Naomi and the Modern Girl
The
early 20th century brought about a change in the perception of women
both in their public and private lives. Throughout the world women were going
from being the homemaker to becoming a working class modern woman. This change
also happened in Japan were the term moga was created to describe the modern
girl that was starting to appear throughout the country. The novel Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki describes
the evolution of the modern girl through the eyes of the story’s main
protagonist Joji who finds himself enthralled with the concept of western
culture and the modern girl. Through Joji the reader meets Naomi who looks
western in appearance but is Japanese born. The novel starts when Joji meets
Naomi who is 15 at the time and from there he attempts to make her a well-rounded
young woman who is cultured and educated. Joji learns though his experiences
with Naomi how truly the frightening the modern Japanese girl and how rapidly
they change in a short amount of time.
The
novel foreshadows early on to the horror of being in love with a strong,
powerful woman though a flashback into Joji’s younger years. Joji says “When I
was in middle school, we learned about Antony and Cleopatra in a history class.
As you probably know, Antony engaged the forces of Augustus in a naval battle
on the Nile. Cleopatra followed Antony into battle, but when she saw that
things looked bad for her side, she immediately turned her ship and fled;
whereupon Antony, realizing that the heartless queen was deserting him,
withdrew from the battle at a critical moment and chased after her.”[1]
This memory of the story told by his teacher should have told Joji that his
relationship was headed in the same direction because like Cleopatra was a
modern girl in her time she also had a way with men because before she was with
Antony she had another love. The middle school teacher’s lesson in the novel
was alluding early on of the destructive nature of the relationship that the
main character was pursuing and that like Antony, Joji was also a fool to think
that he could be with Naomi and change her into something else without the
consequences that would come from their relationship.
In
their relationship Joji’s views on Naomi change from adoration to love, and
from love to hate. He’s frightened by how she changes from the girl he met in a
café to the kind of person who would have multiple relationships while still
being married to him. Naomi as a person personifies how Japan saw the modern
girl as someone who can take care of themselves, has the ability to be with multiple
partners and not be dependent on their family. Even though Naomi depended on
Joji who provided for her she also used him to gain what she wanted. She’s
difference from the traditional Japanese girl who was refined in how she talked
and acted around others “Naomi exceeded the bounds of mere liveliness; she was
too rough in everything she did. Her speech, supercilious and lacking in
feminine gentleness, was often vulgar. In short she was a wild animal.”[2] In
Joji’s eyes Naomi is described as more of a tomboy in how she acts around
others in, she has more male friends than female friends which might play a
role in how she is, but this is one more way in which the modern girl breaks
away from the traditional young woman. The modern girl has more freedom than
most woman did fifty years before and because of this new freedom she also has
the ability to shape how women are perceived in the new century. No longer
bound to the restrictions of feudal society where women are to play their part
in their home the modern girl can now work and go to school but they can also
have more than one male pursuing them and they can flirt back without it being
taboo.
What
makes this new woman frightening to the novel’s main character is the fact that
behind his back Naomi was actually acting out the part of the modern girl that
he was the most afraid of. The allure of
her being westernized both in appearance and in education, as well as the fact
that Joji wanted to create the perfect woman to be his wife was also the cause
of how Naomi changed throughout the novel. He’s completely blinding by her
beauty he doesn’t see that she’s actually manipulating him thoughout the years.
When he finally realizes the truth about Naomi is still playing with his
emotions even telling him that he’s never liked that she hung around a bunch of
boys. The reasons as to why Joji is frightened by the modern girl is her
ability to manipulate, lie, and cheat without remorse or even thinking about
what she’s doing to those around her. Naomi’s outside relationships soured her
relationship with Joji but even he was unwilling to part from her, “Naomi and I
talked in bed that night as though nothing had happened; but to tell the truth,
I hadn’t been able to put it out of my mind completely. She was no longer
chaste: not only did this thought cast a dark shadow over my heart; but it also
lowered the value of Naomi, who’d been my treasure, by more than half.”[3]
For Joji he didn’t want to part with her even though he knew the truth about
her relationships with two separate men, but even knowing this and knowing that
she’s not the same girl he brought into his home he still wouldn’t separate
himself from her. The real reason he became frightened by the modern girl was
because although he tried to make the relationship work and even give her
options on how they would further their lives she still went back to playing
around with other men. Joji’s despair over Naomi’s ways and even throwing her
out may have also contributed to her further exploits into becoming the
definition of the modern girl. She became more alluring and had multiple
partners, but she also evolved from being the Japanese version of the modern
girl to becoming the westernized version of the twenties girl. Their separation
made Naomi into the woman that Joji wanted but also at the cost of her
innocence that she had when she was with him. He was frightened by her no care
attitude and how she could so casually go from one man to another.
The
perception of the Japanese modern girl in history and the perception that the
novel gives the reader maybe very different. Even though Naomi is a novel, it still depicts the changes that are happening
during the early 20th century in society. The changes in how women
act in society changed so dramatically during this time not just in Japan but
throughout the world this included the way they acted around men and even
obtained jobs in fields that weren’t open to them before. As a novel though
these rapid changes aren’t completely explored, the story only focused on the
main character’s obsession with Naomi and her changes as well as how he would
like her to be. Joji does talk about how his taste run “Though I had no sense
for such things, my tastes ran to the chic and up-to-date, and I imitated the
Western style in everything.”[4]
Yet in his talk of his taste and his wish of wanting to marry a western woman
Joji doesn’t acknowledge the changes that the Western woman is going through
during the same time that the story takes place. As a source the novel lacks in
any relevant information that would bring out the characters historically, as
someone who would understand the changes that effect the object of the
protagonist obsessions. He’s only obsessed with the thought of the Western
Woman, the modern woman, or the modern girl he has no true sense of what makes
her different which makes the novel’s historical value diminish as a whole.
The
modern girl of the 20th century may have helped form how young women
are by today’s standards, they were care free and not bound to the same rules
that women of the 19th century were bound to. They were able to live
their lives much the same as men when it came to working in an office setting
and their ability to go out and have fun. This new attitude would be something
that many people wouldn’t know about and would like how different they are.
Many other people wouldn’t like these changes because of their old world
attitudes they would see the modern girl as shameful and disrespectful. For
people like Joji though it would take the loss of someone they care about to
reevaluate how they perceive the modern girl as well as Naomi’s ability to care
for him even after everything she had put him through.
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