An Artist of the Floating World | Themes
Ono's acceptance of responsibility for contributing to the Japanese war effort and the reader's recognition of the wrong that was that war of conquest make Ishiguro's themes of obedience and duty resonate in a larger and more dramatic contrast. Ono's propagandistic use of art also relates to one of the other major themes of the novel, the role of the artist in society. Unwilling to continue to immortalize the "floating world" of night, women, drink, and pleasure as his teacher Moriyama did in what most readers would recognize as traditional Japanese painting, Ono believes that art must...
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