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Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha Essay

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Introduction The book, Memoirs of a Geisha, is about a girl, Chiyo, who was born in a fishing village in Yoroido, Japan. Chiyo was born into a lower income village; she and her sister, Satsu, were sold by their father into the geisha society to make up for the lack of medicine that her mom needed. Satsu ended up in the pleasure district in Kyoto and Chiyo was forced to go to an Okiya house to work to become a Geisha for the rest of her life. The meaning of a geisha is artisan, it is a Japanese hostess trained to entertain men with conversation, dance, and song. Social Interaction Perspectives Defining the Situation After chiyo finally accepted her fate, she worked really hard to become a geisha. She worked so hard that she broke records …show more content…

With a stroke of luck she was able to overcome that and was able to exceed Hatsumomo in the end. Chiyo did the right thing without knowing because from the beginning she was mostly honest; the main thing she hid was where she was from. Also Hatsumomo’s cruelty, caused Chiyo to make sure she never reached a point in her life where she was that callous. Culture Values In the book there are several values but that main one is hard work. Chiyo worked really hard and became one of the most successful geisha in history despite starting off behind everyone else. Norms In the geisha culture, it is a norm for a geisha to go through the different traditions of becoming official. Despite all the different art forms that they must learn all geisha must become exceptional at dance to succeed. Besides the schooling they have to move to different levels from a maiko geisha (an apprentice) to an Osaka geisha (full-fledged). Pretty much the only way to become an apprentice though is by having a older geisha to become your “sister.” They also have to go to ceremonies with separate traditions for each of those promotions. Geishas are also very superstitious people, so they always made sure to check their almanac for any special events. symbols, Material Culture In japanese culture, everything means something, for example, Chiyo’s blue-grey eyes meant that she had a watery personality. This meant that she was more capable of

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