Analysis of Mori Ogai's Short Story, "Dancing Girl"
The short story piece, Dancing Girl, is regarded as one of the greatest literary pieces of its time, depicts the life of the author Mori Ogai during the Meiji period, when Japan was turning from an isolated feudal system into its contemporary form. Written in 1890, this short story displays how the protagonist, Toyotaro, travels to Germany as a foreign exchange medical student and meets a young German dancer named Elise. He quickly falls in love with her and squanders all his time with her. He is later unemployed and his ally, Aizawa, advises him to return to Japan where he was offered a job. Torn between love and his education, Toyotaro returns to Japan, leaving Elise heart-torn and pregnant. Elise goes through mental instability and is later admitted into a mental asylum where Toyotaro sends money for her newborn baby and her. This short story exemplifies the high standards and expectations of Japanese men from society, and most importantly, the pressure that it puts on young Japanese men. The man vs. self-conflict within Toyotaro is a repercussion of Japanese expectations and culture. Before his excursion to Germany, Toyotaro’s parents talk about the history of their family and the unprecedented success that their family has achieved in their community. They talk about Confucianism and respect, two of the most important values in Japanese culture and how Toyotaro should live up to those achievements. Therefore, it puts tremendous pressure on him beforehand. Toyotaro arrives in Germany and falls in love upon seeing Elise’s serene grace in her dancing at a local theater. Shortly after this scene, he meets Elise, and starts talking about the similarities and differences between themselves. During this part, the reader gets a glimpse into Japanese culture. They talk about Japanese art and how it is extremely religious. Then they talk about how it is an integral aspect of Japanese culture and even defines their superiority in the Japanese community while German art has transitioned into a more secular form from the recent Renaissance period in Europe. Additionally, they talk about certain Japanese poem styles like Haiku, Haiga and Tanka, and certain Japanese beliefs like filial piety. As the story progresses, Aizawa constantly advises Toyotaro to not digress from his studies. Furthermore, he states that it is not like Japanese culture to marry a different ethnicity or nationality, and it can affect the lineage of their posterity. Aizawa finally manages to coerce Toyotaro to relinquish his love and pursue his studies. His decision is even emphasized when the narrator says, "Obsessed by the thought that he had committed an unforgivable crime..." (Ogai 24). The quote shows that Toyotaro respected his culture to the extent that it affects his own decisions. This has an extreme detrimental effect on Elise, as she becomes mental, but it shows the importance of Confucianism (exhibiting propreity) and cultural oppression in Toyotaro’s life, being the loyal Japanese man he is. In the conclusive sentences of the piece, Toyotaro states, “Friends like Aizawa Kenkichi are rare indeed, and yet to this very day remains a part of me that curses him” (Ogai 25). This shows that even though Toyotaro obeyed his culture, he still has a regretful feeling lingering in his heart. Being a story that reveals the emotions of two hearts of different culture, the theme that Ogai attempts to get across to the reader is that culture has the potency to affect the feelings and actions of young men in Japan.
Biography of Mori Ogai
Mori Ogai was born to a family of high-class physicians on February 17th, 1982 in Tsuwano, Japan where he received the highest level of education. He later relocated to Tokyo to study in medical school in the German language because that was the primary language of medical school at the time. As a Japanese army surgeon, he protected his country from nations in areas such as China, Korea, and Taiwan. His accomplishments in the army helped him rise the ranks and earned him the title of “surgeon major general”. He attended a Confucianism-based school in China and learned all of the moral qualities of the Japanese culture over there. Throughout his career, he wrote many stories to express his life events and emotions, which was a common trend at the time. His journals were mostly a reflection of how his life unfolded and how he got to where he was. He recreated them into fictional stories with a slightly different plot, but it employed the same theme that he experienced in life. His culture and pedigree had a lot to do with the conflicts that he conveyed in his stories. For example, in the short story “Dancing Girl”, Ogai showed how his Japanese culture taught him to follow the teachings of confucianism and show piety towards his parents. His decisions were all driven by his parents and essentially, his culture and upbringing. As far as his writing is concerned, Ogai's writing was heavily influenced by the style of writing in Japan at the time. Like many other writers, Ogai wrote about the experiences that he had in the western world, adding a contemporary twist into his writing, which is why the era at the time was known as the “transition into the modern world” or the “Meiji era”. Additionally, Ogai was one of the first writers to model personal experiences into certain fictional stories that expressed effusive thoughts, which is what he is widely acclaimed for in Japan; his death in 1922 inspired other authors to carry on his authentic writing style.
Bottom Left: Mori Ogai depicted in a film based on a book
Bottom Right: Mori Ogai as a general in the army