How does this attitude differ from the Western notion of seizing control of one's destiny? Which is the more valid? What are Sayuri's feelings and beliefs about 'free will'?ĭo you see Sayuri as victimized by Nobu's attentions, or do you feel pity for Nobu in his hopeless passion for Sayuri? Do you feel that, in finally showing her physical scorn for Nobu, Sayuri betrayed a friend, or that real friendship is impossible between a man and a woman of their respective stations?

'We must use whatever methods we can to understand the movement of the universe around us and time our actions so that we are not fighting the currents, but moving with them'. How does Sayuri's status at the Nitta okiya resemble, or differ from, that of a slave? Is she in fact a slave?Īre Mother and Granny cruel by nature, or has the relentless life of Gion made them what they are? If so, why is Auntie somewhat more human? Does Auntie feel real affection for Sayuri and Pumpkin, or does she see them simply aschattel? In what does the geisha's art consist? How many different types of art does she practice?ĭoes Sayuri have a better life as a geisha than one assumes she would have had in her village? How does one define a 'better' life? Pumpkin, when offered the opportunity to run away, declines she feels she will be safer in Gion. The word 'geisha' in fact derives from the Japanese word for art.

However, this humble person is filled with admiration for those who are able to recast their suffering and become great artists'. Tanaka says 'The training of a geisha is an arduous path.

Nitta, or is he also thinking of Chiyo's future? Is he, as he implies in his letter, her friend? Tanaka purely motivated by the money he will make from selling Chiyo to Mrs. Tanaka Ichiro, ' says Sayuri, 'really was the best and the worst of my life'. After reading Memoirs of a Geisha, do you see the geisha of Gion as prostitutes? What are the similarities, and what are the differences? What is the difference between being a prostitute and being a 'kept woman, ' as Sayuri puts it ?

Many people in the West think of geisha simply as prostitutes.

Memoirs of a geisha by arthur