In a Grove - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

In the short story "In a Grove," a samurai was killed, and most of the people were involved in providing testimony of what happened that day. Hibbett is engaged in the analysis of the writings by arguing that "...What he did was to question the values existing in the society, dramatize the complexities of human psychology (Hibbett 14)." Akutagawa finds it challenging to differentiate between reality and illusion because each of the characters used to give confessions of things that do not match each other. The stories do not match, showing that there was a motivation to lie demonstrated by the different people in the story.

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Tajomaru's lies were sparked by his desire to satisfy his ego. The possible lies were the thoughts he had regarding Masago. Any move he took was meant to fulfill his desires. One of the potential lies came when Masago wanted to be killed because another person had seen her shame. According to the short story, "She gasped out that she wanted to be the wife of whichever survived (Akutagawa 23)." The possible like was crucial in motivating Tajomaru to eliminate the closest enemy who could take over Masago. The only thing that was standing between him and Masago was her husband. By killing the husband, it would have made it easy for Tajomaru to get Masago. Tajomaru indicated that he loved Masago by saying that "... I wanted to make her my wife; this wasn't only lust, as you may think (Akutagawa 24)." It was apparent Tajomaru did not wish to make Masago his wife because he raped her at first. He is only trying to cover up to satisfy his big ego. Tajomaru faced an opponent who demonstrated confidence and a lot of strength, but he wanted to show his ego and how powerful he was. Most of his confessions were filled with motives of possible lies to satisfy his ego by revealing he was not interested in raping or beating any woman.

The woman's confessions showed that she had reasons behind covering up for the murder. She referred to a situation when her husband was tied up by saying, "...the flash in his eyes was neither anger nor sorrow "...struck by the look in his eyes than by the blow of the thief" (Akutagawa 25)." She was trying to portray her husband as someone full of hate, and she was one of the victims of hatred. She makes the husband look bad by describing she did nothing wrong. The confession makes people have more sympathy for her. Another possible detail that seems to have been twisted by the woman is how her husband died at last. She expressed herself by saying, "... despising me, his look said only, 'kill me (Akutagawa 26)." The passage shows how committed the woman was to her husband, making other people have sympathy for her because of the problems she faced. The woman changed the perceptions of the people completely to align with her own at last when she said, "... I tried to kill myself in many ways, I am still living in dishonor (Akutagawa 27)." If she had killed herself according to the culture of that time, she would have regained her honor. By lamenting that she attempted to commit murder was a sign of improving her appearance and recognition from different people. The woman confessed all that at the temple because she only wanted a place to stay after her husband died.

In the testimony presented, at last, it was clear that the dead samurai had intentions of lying. The samurai remembered what happened deep in the forest, and it was claimed that Tajomaru was trying to seduce his wife. According to the story, "...Then take me away with you wherever you go.' This is not the whole of her sin (Akutagawa 29)." The whole essence of the two being engaged in a trip was to protect her on their journey. He was trying to blame everyone and distracting them because he had failed to protect his wife. The samurai's wife tried to encourage Tajomaru to kill him, a fact which makes him say, "... has such a hateful thing come out of a human mouth ever before? (Akutagawa 29)." He brings up issues related to the betrayal of his wife, but deep inside, he was trying to cover up his failures to protect her from Tajomaru. The woman and Tajomaru ran into the forest, and the samurai said, "... In front of me, there was shining the small sword which my wife dropped. I took it up and stabbed it into my breast (Akutagawa 30)." The samurai was trying to imply that he was the one who ended his own life to regain his honor, just like his wife did. The samurai lied to make his wife look bad to retain his reputation even though he failed as a husband.

The three main characters told lies through their confessions, thickening the line between illusion and reality. The authors writing style is not easy to understand because the arguments of the main characters are against one another. Hibbett expounded on the confusion created in the story. The quote is quite significant because the only image that is seen when someone looks into the mirror is oneself. After reading the story, most people are left thinking about the motives of lying and understanding how lies start.

Works Cited

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke. Rashomon and Other Stories. Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1952.

Hibbett, Howard. Introduction. Rashomon and Other Stories, by RyunosukeAkutagawa, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1952.