Final Thoughts

What is it to be a person of the floating world and what exactly does it mean? For the past few months this has been the on going in depth discussion in my multicultural literature class. It has brought about many thought provoking ideas and a new outlook on what it truly means to be a person of “The Floating World.” If this is something that sounds of interest to you then keep reading.

The art of ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), originated in the metropolitan culture of Edo (Tokyo) during the period of Japanese history, when the political and military power was in the hands of the shoguns, and the country was virtually isolated from the rest of the world. According to Robert Burtons novel, Artist of the Floating World, he refers to it as art “committed to celebrating life’s passing pleasures with a brush stroke technique that, paradoxically, suggested permanence of form and indestructibility.”(10) Although this is somewhat an artistic view on the subject it also carries over to us as people of the Floating World.

What is to be a person of the floating world? The answer to this question in my view has somewhat of a simplistic answer. There is life and there is identity. As complex animals (Humans) we have a tendency to change as we encounter different people at different times in our life. To put is casually, we “float”. In some situations we act in one manner and at other times another. Life seems to be a role in which we play different characters. This may not be intentional, but it happens. Who you are today isn’t who you are going to be tomorrow. The same goes with family and friends. I am wilderness woman when I am out camping with my boyfriend and his friends and I am ditzy mall goer when I am with my girls.

I have heard people say countless time, “I don’t know what my purpose on earth is”. This is the pattern of our life. We have different roles and responsibilities that we will play out on our quest to be a person of the floating world. Burton argues that the floating world enriches our understanding and appreciation of the increasingly interconnected world around us. These lessons are illustrated in Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World and Salman Rushdie’s novel, East, West.

In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel An Artist of the Floating World, he tells the story of an artist by the name of Masuji Ono. Ono was an artist who once painted the floating world but during a time of hardship turned his art into propaganda. The following Quote is from a conversation Ono had with his friend Matsudo. ‘It’s time for us to forge an empire as powerful and wealthy as those of the British and the French. We must use our strength to expand abroad. The time is now well due for Japan to take her rightful place among the worlds powers. Believe me, Ono, we have the means to do so, but have yet to discover the will’(174). This was a time in Ono’s life where he felt that he was contributing and that his cause was for the good. However, as I mentioned earlier “Who you are today isn’t who you are going to be tomorrow. As an old man Ono reflects back on his actions and is ashamed of them. Not only with the art but for all of the destruction it in a sense helped to cause. As people like to say, “time heals all wounds” and Masuji is able to get past his immoral actions as a young man and move towards the future, “a new life”. I found Onos last line of the novel quit illustrative on his outlook of his new life. “Our nation, it seems, whatever mistakes it may have made in the past, has now another chance to make a better go of things” (206). I chose to uses this theme because I feel that it portrays the different times in our life and the choices that we make. We always look back and either regret or are happy with the choices that we made. “To be a citizen of the floating world is to make ethical choices when framing our understanding of the world, to be aware that while a frame can afford an important structuring device for understanding the world, it can also prove to be severely limiting and restrictive.”(Burton 131)

In Salman Rushdie’s novel East, West, I chose one short story that I feel really touches on the meaning of the floating world, The Auction of The Ruby Slippers. Rushdie has an amazing ability to use words Vs. the floating world. In our western culture today we are so hung up the new cool things and what the stars are wearing and saying that we tend to get lost in an imaginary world. “That’s Hot!“ Paris Hilton famous one liner that has stupefied the younger generation into idiocy. Or the fact that all those designer clothes she wears, “it’s like so a must have”! We have trained ourselves to constantly want what we really don’t need. The Auction of the Ruby slippers backs my point. “They are bidding for the slippers now. As the price rises, so does my gorge. Panic clutches at me, pulling me down, drowning me. I think of gale- sweet coz!- and fight back fear and bid.” (pg 99). Why do we let material things as well as Stars let us astray. I can be honest and tell you that I sometimes wonder what it is like to be famous. I look back to when I was younger and thought that those like Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears were cool. I wanted to mimic them. However, we grow up and look back to that time in our life and realize that it was just another stage in our floating world. “perceived need” that is we are trained to become the auctioneers and our job is to tempt people from their bunkers (pg 87). A good example although silly as it may be, take a look back to one of your old Jr high year books and look at what your wearing. Ya! You wore that alright, but you know what that was part of your life part of your floating world which has moved on to where you are now. According to Burton, “in a sense Rushdie is much like Ono from An Artist of the Floating world. He justifies to himself the actions he takes, despite feeling uneasy and uncomfortable with his choices” (112).

To be a person of “the floating world” takes dicipline and obediance. Everyday we are tempted with new and exciting things that may cause us harm, not in a physical sense but a moral sense. Life is filled with responsibilities. I can’t quite tell you if I fully feel as though I have transcended into a person of the floating world, but at least I acknowledge how my decisions can effect the person I am and that there are consequence and rewards for those choices. We have the power to create and shape our own floating world. We can choose to look back like Ono and acknowledge the decisions we have made and move on. We also can chose to emulate those who may not be the best role model, but who am I to tell you how your floating world should be?