71
Through Kawabata’s short stories entitled “Immortality” and “Tabi”, Kawabata wants to portray death as life preservation in which life can be found in
the presence of death itself. It leads to the notion of Zen Buddhism teachings which believes in death as another form of life and vice versa.
173
In the next section, another portrait of death which can be found in other Kawabata’s selected English version short stories will be revealed. In this
following section, death is seen as final redemption which can be found in two of Kawabata’s writings that are also used in this study entitled “Canaries” and “Love
Suicides”.
C. Final Redemption
In spite of the death’s harsh treatment towards Kawabata’s life due to the early loss of his family and many other Japanese in the First World War 1914-
1918 and in the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923, Kawabata has depicted death in good ways.
174
One of those depictions is seen as final redemption. Death is regarded as a way to correct and erase every mistake that has been done in the
past which may seem unforgivable. By stepping on the path of death, one will be able to restart his new fresh life and gain his eternal peacefulness. Besides, he may
be able to get courage to forgive himself and finally achieve his true nature as a pure entity. Hermeneutically speaking, it is aligned with Zen Buddhism teachings
that consider the presence of death and life in an entangled connection which
173
ibid., p. 225.
174
Starrs, Soundings in Time: The Fictive Art of Kawabata Yasunari 16.
72
leads to the conclusion that death is the continuation of life and vice versa.
175
These notions can be found in one of the stories that are used in this study entitled “Canaries”. In narrating this letter-formed story, Kawabata also uses the first
person point of view. This point of view is used to create the particular experience for the readers in dealing with the story since it can help to locate the range of
interpretation.
176
In hermeneutical practice, this experience is needed in order to make the readers really feel the story itself as if they were the characters of the
story.
177
Through the first person point of view, Kawabata narrates the torn feeling of a man over his wife’s death. The man feels terribly guilty for the affair that he
has done in the past with her latest mistress. Further, Kawabata emphasizes the man’s grief through his devastating way in recalling his wife’s kindness. The man
tries to recall his wife’s kindness in taking care the birds which have become the lively memento of his forbidden affair. Consequently, the man even regards that
those birds are no longer souvenirs given by the mistress, but as the wife’s valuable treasures that have to be kept into the wife’s grave. In that way, the man
feels that he can restart his life and prove his true love to his late wife by giving his final redemption. Even, Kawabata suggests that the man actually writes a
death note and commits suicide due to his regretful affair that is considered unforgivable until he himself who steps on the path of death. Even, his
175
Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2002 28.
176
Gadamer 301.
177
Lawn and Niall Keane 51.
73
heartbreaking grief can be felt through the man’s way in torturing himself by remembering his wife’s kindness that are often ignored when she is still alive. The
man even cannot stop blaming himself for being trapped in a fake love with a woman like the mistress, who only seeks for an instant pleasure, and abandon his
own wife’s true love. Consequently, those things have made the man treats the mistress as a total stranger until the end of his letter by calling her in a formal way
as Madam, without any proper name or particular calling.
178
Hence, those notions above have revealed the portrait of death as final redemption which can be found
in the quotation taken from “Canaries” below:
Speaking of which, I don’t want to sell them back to a bird dealer because you gave these birds to me. And I don’t want to return them to you either, since my wife was
the one who cared for them. Besides, these birds-which you had probably already forgotten-would be a lot of trouble for you.
I’ll say it again. It was because my wife was here that the birds have lived until now-serving as a memory of you. So, madam, I want to have the canaries follow her in
death. Keeping my memories of you alive was not the only thing my wife did. How was I able to have loved a woman like you? Wasn’t it because my wife remained with me? My
wife made me forget all the pain in my life. She avoided seeing the other half of my life. Had she not done so, I would surely have averted my eyes or cast down my gaze before a
woman like you.
Madam, it’s all right, isn’t it, if I kill the canaries and bury them in my wife’s grave?
179
Beside “Canaries”, the portrait of death as a final redemption can be found in another story used in this study entitled “Love Suicides”. Hermeneutically
speaking, this story reminds the readers of the Japanese literary heritage of renga and its loose-fragmented structure.
180
Though the form of the story shows many gaps, yet the readers still can complete the missing parts of the story by using their
178
Kawabata, Palm of the Hand Stories 20.
179
ibid., p. 21.
180
Starrs, Sounding in Time: The Fictive Art of Kawabata Yasunari 174.
74
flowing imagination and experience based on the horizon that is formed by the Japanese literary heritage of renga.
181
Through its loose-fragmented structure, the story is framed within the letters that are sent from distance places from a husband
to his wife and child. It is told from the very beginning that the husband dislikes his wife and has chosen to leave her and her daughter for two years. Yet, he
cannot stop himself for always giving his ‘extra attention’ by sending them many letters of prohibition. It is interesting how the strong and intense feelings among
family members are shown in a contrast way, but once again it is one of the uniqueness of Japanese literary works that Kawabata offered in his story.
182
Further, Kawabata wants to emphasize that family link cannot be ended by long distance and time. Through those letters, the man keeps saying not to do this or
that to his wife and daughter due to their actions which are able to tear his heart into pieces. Even, his great sadness and unbearable loneliness for living so far
away from his wife and daughter can be seen from his trembled hand writing which is looked like an old man’s. Those notions can be found in the quotation
taken from the story “Love Suicides” below:
A letter came from the woman’s husband. It had been two years since he had taken a dislike to his wife and deserted her. The letter came from a distant land.
“Don’t let the child bounce a rubber ball. I can hear the sound. It strikes at my heart.” She took the rubber ball away from her nine-year-old daughter.
Again a letter came from her husband. It was from a different post office than the first one.
“Don’t send the child to school wearing shoes. I can hear the sound. It tramples on my heart.”
In place of shoes, she gave her daughter soft felt sandals. The girl cried and would no longer go to school.
181
Gadamer 301.
182
Cornyetz 18.
75
Once more a letter came from her husband. It was posted only a month after the previous letter, but his handwriting suddenly looked like an old man’s.
183
In addition, it can be seen in the quotation above that the wife always obeys the man’s wishes. She always does what he has wished for no matter how
hurt they can be for her and her daughter. Even, when the husband asks her and her daughter to remain silent forever, she does that with no doubt even though it
costs their life. For her, death offers a memorable way to prove her love to her husband. It can be seen as her final redemption to her husband for not being able
to be a good wife who can make pleasant days for her husband. By doing her husband’s wish to remain silent forever, the wife has redeemed her mistakes and
restarted another brand new life in immortality. Those notions can also be seen in another quotation below taken from the story entitled “Love Suicides”:
The woman fed the girl with her own chopsticks as if she were three years old. Then she remembered the time when the girl really was three years old and her husband
had spent pleasant days at her side. ....
The girl ran toward her, crying, and the woman slapped her. Oh, listen to this sound
Like an echo of that sound, another letter came from the woman’s husband. It had been sent from yet another post office in a new distant land.
“Don’t make any sound at all. Don’t open or close the doors or sliding partitions. Don’t breathe. The two of you mustn’t even let the clocks in the house make a sound.”
“The two of you, the two of you, the two of you.” Tears fell as the woman whispered. Then the two of them made no sound. They ceased eternally to make even the
faintest sound. In other words, the mother and daughter died.
184
Through those stories, Kawabata wants to show the different side of death which is hidden beyond the thick mist of grief. The notions that are delivered
through the characters in Kawabata’s stories have shown another face of death as a final redemption in which death is seen as the vehicle to redeem past mistakes
183
Kawabata, Palm of the Hand Stories 53.
184
ibid., p.53-54.
76
and restart another brand new life in eternity. Further, death will be able to create an eternal union which is not only for ‘the two of them’, but also for the three of
them including the husband.
185
It is because in death, the woman will find the utmost tranquility for her whole family in the Realm of Emptiness.
186
Those spectacles that are influenced by Zen Buddhism point of view which sees death as
another form of life since everything is parts of another. In the next section, another portrait of death which is depicted in others
selected Kawabata’s English version short stories used in this study will be revealed. In the further discussion, death is seen as total liberation that can be seen
in the two English version short stories used in this study entitled “Mother” and “Death Mask”.
D. Total Liberation
