Sayuri now questions her “self,” convincing herself she and Hatsumomo are the same. Sayuri is worried that she is turning into Hatsumomo after she tries to do the same to her. I sometimes lift the brocade cover on the mirror of my makeup stand, and have the briefest flicker of a thought I may find her there in the glass, smirking at me.Įven though Hatsumomo’s jealousy and fear of Sayuri ultimately led to her downward spiral, Sayuri and Mameha still had a hand in her being expelled from the okiya. By being given a geisha name, a new name, Sayuri sees this as the bridging from childhood to adulthood. Her birth name Chiyo symbolizes her childhood and how she views herself when referred to as Chiyo.
I thought Sayuri was a lovely name, but it felt strange not to be known as Chiyo any longer.Īfter being adopted back into the Nitta okiya and becoming an apprentice geisha, Sayuri sees herself in a new light. She must not only learn the art of the geisha but become a whole new person. As a bit of foreshadowing for the reader, Sayuri shares that drastic change will come on her path to becoming a geisha. I wouldn’t be known by my geisha name, Sayuri, until years later.Īt the novel’s beginning, Sayuri initially speaks to Jakob Haarhuis, the novel’s fictional translator, who records Sayuri’s story.
Let’s look at a few quotes and consider how they play into the larger themes of ‘ Memoirs of a Geisha.’ Throughout the novel ‘ Memoirs of a Geisha‘ by Arthur Golden, Chiyo, also known as Sayuri, is constantly searching for her own identity while struggling with the lack of free will.
0 kommentar(er)
