farm. Chizuko is willing to work from dawn to dusk to support her family even without a husband.
NAKAMURA.
looking around and lowering his voice
That women never lets up. Works like a man. Maybe better, eh? Yamauchi, 1996:411
NAKAMURA. And the day after he was buried, she’s out there plowing the field. Yamauchi, 1996:413
NAKAMURA. Can you believe it? A woman behind the ass of a horse the day after her mans funeral. It aint right. So I tell her, Chizuko-san, you
got a right to cry. Take time out to cry. She says no. So I say, Ill do your plowing. Stay home for a while. And you know what she said?
Yamauchi, 1996:414
NAKAMURA. She says thats the way she cries, by working. Yamauchi, 1996:414
What Nakamura says in his conversation with Kaoru shows us the toughness of Chizuko as a breadwinner. It also proves how she attempts to bear
the pain of losing a husband in order to make a living for her family because she knows that everything is no longer the same, she has to go on struggling no matter
how hard life will be. NAKAMURA. Yeah. She got lucky with tomatoes a couple of years ago
and paid back all her old mans debts. People never expected to see their money again, but she did it. She paid them back. Now she never borrows-
lives close to the belly-stingy, tight. Thats the way she stays ahead. Not much ahead, but... Yamauchi, 1996:413
Chizuko endeavors to stand on her own feet, since there is nobody she can depend on but herself. She cannot count on her children too much because they
have to go to school therefore they cannot help her mother so often. Chizuko makes an effort to pay all the debt even though she does not make much money
from farming, it means she does not want to owe anybody. From her attitude, we
can tell that she is not only hard-worker and independent but also a woman who has a high self-esteem.
2. Chizuko Sakata as a Japanese Woman
In
The Music Lesson,
Chizuko is depicted as a traditional woman and mother. She still perpetuates Japanese culture even though she already immigrates
to the USA where civilization has rapidly developed. KAORU. Ah I am Kawaguchi.
Kaoru extends a hand and Chizuko reluctantly takes it. It’
s not a Japanese custom to shake hands.
CHIZUKO. Kawaguchi-san? Yamauchi, 1996: 407
Kaoru has been living in the USA since he was sixteen, therefore, he would have adopted and learnt American behaviors since then. Meanwhile,
Chizuko feels awkward and hesitant when Kaoru extends a hand to shake hands with Chizuko. Japanese usually bow to each other when they have guests at home
to show respect. However, Non-Japanese people mostly are not familiar with bowing, they more get used to shake hands.
Moreover, throughout the play Chizuko and her daughter, Aki, are often shown to be involved in an argumentation. In contrast to Aki, who is eager to
assimilate to the western culture, Chizuko tries to preserve the culture she has strongly held onto since she was born.
CHIZUKO. Enough. I’m not trying to tell everyone what to do.
AKI. Yes, you are You’re trying to control everything. It’s a free country. If we want to talk, what’s wrong with that?
Yamauchi, 1996:437 CHIZUKO. I mean other people How do you think it looks: you all the
time in a man’s room? AKI. I don’t care how it looks.
CHIZUKO.
lowering her voice
I’m not saying you’re doing anything wrong. I’m saying that ....
AKI. You’re saying you don’t like it. No one else cares. You’re saying ... CHIZUKO. Aki-
chan It’s not like that. You don’t understand. Kaoru-san is a grown man.
Yamauchi, 1996:438 Aki is a second generation of Japanese immigrant or
Nisei
. Even though she was born and raised in a traditional
Issei
family, she ploddingly leaves her cultural heritage as a Japanese and start adapting the western culture. Chizuko
who is an
Issei
, she emphasizes the Eastern culture within her family that a girl should not visit a man’s room until late at night because people will talk this over
as if they have done something in that room. However, Aki insists there is nothing wrong with that, to visit and talk with a man in a shed, she argues that it is alright,
it is not important what people will say and how they will look. Meanwhile, from the dialogue, Chizuko assumes that what people will say about them does matter
to their life, therefore, as a Japanese people, they should always maintain a good image to prevent other people from spreading a bad talk.
3. Chizuko Sakata as a Mother
The absence of father figure who is in charge of protection in the house makes Chizuko have to take over that role as well. It can be seen when she
