is composed of one main characteristic; respect.
Ahmad’s will is to obtain respect at any circumstance. In his family case, he gains respect by inducing his family to remain submissive to him. It has been this way since the beginning of the novel. Ahmad’s family consists of a wife and five children. The respect these six persons have towards Ahmad can easily be represented by Amina’s actions. Naguib Mahfouz, the author of the novel, wrote: “it had occurred to [Amina] once, during the first year she lived with [Ahmad], to venture a polite objection to his repeated nights out” (4). The author knows and lets us know that Amina is discontent with her husband’s actions, yet she doesn’t dare to object them. We have been informed that if she does, Ahmad will respond: “I’m a man. I’m the one who commands and forbids. I will not accept any criticism of my behavior. All I ask of you is to obey me. Don’t force me to discipline you” (4). Amina learns from this response that she must remain submissive, and show respect to her husband at all times; and she does.
Ignorant as she is, Amina praises her husband as a God. As the one who is right at all times, and the one who possesses the authority to do as he wishes. There is no occasion when Amina fails to show absolute respect to her dearest husband, but one time. She does not dare to disobey her husband’s commands; and the only time she does, she confesses her error to her husband Ahmad herself. It was the time of the year when Ahmad left the house for about two days. The entire family was liberated and allowed to breath without fear of Ahmad reproaching to them. The atmosphere in the house when Ahmad wasn’t home was so pleasant that it provoked Amina to disobey her husband and leave the house without his permission and supervision. On her way back home Amina suffered from an accident and was forced to remain in bed until her health was improved. Yasin assured her that they would think of something to tell Ahmad (178) so she wouldn’t get into trouble, but his attempts failed. Amina failed when the time to confront Ahmad came. She didn’t have the strength to lie and disrespect her husband.
Ahmad’s reaction can be predicted; madness will take over him and poor Amina will pay the consequences of her error. Surprisingly, we are partially wrong. Ahmad claims to be disrespected, but does not react the way anyone who has read about him would predict him to react. Tracy wrote in one of her blogs, Amina’s accidental Ahmad’s reaction, her amazement of Ahmad’s reaction. She argues that Ahmad contradicts his own actions because he doesn’t get irritated as he would when confronting a smaller incident. Ahmad is known for getting irritated when his orders are not followed, but this time he reacts as a calm person willing to move on from this uncomfortable event. He is making Amina pay for her mistake at a high prize, but not because he wants to but because of his pride. After this incident, Ahmad forgives Amina and allows her to return to her house. Amina knows that she has been lucky to be able to return home, but her husband hasn’t forgotten that she disrespected him.
Respect is something that is gained by our individual actions. It is not something that could be purchased at a corner store or that has a price. Unfortunately several people are able to obtain respect the wrong way. Like Ahmad, he is respected because he forces people to respect him. Just like Ivan wrote in one of his blog, “throughout the whole novel we see that Ahmad cares more about his authority not being questioned and people recognizing him because that fed his pride”. All Ahmad cares is being respected. He sets no limits to his actions as long as he obtains respect from others. He is selfish and puts himself before others.
The best way to understand Ahmad, if there is one, it has to be by trying to understand his background and culture. Ahmad grew up believing that men are leaders. They are the ones with the authority and the ones molding the lives of their family members. Ahmad is responsible for his family and leaves no space for judgment. Ahmad is a typical father who forces his entire family to be submissive to him. He is strict to the point where he manipulates the way his wife and children act. Ahmad shows no affection toward his own family is because he believes that if he does then they will take advantage of him. Every Muslim could understand Ahmad’s behavior because they all believe in what the Prophet (alayhis-salam ) once said: “Each of you is a shepherd and each of you shall be asked about his flock”. If Muslim fathers don’t man up they are leaving space for disrespect.
Respect is the most important thing a father can look forward to from his own family. I don’t think there is a father who doesn’t seek respect from his family. Without respect anyone can feel worthless. This is the reason why Ahmad is forced to do what he does to gain respect. Personally, I disagree with the way Ahmad is. I believe he can get respect from his entire family without acting the way he acts. If he changes his ways and continues to do things different then his family would no longer fear him and will respect him for a good reason. If respect comes from a positive reason then Ahmad would enjoy it better.
There is no reason why Ahmad should act the way he is. His culture does not justify his actions because traditions are changing. Men are not as strict as they used to be a long time ago. There is nothing that justifies Ahmad’s actions, not even his strong desire for respect. If he wants to be respected then Ahmad needs to figure out a way to get respected without force.

Work cited:
Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990
Yahya. "Why Muslim Fathers Have to Man Up." Web Log post. Muslim Fathers. 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2010.


Garcia, Tracy. "Amina's Accidental Ahmad's Reaction." Web log post. Digging Even Deeper. 17 Feb. 2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2010. .

Loredo, Ivan. "Pride." Web log post. Digging Even Deeper. 17 Feb. 2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2010. .