Psychological Realism Research Paper

Name

Course

Professor

Submission Date

The Importance of Memory and Psychological Realism in the Novel “An Artist of the

Floating World” by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Introduction

In some instances in our lives, we encounter milestones some of which that takes us to the

extremes of regrets that takes us to a flashback of whatever that transpired in the course of life.

When one realizes the flaws that must have driven him to the situation that he is in, psychological

realism takes the brains to flashback the former life to try and locate what could have resulted in

the present situation. This is the similar situation that Ishiguro presents in his novel with the help

of stylistically selected protagonist, a painter named Masuji Ono who undergoes a psychological

realism after the end of Second World War in his home in Japan. Ono traces all his friends in the

attempt of healing his past memories and also to strengthen the future of his only two daughters

who survive the war. The analysis of the character traits of Ono gives the reader an idea of the

importance of memory and psychological realism in life that shapes the personality of an

individual.

Ishiguro uses narration to tell us more on emotional attachments to the memories of the

protagonist and the life that he led as a young painter to his old days that he is nursing his ruined

house in Japan after the Second World War. The narrator Ono, takes us to the marriage negotiations

of his second daughter Noriko who turns twenty-six, an idea that worries Ono so much that he

delves in visiting his old friend to try and revive relations with them in the attempt of getting a

suitor for her (Petry 27). The memory of his past life takes the reader to try to empathize with his

regrets of the life that he previously led as a pro-militarist and the present situation in the novel as

he tries to recollect his relationship with friends for the sake of the future of his family. Guilt in

his youthful memories is captured when he says "when one is young, there are things which may

appear dull and lifeless but as one gets older, he gets a realization that these are the very things

that are most important in life" (Ishiguro 27).

The protagonist's memories are questionable. He reminisces about opposing his imperious

father who persuaded him by all means to abandon art. We later learn in the novel Ono's traits of

early impudence that makes him unreliable narrator who only wants to expose his ego and hide his

possible flaws (Petry 31). He conceals to the readers a fact concerning the priest diagnosing him

with a flaw of deceit and slothfulness. The reader gets to establish how he gave up his desire of

real art to his later propaganda art of nationalistic sloganeering that matches up with the claims of

the priest. This makes him regret his past as psychological realism takes up his mind in post-war

Japan as Ishiguro comments that "there is a satisfaction that comes when one comes into terms

with the flaws that one makes in the course of life" (Ishiguro 47).

Memories tell us more about Ono's character that shaped the person he was in his youthful

stage to the present situation in the novel. The discourse with Sachiko and his Father about the

prophecy of the wandering priest gives the readers an idea of the superstitious Japanese society at

the time of the setting of this novel. Ishiguro takes us to a flashback of Ono's problems that he

suggests came from the words of the wandering priest "the priest left us with a warning that Masuji

is born with a flaw in his nature" (Ishiguro 47). This marks the psychological realism that comes

to the aging Ono who now wants to heal his past and reconcile with the present. Ono's father

continues and says "I am obliged to acknowledge the old man's words. There is a likelihood of a

frailty running through our son's character", this tells us about the psychological realism that Ono

was ceaselessly fighting to get and establish how he can build on his weaknesses (Shaffer 61).

Memories at this stage of the novel are seen to build a ruined man who is trying to live a happy

life in his old and last days on earth and see that his lifeline achieves their dreams.

Ishiguro perfects in shifting the narratives and taking us to Ono's Digressions and

psychological recollection. Ono is caught off guard as he assumes that the readers know the people

he is talking about in his narrations that shows how he really desires to reconnect to the society

that he feels have cut him off. Ishiguro uses this technique in Ono to show the universal ways in

which humans feel when he feels disconnected from the society he is lives in. Ono's memories on

the "Tortoise" are rekindled by Taro, Noriko's new husband who mentions about a slow-working

mate who is similar to Ono's youthful friend who was also nicknamed as Tortoise (Shaffer 51).

Ono takes that name by surprise and in a discourse, with taro, he says "That is very curious. I also

had a colleague who had that nickname for the same reasons" (Ishiguro 78). The interesting part

is that Taro was not struck by the name but Ono recalls his friend and recounts the artwork that he

was working producing at the time they were working together. The rekindled memories of tortoise

tells us that he may have been a legitimate person but Ono painted him as slow so that he can show

his prowess and his ego that made him adopt nationalistic sloganeering unlike his friend and

colleague in painting, Shintaro who remained in real art paintings. This discourse about the

"Tortoise" who in the real sense is Shintaro gives the reader a reality of his character that was

much imbued by Ono in the attempt of showing how he was superior that his friend but the reality

of his afterlife ego-driven life is (Shaffer 52).

The recounting of the events that made Ono become a political artist tells us more about

the psychological realism that haunts him at his old age. He starts in the memories of how he

rebelled against his father in becoming an artist and tells us how he first worked in a Japanese

commercial firm. He takes us through the working days with Sensei Sergi Moriyama studio which

produced artwork within Ukiye's tradition (Petri 29). The Mori-san studio was concerned in

merging of the tradition of Ukiye with European art that captured the melancholy of people who

used to work in the pleasure districts. These memories of these company makes him regret the

decision he made in leaving them and joining the political art and he laments "Sensei, my

consciousness tells me that I cannot be an artist of the floating world forever" showing that he was

justifying his motives of joining the political art which had something "more tangible" for him as

he said (Ishiguro 180). The memories shows the readers on the classical Aristotelian path that Ono

took which led to his dishonor. The classical tragic that begets him becomes similar to the one that

begets Oedipus where the protagonist's intentions to lead that takes him to catastrophe.

Psychological realism haunts Ono to the end of the novel with emotional attachments to

his flaws make it worse (Lang 211). The memories of the flaws that made had reverted his life that

he is now trying to reshape is symbolic to the postwar Japan that in history took a long time to

heal. Ishiguro here is telling that History is like the human memory that can be used to trace the

flaws that we make in life and try to correct them in the attempt of looking for a new shape of life

(Swift et al 19). Through Ono's sentiments at the end of the novel, Ishiguro is telling the readers

that psychologically, when one is hit by calamities, the best way to resolve and reshape the destiny

is to go back to the drawing board and establish where the flaws were. He uses Ono's narration at

the climax of the novel to show that psychological recollection is the best way to build ones'

destiny. Ono says "I feel a distinct nostalgia for the district and its past. Our Country as it is,

whatever flaws it may have made in the past now has an opportunity to turn things better" (Petry

24).

In conclusion, Ishiguro takes us through the life of the narrator and his quest of getting a

suitor for his second daughter, and ruined Post-war Japan in the attempt of showing us the

importance of psychological realism and memory. The tracing back of his earlier life and the life

of Japan in after the II World War, Ono tells us that humans should use the experiencing of their

past life and build a new destiny. The flaws that one gets in life should not determine the future as

change will always make things better as Ono comments at the end of the novel. The memories

that Masuji Ono has seems like a self-psychotherapy of recollecting oneself and refraining from

the flaws that may lead to the former catastrophes.

Works Cited

Ishiguro, Kazuo. An artist of the floating world. Faber & Faber, 2009.

Lang, Peter J. "The varieties of emotional experience: A meditation on James-Lange theory."

Psychological Review 101.2 (1994): 211.

Petry, Mike. Narratives of memory and identity: the novels of Kazuo Ishiguro. P. Lang, 2009.11-

Shaffer, Brian W. Understanding Kazuo Ishiguro. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press,

1998. 46-76

Swift, Graham, and Kazuo Ishiguro. "Kazuo Ishiguro." Bomb 29 (2010): 22-23.

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."

Psychological realism Research paper

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

Ian McGregor

Shannon Williams