Success In Memoirs Of A Geisha And Mao'S Last Dancer

All of the texts that I have chosen are in the historical fiction genre where conflict is constantly reoccurring. I have chosen the theme conflict, and how it can lead to the development of a character because the protagonists in my four chosen texts have conflicting relationships with another character which ultimately leads to their development.

Both Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin have characters that overcome poverty and become successful individuals. In the text Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah the protagonist, Adeline is treated like an unwanted daughter because she is considered bad luck since Adeline’s mother died giving birth to her. Silence directed by Martin Scorsese is about the journey of two Jesuit priests trying to find their mentor.

In the Film Silence, directed by Martin Scorsese the theme “conflict leads to the development of a character” is identified through the character Fr. Rodriguez, the Jesuit priest trying to find his Mentor Father Ferreira. The act of apostatising means to ‘renounce a religion or a political belief’. Father Rodriguez has conflict with his mind and his body because he does not want to apostatise but he can no longer bear to watch others suffer. When Father Rodriguez says “Take me instead! Take me” this helps to emphasise that Father Rodriguez wants to help the villagers by offering himself to be killed instead of them but he is not yet ready to apostatise as it is a far greater sin than causing death by refraining to renounce his religion.

From this Father Rodriguez learns to accept that he cannot save the villagers and that he has to let go and forgive himself. This experience helps us understand that we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves especially when we can not do anything about it.Scorsese helps us to appreciate that most of us have the right to believe in any religion. People are lucky because “the problem of religious freedom” is not as bad as it used to be. Li, in Mao’s last dancer Li also has conflict with his mind and body because he keeps pushing his body until he can not take it anymore. This shows that Li desperately wants to keep practicing to become the best but he is unable to because he can not handle the stress he is putting on his body. Li learns from his experience that hard work will definitely pay off. Although he has not seen the results yet, if he keeps working at it he will succeed.

In the text Memoirs of a Geisha, the theme “conflict can lead to the development of a character” is shown through the character Chiyo who overcame poverty and became one of the most successful Geisha in Japan. Chiyo has conflict with her culture because she does not like how Geisha are not able to take control of their lives, she is constantly being ordered on what to do. Arthur Golden shows us that Chiyo has no choice but to follow what is right when her older sister(Mameha) says “we don’t become Geisha to pursue our destinies, we become geisha because we have no choice”. From this quote we can understand that Chiyo can not be with the Chairman, the man she loves. She can not do what she wants because traditionally Geisha don’t have freedom to pave their own path in life.

If Chiyo pursues her love for the Chairman it will be both traditionally wrong and it will also affect her career because she wouldn't be able to win the wager with Mother which ensures her independence as a Geisha. As a result, she will also not be able to find a wealthy ‘danna’ to pay her debts off to the Okiya. From this, Chiyo learns that we cannot have everything in life. This helps us understand that life isn’t fair and that we should stop worrying about the things that we don’t have control of and just accept what we have. Like Chiyo, in The Chinese Cinderella, Adeline also has conflict with her culture as she is looked down upon in the family. Similarly, Adeline also faces the problem of not having a say in her family as the oldest sibling has the most power among the brothers and sisters. Adeline struggles to gain affection and love from her father because she is the youngest. To stand out in the family, Adeline works hard in school to get good grades so that she can gain recognition from her father.

From this Adeline learns to make the most out of her situation as there is no use in complaining because it will not do anything. The characters in both texts learn an important life lesson, this helps us appreciate how fortunate we are because we can learn from their experiences without having to go through what they did as we are in a different time period.

In all four texts Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, Silence directed by Martin Scorsese and Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin the theme “conflict leads to the development of a character” is identified through the characters Chiyo, Li, Adeline and Father Rodriguez. The protagonists in all four of the texts that I have studied have conflicting relationships with another character. In Silence Father Rodriguez has conflict with Inquisitor Inoue because he doesn't accept Christianity. When the Inquisitor says “Japan is a swamp in which the roots of Christianity will only wither”. This helps us understand that Christianity is not accepted in Japan.

Christianity is not accepted in Japan because who ever believes is prosecuted. From this Father Rodriguez learns that you can give up you faith or persevere to spread the Christian faith until the end. In Mao’s Last Dancer, Li has a conflicting relationship with Teacher Gao, this is shown when Li says “ I don’t like it when you call me a pig head”. This quote shows that Li is being disrespected by his teacher and he does not like the way he is being treated. Li learns to put aside the hateful comments by others so that he can focus and achieve greatness.

In Memoirs of a Geisha, Chiyo has a conflicting relationship with another Geisha named Hatsumomo. When Hatsumomo says “A pity. She still stinks of fish.” This quote shows that there is tension between Hastumomo and Chiyo because she is jealous that Chiyo is much prettier that she is. Both Chiyo and Li learn the same lesson that you should cancel out the negativity of others and just focus on the positive side of things. In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline has a conflicting relationship with her step mother Niang, because she is strict. When Niang says “you are not to invite any of your friends home, or visit them in their houses”, this quote gives us an example of the strict rules that Niang has, this creates tension between Adeline and her step mother because she does not have the freedom to hang out with her friends. From this Adeline learns to question whether it is right to deny children of having freedom to socialise and make friends.

From studying the four texts Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Mao’s last dancer by Li Cunxin, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah and Silence directed by Martin Scoresese I have concluded that there will always be conflict in life it just depends on how cope with it. Conflict may negatively affect you but in the end it will teach you an important life lesson, so that the next time you face that problem you will know how to solve it.