“Slavery is known to be a condition where one has a full authority and absolute power over another person (Merriam Webster Dictionary). ” Slavery has been present in the life of Sayuri even at the start of the story in the novel. Sayuri, the main protagonist of the story unraveled a long journey before she reaches the most successful point of her life. Slavery affects the life of Sayuri in different factors, physically and mentally wherein she made adjustments for her to move on and step further to her path that directed the plot of the story. Moreover, she lived a life full of trials and misfortune.
She experienced various experiences such as tragedy and romance that shapes and defines her personality and character. In the novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, the main character experiences tragedy at her early stage of life. The social issue on slavery is very evident at the start of the story in which the main character experiences tragedy and her life have been ruined at such a young age. Beside from experiencing poverty while living at the countryside, her father, left with no other choice but to sell his daughters, the main character was unwillingly sold by her father to the Nitta Okiya.
This situation in the plot proves that slavery is still common not only in the ancient times but also during the 1900s since the settings of the story is during the 1930s. She has been coerced to be enslaved and become a servant. Consequently, with her being bounded to the Nitta Okiya which is a Geisha house, she was exposed to the foreign and explicit world of Gion specifically its culture and tradition. Because of this, Chiyo dreamt of becoming a Geisha and immerses herself in training; however, it is not easy because she is being constantly antagonized by Hatsumomo by using her authority to dominate and oppress Chiyo as to enslaving her.
However these instances didn’t make her to fall and hit the rock bottom as to be hopeless, but instead she moves on and accepts her destiny and so she continued to live on filled with hopes and dreams that pushes her to strive higher than anything else. “The life of every individual is really always a tragedy, but gone through in detail, it has the character of a comedy (Arthur Schopenhauer). ” It means that in life there are always obstacles that will hinder you, in other words, life is not easy.
Psychologically speaking, if you view it in a good way, it is more than what you think it is, but in that obstacle is where you will grow and learn. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). ” This implies that every person should not live in accordance on what is custom, instead a person should act with accordance to his beliefs regardless of what condition he is in.
Thus, the personality of the main character is continuously being shaped and defined by the continuous experiences that life has to offer and its psychological impairment to the main character that empowers her to withstand all her sufferings caused by slavery. Furthermore, the effects of Sayuri being enslaved have negative effect, but on the contrary, slavery helped develop her perseverance towards achieving her dreams. Mameha, the mentor of Chiyo, define Geisha as an ‘artisan’ that immerses themselves in the field of art, entertaining, music and dancing.
However, a Geisha is restricted and denied to experience true freedom including their right to fall in love. How the life of Chiyo directed the plot is largely influenced by the traditions and cultures of her surroundings and profession which is being a Geisha. As Chiyo experiences slavery in the Nitta Okiya, she also experiences slavery when she became a Geisha though not physically, but then mentally because of cultural customs. The novel Memoirs of a Geisha portrays the life of Chiyo who is then marked by the name of Sayuri after becoming a Geisha.
Going back when Sayuri was still young, she met a man called Chairman Ken Iwamura who inspired her to further chase her dreams and become a Geisha. It made her heart flutter and because of it, she made a vow to herself that she will someday meet that man again. As time goes by, there came a time when she met again that man. However, being a Geisha with a traditional belief of being restricted in falling in love, she suppressed her feelings for him and caged herself into devoting her time and efforts to entertaining other people that results for her to become the most successful Geisha in Gion.
At first, she thought that the Chairman doesn’t recognize her, so because of it she decided to fully stop her feelings for him. But not until during the time of World War II, there came a time when she wanted to get close to Chairman Ken Iwamura once again but finds impossible to get close because she was being pushed to Nobu who is the most trusted friend of the Chairman. With Nobu’s sincere offer to be Sayuri’s dana, Sayuri didn’t want to accept it but then she didn’t plan on telling it to Nobu because she believed that it might hurt the feelings of Nobu.
With the cultural approach, in the novel it shows at that time, Sayuri is wavering whether to follow the beliefs of a Geisha or to follow her heart and as a result, Sayuri plotted something that accidentally created misunderstanding between her and the Chairman because of what her friend Pumpkin did who secretly harbors resentment towards her. This incident shows how culture and tradition can affect the decisions of every person. However, Pumpkin eventually revealed the true plan of Sayuri why she did it.
But then because of what had transpired, there comes an opportunity for the two of them to talk sincerely and there they fixed their misunderstanding. Sayuri then finally freed herself from the chains of being a Geisha as she makes herself available for falling in love or having a one true love which consequently leads the Chairman to confess his true feelings to Sayuri saying that he wasn’t able to confess earlier because he believed that it is disrespectful to take away the loved ones of a friend.
However, it is not until she decided to follow her heart and desires that truly frees her from depriving herself of true love and there she was able to pursue her own destiny. Choosing whether to be enslaved or not is what the cornerstone of the development of the love story between the two. Their decisions made the story complex as if their destiny is like fated by a thread which connects the two of them that made them together at the end. At the latter part of the story, the Chairman became the dana of Sayuri, though they didn’t officially married each other.
But then they had an illegitimate child and Sayuri foreseeing the inheritance of Iwamura Electric, she relocates in New York and there she opens a small tea house for entertaining Japanese men. In the story, the main character proves how vital one’s decision in affecting one’s life by how Sayuri’s life was changed due to her decision whether to continue to enslave herself or to free herself from the cultural customs of a Geisha in which her decision played a big role in the outcome of her life at the ending of the story.
A life of a person is like water in a river flowing down a hill, in where it has a junction that goes more or less in one direction, until the water splash into an obstacle that forces the water to find a new path (Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha p. 105). Through psychological approach, it implies that in every choice there is a corresponding consequences; as how the story unfolds it is easily distinguishable that it is on how one’s individual handles every situation that he’s in and that he is responsible for what happens that is caused by how one’s personal actions.
