Final Exam Questions

1. In what ways does French occupation interfere in the daily lives of the Algerians in "Naema--Whereabouts Unknown"?

2. Accoding to Robert Stam's and Louise Spence's essay on The Battle of Algiers, what are two film techniques that the film uses to make its audience identify with the FLN?

3. Write about any two themes Yukio Mishima addresses in his short story "Patriotism"?

4. In the short film Patriotism, how does the photography, costume, setting, and composition (write about two) contribute to the lyricism of the story?

5. In Kobo Abe's one-act play, "The Man Who Turned into a Stick," what are the causes of the man-stick's" unhappiness?

6. In "The Man Who Turned into a Stick," what are two symbols that a stick stands for?

7. According to the "Introduction" to magical realism, what might be the explanation to why magical realism prevailed in Latin America?

8. What is one characteristic of magical realism and how might it fit into one of the stories?

9. In Federico Garcia Lorca's play, "Blood Wedding," what is he criticizing by giving only one of his characters a real name?

10. How is suspense built in the film adaptation of Blood Wedding?

11. According to the essay "Ghosts of Comala," how does the novel criticize the Mexican Revolution and rapid urbanization?

12. Point out two changes in the film Pedro Paramo.

Pedro Paramo Film Response

Let's try something out of the ordinary here. Instead of writing and handing in a traditional essay, let's post our responses and get a conversation going. For 5 points credit, write a 100 word response to the topic, or to someone else's response. Write another 100 words in the form of a response to another comment to receive the other 5 points. If you've done all your film responses, you can do this for extra credit, too. Okay, so here we go...

There are some parts to Juan Rulfo's novel that is definitely cinematic, other parts not so much. Was this adaptation satisfying to you, or did it not do the novel justice? What did you or did you not like about the film?

Yosimar Reyes and For Colored Boys Who Speak Softly

For those of you who attend Yosimar's reading on Thursday, I'm wondering what your reactions were? Post your thoughts!

Patriotism

It was my first time teaching Yukio Mishima's "Patriotism" in class so I didn't know how that was going to turn out considering the intense subject of seppeku. You all took it with maturity, especially your reaction to the graphic nature of Mishima's short film. So is the story and film worth bringing in again in a future class?

Also, if you'd like further reading about the film and its production history, click here.

Themes and Meanings in "Patriotism"
Yukio Mishima was a writer who became obsessed by what he saw as the loss of Japanese traditional values, although he led a cosmopolitan and bizarre life. He used his writing success to fund a small private army, the Shield Society, to fight against Communism and support a prewar vision of the emperor as the soul of the Japanese nation. However, he was also an exhibitionist inspired by violence and homosexuality. Sexuality and violence are combined in “Patriotism,” in retrospect perhaps the most revealing of Mishima's works, because the author, like his protagonist Takeyama, committed seppuku.


On November 25, 1970, Mishima led a band of his private army to the headquarters of the Japanese Self Defense Forces, where he told the troops to show the “samurai spirit” to protect the “Imperial Way.” These prewar sentiments were derided by the soldiers, who saw Mishima as a crackpot. Mishima then showed his sincerity by withdrawing from the balcony on which he was speaking and disemboweling himself. The nation was shocked at this spectacular and strange death of one of Japan's most popular writers. It is difficult to consider his writing without reference to his suicide.


In “Patriotism,” written more than a decade earlier, one can see an early sign of Mishima's linking sex and death, or ecstasy and agony, in his version of the Takeyama suicide. The theme of this very tight story—the focus is on the suicide—is the honor and dedication of the lieutenant and his young and beautiful wife. They transcend the life-preserving spirit of most people to find peace in death. Their dedication to the nation and to the emperor is unsullied by selfishness: “The last moments of this heroic and dedicated couple were such as to make the gods themselves weep.”


Mishima wanted to restore what in his personal vision were the traditional values of Japan, values that were deeper than the materialism of the 1960's. Many contemporary Japanese intellectuals worry that Japan's rush to economic success has left behind any real values other than an increasing gross national product and electronic gadgets. Like Mishima, some seek answers in Japan's military past, while others look to religion to restore a sense of values that transcend materialism.


Suicide is a sin in the Christian view, and the Western reader is likely to be repelled by the act if not by the motives of Takeyama and his wife. In Japan, however, there is a long tradition of the “failed hero,” to quote Ivan Morris, in which admiration is given to the loser in a failed but just cause. In the feudal period, the losing hero could redeem himself by committing deliberately painful seppuku to show, quite literally, that he had guts. In Takeyama's case, he was ready to die rather than attack his comrades in revolt, who were supposedly acting in the name of the emperor, the nation, and the army.


Another theme is doing things in the proper way, even suicide. This becomes very clear as the couple prepare their bodies, home, clothes, and suicide notes in a ritualistic manner. The only new element that Mishima introduces into this tradition is the strong eroticism that describes the bodies and passion of Takeyama and his beautiful wife. Beauty and truth are seen as one, and pleasure and pain are integrated in this disturbing story.

Richard Rice. "Patriotism." Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2004. eNotes.com. 2006. 1 Mar, 2009