Analysis on Closed Reading W12: In Defense of “Memoirs of a Declining Ryukyuan Woman”
In Defense of “Memoirs of a Declining Ryukyuan Woman”
“I cannot deny that I have also felt loneliness of being Okinawa as described in this story and that, in the past, I have struggled to hide my identity. However, I now realize the futility of this effort, for the constant fear of exposure leads only to the loss of dignity and to the weakening of one’s spirit.”
This text stood out to me because the author is defending her depiction of the Okinawa people in her memoir, her uncle’s character in particular. In her defense to the Okinawa Student Association, she concedes that she too was once like her uncle, ashamed of who she is and have surrendered this interminable journey of endeavoring to carry on with her life as a woman not of Okinawa decent. Be that as it may, she does not come out of hiding because she has learned to be proud of who she is. Furthermore, it isn’t on account she recognizes that growing up in poverty does not characterize your value, yet it is a part of your story. I know we live in a society where individuals are often dealt with diversely by their financial status. So, it is understandable that your first reaction would be to deny anything that resembles poverty. Yet, the author’s battle is not with concealing her identity, but the effort it takes to do so. The loss of dignity and the weakening of the author spirit is from dread of being exposed, not on the account she now embraces who she is as an Okinawan woman. The author, in the defense of her memoir, uncovers that she and her uncle is one of the same. The main distinction is she is sick of waiting for the day of exposure, while her uncle on the other hand is willing to do whatever it takes to keep his identity concealed.
In Memoirs of a Declining Ryukyuan Woman, the author gives insight into the discrimination of her people and that did not need defending. However, with this text one could ponder she exposed the truth in her memoirs due to her own personal guilt of hiding her identity, and not because she cares about state of her people. This part of the text from the defense detracted from her story.
“I cannot deny that I have also felt loneliness of being Okinawa as described in this story and that, in the past, I have struggled to hide my identity. However, I now realize the futility of this effort, for the constant fear of exposure leads only to the loss of dignity and to the weakening of one’s spirit.”
This text stood out to me because the author is defending her depiction of the Okinawa people in her memoir, her uncle’s character in particular. In her defense to the Okinawa Student Association, she concedes that she too was once like her uncle, ashamed of who she is and have surrendered this interminable journey of endeavoring to carry on with her life as a woman not of Okinawa decent. Be that as it may, she does not come out of hiding because she has learned to be proud of who she is. Furthermore, it isn’t on account she recognizes that growing up in poverty does not characterize your value, yet it is a part of your story. I know we live in a society where individuals are often dealt with diversely by their financial status. So, it is understandable that your first reaction would be to deny anything that resembles poverty. Yet, the author’s battle is not with concealing her identity, but the effort it takes to do so. The loss of dignity and the weakening of the author spirit is from dread of being exposed, not on the account she now embraces who she is as an Okinawan woman. The author, in the defense of her memoir, uncovers that she and her uncle is one of the same. The main distinction is she is sick of waiting for the day of exposure, while her uncle on the other hand is willing to do whatever it takes to keep his identity concealed.
In Memoirs of a Declining Ryukyuan Woman, the author gives insight into the discrimination of her people and that did not need defending. However, with this text one could ponder she exposed the truth in her memoirs due to her own personal guilt of hiding her identity, and not because she cares about state of her people. This part of the text from the defense detracted from her story.
Hey Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteThis analysis post was also another strong post by you first of all because you do a great job of setting up who ever wants to read this post with some background of the text and don't just jump straight into your analysis. Although your post is shorter than previous post you usually do still in this one you give no shortage of analysis and it is clear in helping me understand this reading further.
Hi Tiffany! That's a really interesting way of looking at it, I didn't think of it that way but I can see what you mean. I don't think it detracts though, because at this point she was on the defense against her critics who were attacking her character, so I think it makes sense for her to be a bit more focused on herself in the defense letter. To me, her original point in the memoir still stands, though I agree that maybe she could have made her defense more true to the original message of her work.
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany, great work on your analysis post! It'a really interesting way of looking at it and I enjoyed reading your analysis. But, one thing that I noticed was that you jumped right into the point, without giving any background. Other than that your analysis was really good and I am looking forward to reading more of you!!
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI felt this was really another insightful post by you. This story and its reactionary defense is such an interesting topic because it really gets you to think about the author and motives when they write a story that is so close to real life events. I also enjoyed seeing your point of view and how you felt she was dealing with her own identity issue. This was another string analysis post!