讀書筆記 Golden Bowl ( East and West )

I read the article “ Golden Bowl” (1941-1942) in Book “East and West”. It tells the story of a devout religious believer James Briony (Jim) and the people around him 。They have different personality、 thought and beliefs。How to view love in religious beliefs and hatred in war. 
1）(A)  James Briony was a missionary, when he was a boy of twenty four from theological seminary, he went to Japan and lived twenty years never return to his own country, American. But now the war between Japan and American was inevitable. He was being returned American. His cook and valet Ake was weeping for his leaving. Japanese are kind to him. He also deeply loves the Japanese people.

He remembered his former girlfriend Allis, who didn't want him to go to Japan and broke up with him. He hasn't been in touch with her since he came to Japan. Both of them are very stubborn. Allis , the only girl of a rich man, tall and blond, and used to her own way. In the beginning he had never wanted to love her, he had accepted Allis’s Sunday supper invitation, it was a great house, when Allis came out, he had said impetuously: “ you are lovely”, and she had demanded of him why he was a minister. And as his own amazement he found himself telling her, how he had felt God’s call upon him when he was seventeen, and how he had been step by step toward the dedication of his life as a missionary. He had felt constrained to say to Allis: this evening has been perfect. and she let him hold her pretty hand a moment. He still remembered her soft hand now.

Ake was taking something to his room, said: “ from your friends”, it was a Golden Satsuma Bowl,  inside the Bowl was the letter, a poem on rice paper: 
“An empty bowl, Holds what cannot be seen, By enemy, But friends perceive, The Bowl is brimming.”
He has been carefully holding this bowl in his hands on the way home。
He took the train to Yokohama first, only Ake saw him off. He had hoped Mr. Kato, his warm friend.  Then left Japan by boat.  He gazed at the distant Mount Fuji with countless thoughts. (P.51-P.62)

(B) Finally, he arrived in San Francisco, went through customs inspection. Then a week later, he was in a boardinghouse in Beechey, where Allis and he had once loved . He remembered Allis and their breakup.
He walked to the church, the Janitor told him: “ we haven’t a regular minister now”.
One day,he had walked to the house where he had known Allis. The gardener told him: “ Allis comes here years, she didn’t go to Europe”.
One day, he heard a voice from radio: “Japanese planes bombing Pearl Harbor”. He gazed at the golden bowl. He thought it could not be true . But it was true.

He applied for the church in Beechey and was accepted. A baby was to be christened Sunday morning in May. He would take the Golden Bowl for a christening Bowl. He said to the congregation: “ this Bowl Is a sacred Bowl, it is a Bowl from friendship, given to me by those who are now our enemies”. That night Captain Jackson went to his house, said: “ they didn’t like your baptism ’”, “I think we oughtn’t to use enemy things now when we’re at war”. He replied:“ I won’t ever use the Bowl again, I’ll keep it for myself, l wanted to share all the friendship with them”.
Monday morning, he went out for a walk, he meet Allis. She held out her hand and he grasped it. He saw she was older, though as handsome as ever. He said: “ I’m glad to see you”, and Allis said: “that’s nice of you”. Allis asked: “ you never married?”, he said: “ no”, Allis said: “nor I”.
Suddenly a flame leap high upon the horizon of the ocean. People were gathering from the village upon the beach. Three ships down.  And Allis said: “ I’m going, I’ll get coffee ready and blankets” she would fed and cared the sailors.

A Japanese was waiting him in the living room, he asked: “what can I do for you”? The man pointed to the Golden Bowl, “you got that in Japan”? He said: “I lived there a long time”. The man said: “ they don’t like Japanese, my shop no more people. My wife sick.” He said: “ you may come and make a garden for me”. The man said: “ you save our lives”.The Japanese worked with Mrs.Hardman.
But Allis and some Americans didn’t like this man, they hate Japanese. (P.62-P.85).

(C) Allis gave him a letter written by Hal. Hal  being in charge of propaganda at the official. She hoped Jim can help Hal. She thought Jim can speak Japanese, being wasted here, and people are beginning to say he is a pro-Japanese, it is dangerous. And this is a chance to do something wonderful for the war, can speak to millions of people- over the radio. 
He promised.He went to an office in New York. Hal said: “ we will make people hate the Japs”, “you’ve lived in Japan for twenty years, you must’ve seen them at their worst, I want you to think of the worst and tell it to country”. Briony said: “ the necessary is not to hate the people of Japan, it is to be sure that we fight for is the right”.
He came back to Allis’s house. He told Allis: “How could I teach hatred against people who had been good to me for twenty years?” Allis said: “ How can men be asked to kill those whom they do not hate?”,“ you won’t do it?”.  He replied: “ certainly I will not”. Allis said: “ you really haven’t come back”.
When he back went to his study，he fell into the musing thought, if he could explain people to each other ? He wrote a letter to the President in Washington, asked the President that he be allowed to speak directly to the Japanese.
 The next Sunday, one woman bring into sobs in the middle of his sermon and left church, a murmur had gone over the congregation. But he still said “. under the God’s command we may hate no man”. After his sermon, in the vestry,one said to him: “ we don’t think you ought to keep that Jap in the manse”.
He thought of Allis. He took up the telephone.When they talked, suddenly Allis cry: “ there is a light flashing off and on in your attic window”. He reached the attic, no one was there. He could see nothing ,Only one of Hasu’s shoes. That night,he went up to the attic again, he saw a small door under the eaves, and he saw a large lantern. Tomorrow morning he would ask Mrs.Hardman about it.
But the next morning he received the mail, it was the answer of his letter, asking him to come to Washington. He went to Washington, White House, The man in the room said: “ a very interesting idea”,“You could go to this address in New York”.(P.85-P.104)

（D) when he was back home, Mrs.Hardman said: “Hasu is gone, police”.He drove to the police station to ask, the police man said: “ he’s locked up”.As he turned back , three policemen arrested him .and took him to the jail .He thought: this is my own country, how would he talk to Mr. Kato ? He could see the church steeple, and beside it would be the manse. Suddenly he saw a light, It shone on and off three times. Who was there in the attic? And then he heard the deep roar of an explosion out to sea. Next morning, the chief of police was irritable. Roared: “there was a ship sunk last night”.
Suddenly Allis came: “ Jim, how am I going to get you out”.
Next morning, Allis told him: “ you are free, Jim ”,“ They have got someone else”. Then he saw Mrs.Hardman, It was she,  She was a German.

He and Allis were having breakfast together in Allis’s home. He would explain to Mr. Kato that America was not fighting out of hate but for people to be quiet free, even to think their dangerous thoughts. But he asked: “ why I was put in jail?”, “ you didn’t hear anything about my having dangerous thoughts? It wasn’t because of that?”, Allis said:“ Some man thought that Hasu was a spy and that you were aiding and abetting , have you a dangerous thought?”,“This dangerous thought won’t take you across an ocean from me again?” He said: “ No, I can work better here.”
He saw Hasu. Allis said: “ I went to the jail, I want him out , so you would feel at home”. He asked: “ where’s my golden Bowl?” She said: “ It’s on the mantel, I brought tha home myself”.He took down the Bowl and recited the  verse  that had been in the Bowl when it was given to him. 
He kissed Allis.(P.104-P.116)

2）I think people should love each other, not fight each other. Christianity promotes love, and this love should be principled and distinguish between enemy and self. There should be no love for the enemies who wage war. In time of war, it is impossible to end a war with love; it can only be ended by victory in battle.              

Discussion Prompts

1. What did you find most challenging about reading this story?  

2. Briony is forced to leave Japan when war is imminent, and he is no longer welcome in his church.  Sitting alone in his study after Mr. Hideyo has taken over the services, he thinks: “War—how lightly the word sat upon men’s tongues. It ought never to be spoken aloud because of the curse it brought.  He had in the last years seen the very look of people change because of war being waged on China.”  Whatkind of reaction did these words evoke from you? 

3. What is Briony like? 

4. What is Allis like?   

5. What is the history of Briony and Allis’s relationship? Under what circumstances do they meet again following Briony’s return from Japan?  

6. What is Mrs. Hardman like?  

7. Interestingly, in Henry James’ novel of the same name as Buck’s story , the golden bowl is seen by some as symbolizing  “the fragility of human relationships, the hidden desires and motivations that threaten to destroy them.”  The eventual breakage of the bowl symbolizes the shattering of the characters’ illusions and the revelation of their true selves. How does the symbolism of the golden bowl evolve in Buck’s story?

8. Like the explosion of the ship along the shore on the morning of Briony’s meeting with Allis, Hasu’s arrival on Briony’s doorstep is an important moment along the plot line of the story.  How so?  

9. Who is Hal Schwartz and why does Allis want Briony to speak to him?  

10. What is Briony’s reaction to Hal’s request?  How does Hal respond to him?

11. How does Allis react when Briony tells her that he did not accept Hal’s offer?  What is his response to her?

12. How does Briony propose to counteract the growing hostility between ordinary American citizens and the Japanese? Were you surprised when he was called to Washington and then told to go to NY to put his plan into action?  Is it a believable turn of events?  How might we explain, justify, this move on the author’s part?

13. Were you surprised to learn that Mrs. Hardman was responsible for the ship explosions, or were there moments in the story that made you suspicious of her? Did her confession surprise you?  Her asking police to release Hasu and their agreeing to do so?  How might you explain this behavior?  

14. Were you surprised when Briony punched the police chief for calling him a conscientious objector?

15. Is the ending to the story believable?

16. What is the significance of Mt. Fuji for Briony?

17. Is “The Golden Bowl” a piece of propaganda? If so, what might the author havehoped to achieve through it?

18. 



               

[周泰]

Nazi Submarine Attacks on U.S. Ships Off New England Coa st During WWII
(The following excerpt from an article written by Jim Rose appeared in The Patriot Ledger on June 12, 2008.)
Most Americans think World War II took place on some other continent – “over there,” either Europe or the Pacific. Few realize enemy action took place a few miles off the East Coast. But 66 years ago today, a German submarine even mined Boston Harbor.
Germany declared war on the United States on Dec. 11, 1941, four days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Nazi submarines (also called U-boats) struck the U.S. East Coast in early January 1942 and sank Allied ships at the rate of one every four hours. During the first six months, 500 ships were sunk in the western Atlantic.
On June 12, 1942, the U-87 crept into Boston Harbor and mined the entrance. Luckily, because of poor placement, no ships were sunk. However, the sub sank two ships off Provincetown, killing 93 men. U-boats also mined the waters of New York, Chesapeake Bay and Florida.
New England and the rest of the country were ill prepared for the first U-boat attacks. In terms of ships sunk and lives lost, the beginning of the “Battle of the Atlantic” was a greater disaster than Pearl Harbor. New England lost nine ships during the early months of battle. (Excerpted from “66 years ago today, a world war touched the Massachusetts coast.” The Patriot Ledger. June 12, 2008. Available online at www.patriotledger.com))

[周泰]

Mt. Fuji
? A simple Google search tells us that Mt. Fuji symbolizes purity, perseverance, and eternity. Its steep slopes are said to inspire respect and contemplation. It is also associated with meditation and the search for spiritual enlightenment.
? A fine article in the May 2017 Smithsonian Magazine, entitled “Why Mount Fuji Endures As a Powerful Force in Japan” and written by Barry Lidz, says that throughout Japan’s history Fuji was used to bring together and mobilize the populace. During World War II, for example, Japanese propaganda employed the mountain’s…outline to promote nationalism while the United States exploited the image of Fuji to encourage surrender, printing leaflets with the silhouette of the mountain that were dropped on Japanese soldiers stationed overseas to induce nostalgia and homesickness. Lidz adds that today so many religious groups have established houses in the foothills of Mt. Fuji, that one might well call it a kind of Japanese Jerusalem. (www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/mount-fuji)
? Professor and author Cathy Davidson calls Fuji “the soul of Japan” in her book 36 Views of Fuji: On Finding Myself in Japan.

[周泰]

Satsuma Pottery

?Made in Japan for hundreds of years, Satsuma ware is “best described as thin transparent, cracked glaze over fine decorated pieces of creamy or beige pottery.” The original artisans of this pottery were Korean prisoners of war captured by the invading forces of a 16th-century Japanese ruler, among whom were soldiers from the Satsuma province, thus the name. Aware that the work of these Korean artists could fetch hundreds to thousands of gold pieces, the invading Japanese soldiers thought it would be irresponsible not to capture the means of producing such wealth for their nation right away. The Korean artists were taken back to Japan and eventually assimilated with the local culture, and over several centuries Satsuma pottery has been produced in Japan. The earliest works are very valuable and are found mostly in museums and private collections. With the Industrial Revolution, mass production of Satsuma bowls and vases became common and they were available at very affordable prices. Most modern examples are very ornate, with surfaces covered with floral, bird and other motifs from nature. The earlier examples are simpler, resembling the bowl that Briony receives from his Chinese friends, likely marking it as a rather valuable piece. (The source for this information is an article entitled “The Hidden History of Satsuma Pottery” available at www.invaluable.com/ blog/satsuma-pottery. It includes several images of beautiful Satsuma bowls.)