I’m not entirely sure I believe in talking to the dead. In fact, I don’t believe interacting with spirits is truly what was happening here. I believe that all of these random outbursts mother has are memories of past events.
It could be that I simply don’t believe communicating with the dead is plausible, but I have firm suspicions that the mother was a comfort woman once upon a time and is now engaging in flashbacks from that life. After all, wouldn’t being a comfort women toy with your mind?
Mother doesn’t have this remarkable gift that people keep mentioning, mother has simply lost her mind. Think about it. You need money and you need it fast, what do you do? Go keep military men company in the time of need? Sure, sounds easy enough. But then you get there and realize you were deceived and taken for a fool. They want more than just the pleasure of your company; they want sex.
But the money is paying back your debt and helping to support your family, what do you do? Do you swallow your pride and take care of your family? Or do you go home broke, with starving children and empty promises? Chances are you do what you need to do, just as I believe mother did. So she became a comfort woman, complete with a daily sex schedule.
Yes, a sex schedule assorting the ranks of military men verse the day of the week. Who needs sleep or time to rest? There is money to be made and the war will only last so long. So you go to upscale events and you receive gifts from many men who don’t really care about your well-being. I’m sure you are meeting all kinds of people, and being treated badly by the worst.
You are making enough money to get you and your family by, but you are an object and nothing more. When you look at Japanese soldiers and soldiers from your own country you fear them even though they are your people because of what they have allowed you to do.
It’s years later now, and you have a son. Your son thinks you are crazy, along with everyone else. But you don’t think you are crazy, you have no idea what everyone is talking about. Your friend thinks you are communicating with the dead, but this isn’t something you understand. You have no idea what she is talking about. You’re just living, with nothing coming in your way.
Because you have been through a lot and if there is one thing you’ve learned it’s to not stop and take in what’s happening. It’s to keep moving, and slowly but surely let your life float into air. You stop feeling, you stop thinking, and you don’t know who has a hold of you these days.
Because you were in the war, and just like mama, you lost yourself there.
Jessica:
ReplyDeleteI think you are absolutely correct when you say that the mother of this story was a comfort woman. I read this story twice and did not pick up on that until you and Becka presented in class on comfort women. The story now makes more sense. Based on the excerpt that we read without having more of a background on the mother I simply thought she was either gifted or crazy. I wasn't sure which. Now after having a little more information to go off of, I think the mother was more crazy than gifted and rightfully so. Being a comfort woman would mess with your mind especially if one spent fourteen to sixteen hours a day six days a week having sex with men that were in no way your lover but your client. These comfort women were being "sexed" to death to pay off a dept....I'm still not sure how they incurred this dept and further more, I think suggesting that there is a dept to be paid is a way in making these girls stay. Think about it, it was a sytem that was created to keep these girls in their place. With as much sex as they were being forced to have they should have had their debt paid in a weeks time but it appeared that they were unable to ever pay off whatever dept they had. That must have been a huge dept. I think it would be like servants who are told they have to work off a debt yet it takes them twenty plus years to work it off...go figure, after twenty or more years of hard labor, and in this case, hard sexual labor, the body would be old, worn out, and of no more use. Suddenly, the debt is paid. What a joke! I also wanted to comment on the title of your blog "Oh soldier man, what have you done? You protect your country but you haven't protected me." That is so true! When I think of soldiers and law enforcement I think of men, and now women, who are in a position to protect, especially the more vulnerable members of society who need protection and yet these are the same individuals who are taken advantage of due to circumstance by the very people who are in a position to protect. Its sad but in many instances, both historically and in the present, this is unfortunately true!
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ReplyDeleteWhat’s up Jessica!
ReplyDeleteYes, more sympathy for Akiko! I’m totally with you there. I was also really blown away by this blog post, which effectively illustrates the downward spiral that Akiko could have experienced. It really makes her a tragic figure when you realize that she is only the product of circumstance. Of course going from comfort woman to housewife is going to have psychological repercussions. In that light, Akiko is completely normal. I think that of all the guesswork surrounding Akiko’s state of mind, the one thing we can be sure of is that it wasn’t her choice – she isn’t out to make money and ruin her relationship with her daughter. On page 194, Beccah describes her mother during normal phases: “She laughed and sang songs she made up […] She’d sit and watch me do my homework […] mumble about how smart I was, so smart that could I really be her daughter?” (Keller, 194) and unquestionably proves that her mother can be nurturing and appreciative towards her daughter.
I’m also with you on the idea that Akiko isn’t exactly as entrenched in the supernatural as Reno would have us believe. I think it’s a deeply rooted psychological trauma that causes her to think she has a connection with spirits, and that her helplessly firm belief in this is what makes it so convincing to others. In some ways, Keller is raising questions about how you interact/deal with someone whose (arguably involuntary) defense mechanism is actually detrimental to themselves and others. Do you keep them contained and hidden away from the world? Do you embrace it or fight against it? Beyond that, how do you deal with yourself? Beccah grows up to take on similar vices – denial (“She’s not crazy!” (Keller, 197)) and self-condemnation (“…finally the wishes I flung out in childhood have come true. My mother is dead” (Keller, 202)) and I think that only after all of this, is Beccah finally able to understand her mother.
Hey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI am not complete believe in talking to the dead. However, it is just unbelievable when some psychics can tell something that you think no one else will know. “You, Baby Reno, you always wanted dis scarf. So did your sister, but I nevah wanted for you two for fight over um. ‘Bury it wit me,’ I told you. You made me one promise, you good-for-nuttin’, and still you wen tell yoah sister I gave um to you.” (Kelly 198) In this story, I think The Mother became crazy due to too much pressure or just can’t stand the truth of her husband’s death. It is also a “gift” from God to let her escape from reality.
We have discussed in class that Beccah’s mother was a comfort woman. I think you are a little bit too harsh to The Mother. Many comfort women picked up this job just because there was barely other way that they can make money for their family. Or by asking, what a woman can do during war time? Also keep in mind, it is in Asia. Many countries in Asia were poor during the war time. Many times, males in the family were required to be a soldier after they reach certain age. When guys left the family, who is going to take care of the family? Instead of watching their kids carrying and starving to dead, they choose to become comfort women. This is altruistic love to me. It is definitely not easy to become a comfort woman. Think about this, there were high possibilities that they will get hurt and suffered from lifetime trauma. According to CBC report on interviews to comfort women, most of the comfort women were forced to become sex slavery. On top of it, being a comfort woman is a one way trip, you will never be able to return to who you was once you started it. Meaning, the title of comfort women will be entitled to them forever. How much of determination should a woman bare to make such a decision? Also, money is not everything. Money can’t heal physical and psychological trauma. Money can’t bring those comfort women’s life back. I think if there is a way to make for living, there would not that many comfort women during the war time.
Hey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI like your blog of this week a lot, especially for this blog title. Soldier man, you protect your country, but you haven’t protected me. I know it’s hard to read some tough things. From your blog, I can see you feel sympathetic to Akiko very much. So you are right. For those things the soldiers did, should be denounced.
I think the presentation you gave to the class on last Saturday must give you a lot of thoughts and from your blog, I read something special and I do think it’s really worthy to write them out and let people know. First of all, I would like to talk about the sex schedule made for the comfort women. Before our last class, I knew a little bit about “comfort woman”, no matter what their nationalities are, and by which part of history they did suffer from. Based on my known, I just felt sad to them, however, I had little knowledge on them specifically. After reading your blog, I learned about their pain that they had very busy “business” during the wartime. Although they might need those little payment for family loans, they treated themselves as an object, and however, those soldiers who got happiness from their bodies thought they were nothing. Sometimes, money can mean everything, and also nothing at all.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry to comment you this late. Before yesterday, I had read through of your blog for last week, and I want to say I like it a lot. I planned to comment on your blog, and when I was typing out of my response to your blog, I just didn’t feel well but very weak. So I come back now, and I hope that you can read my comments here.
You mentioned about comfort women’s sex schedule, and here, I want to share one point that I learned from my Chinese culture, which differs from the comfort women you told about look like. These comfort women you see here were paid during that time, and from your words like “money, family, debt”, it sounds like you used to have choice of being a comfort woman or not. And they would like to use the dirty money do their own things. But the comfort women that I learned are like: during the wartime, some girls/ women were arrested, and raped by the soldiers. After that, those girls/ women were controlled by the military and became comfort women. So compared with these comfort women, the chapter we of history was not dark enough, although it’s already unbearable.
I have to say I like the last two paragraphs in your blog very much. You put the comfort women in the role that after coming through the suffering, they became tough; in front of their life roads, they never stop and keep moving. Because they were in the war, and like mama, they lost themselves there. They let their life float into air, rather than bending their heads to the enemies, to the destinies. And it is true. You remind me that there are still some comfort women living in the world. Try to think that if they felt fear, how could they make themselves alive till now? So they are the bravest women.
- Chao