An Analysis Of The Influence Of Suicide Culture On Japanese People In A Tale For The Time Being

A Tale for the Time Being is one of the well-acclaimed novels in western world,winning numerous literary awards across European and American academia. The author Ruth Ozeki(1956-) is also a high-profile Japanese America woman writer in recent years.With special cultural background and life experience, Ruth is capable of studying the influence Japanese traditional culture has on its people from an objective view. This thesis analyzes the influence Japanese suicide culture has on Japanese people's way of thinking and behaving by exploring the fates of Haruki family in A Tale for the Time Being.Since suicide culture is a common research topic shared by sociology, philosophy,ethics, psychology and literature, there are numerous researches on it both at home and abroad. However, as a newly-published novel, researches on A Tale for the Time Being are limited. By far, there haven't been any researches on suicide culture about A Tale for the Time Being yet.There is an extremely complicated and far-reaching cultural background in the evolution of Japanese suicide culture. The concept of "loyalty" in Bushido spirit, the value of reputation in shame-based culture and the "unit of life and death" advocated by Zen Buddhism play a very important role in the formation and inheritance of Japanese suicide culture. They are both the cultural causes and main parts of Japanese suicide culture. This thesis intends to analyze the choices made by the three generations in A Tale for the Time Being by exploring the Japanese culture and to reveal the significance that suicide culture has on the Japanese society: Haruki# 1 is a martyr of the "loyalty" in Bushido spirit. In the irreconcilable conflict between his faith and reality, he chooses to kill himself for his own salvation. Haruki#2 is a practitioner of shame-based culture.When he is deeply trapped by the strong feeling of being guilty and self-accusation, he chooses to commit suicide twice to get rid of shame and clear his name. Nao is a compound of shame-based culture and Zen Buddhism. When her dignity is trampled,Nao decides to walk towards the end of her life. Thus it can be seen the tremendous influences Japanese suicide culture has on its people.Through the research, it can be seen that life of Haruki# 1, Haruki#2 and Nao is the epitome of the Japanese society which reflects the fact that when facing life predicament,committing suicide is usually the shortcut for the Japanese nation under the influence of Japanese suicide culture.