Chapters 4-5
Chapter 4. Letters
What Happens
Kazuko writes to Mr. Uehara, telling him that her life is unbearable and that she must escape from it. However, she is quick to add that doing so involves a serious breach of etiquette; she explains that she is in love with a married man, whose initials are M.C., and wishes to be his mistress. She asks him how she can achieve this and if he can discover what M.C. thinks of her. In the letter, she addresses Uehara as “My Chekhov,” making it clear that he is the man of whom she speaks.
When she receives no reply, Kazuko writes again, admitting that her previous letter was “underhanded and full of snares.” However, she says that if she had only been looking for a man to support her with money, she would not have chosen Uehara.
She then explains that she recently received a proposal of marriage from a distinguished old artist, which she refused. When he came to see her, he said that he would provide material comfort for her, and she would inspire his work. The old artist mentioned that he had heard they were selling their house, and Kazuko asked if he would like to buy it, comparing him to Lopakhin in Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard. This allusion angered him, and he left. Kazuko says that she does not want Uehara to be a Lopakhin for her. She wants to be his mistress and to have a child with him.
When she receives no answer, Kazuko writes to Uehara a third time, wondering if she made a mistake in mentioning the old artist’s proposal and assuring him that nothing came of it. She invites him to come to their house and says that she loves him all the more because he has a reputation for dissolute conduct, adding: “I am convinced that those people whom the world considers good and respects are all liars and fakes.” She ends her letter by saying that she is waiting for Uehara to come to her and that most of her life is spent waiting. The initials M.C. are not now those of My Chekhov, as she writes: “I am not in love with an author. My Child.”
Why It Matters
This chapter consists entirely of three letters from Kazuko to Uehara. There is an increasing sense of desperation as she writes into the void, receiving no replies. Although she says in her second letter that her first was “underhanded and full of snares,” the second and third letters are equally filled with persuasive devices, emphasizing the positive effect Kazuko claims she would have on Uehara’s life and work. The literary allusions display her education and sensitivity.
However, there is a constant tension between Kazuko’s attempts to persuade Uehara to make her his mistress and her need to express feelings of loneliness and desperation to someone who might understand.
Chapter 5. The Lady
What Happens
Kazuko waits for a long time but receives no reply to her three letters. She is overcome by a feeling of desolation, “as if I had been abandoned at dusk in an autumnal wasteland where no answering sound would ever come, however often I called.” She decides she must go to Tokyo to see Mr. Uehara in person, but while she is preparing for the journey, her mother falls seriously ill. The village doctor insists that she only has a cold, but her temperature remains high, fluctuating between 99 and 102 degrees.
Desperate, Kazuko writes to Uncle Wada, who sends Dr. Miyake, a former court physician and an...
(This entire section contains 966 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
old friend of the family, to examine her. He tells Kazuko’s mother that she is perfectly well, but when he is alone with Kazuko, he diagnoses her mother with tuberculosis and says that the illness is fatal.
Kazuko reads revolutionary texts, including a book by Rosa Luxemburg, whose courage in “tearing apart without any hesitation all manner of conventional ideas” impresses her. She decides that love and revolution are the best things in the world, though Kazuko herself has no experience of either. Her mother’s fever continues to worsen, and her right hand becomes swollen, which upsets Kazuko and makes her think the situation is hopeless. Naoji agrees, then goes to Tokyo to ask Uncle Wada for his advice. He returns with Dr. Miyake, who says that “the end might come in a day or two.”
Kazuko’s mother tells her that she had a dream about a snake, then predicts that Kazuko will find a female snake with red stripes in front of the porch and asks her to go look. Kazuko goes out and sees the snake, which she thinks is the one whose eggs she burned. However, she tells her mother that there was no snake. Uncle Wada and his wife come from Tokyo, and Kazuko prepares food for them and Naoji. Her mother’s last words are: “It must have been a terrible rush for you.” Three hours later, she dies, and Kazuko mourns the passing of her beautiful mother, “the last lady in Japan.”
Why It Matters
Kazuko’s focus shifts from her desperate situation to her mother’s frailty and impending death. For Kazuko, her mother symbolizes all that is most beautiful and fragile in Japanese culture; as such, her death is inevitable in a world that is becoming ever coarser and more hopeless.
Dr. Miyake, who is part of this world, tells Kazuko’s mother to stop concerning herself with the comfort and happiness of others and focus on herself. The “last lady in Japan” is of course incapable of doing so, and Kazuko feels ashamed by her survival and selfishness, which seem ugly in comparison to her mother’s grace.