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Essay / The Theme of Brevity in Yasunari Kawabata's The Grasshopper and the Cricket given its brevity? Yasunari Kawabata's The Bell Cricket is an initially unpretentious but extremely compelling tale of a magical insect hunt on a Japanese embankment. Kawabata's use of narration, symbols, serene images and vivid language all work together harmoniously, giving the story a deeper meaning contrary to what the reader might have initially expected from the events Say No to Plagiarism Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get. an original essay The rapid contrast and immersion in the movement and color of the magical scene on the embankment, introduced in the second paragraph of the short story, confronts the reader with a remarkable and unexpected "play of light" (Kawabata 221 ) marking an intense change from the story's solitary and arguably uninteresting first paragraph This dull aspect of the first paragraph can be characterized by its gloomy initial setting with its "tile-roofed wall" (219) as well as by. the “dusty clump of bushes” (219), where the narrator is solitary, walking at a slow pace. with only insect song to accompany it. Then, later in the paragraph, there is a noticeable shift in the feeling of the story where a sense of momentum builds, drawing the reader's curiosity toward what the narrator saw on the embankment. It is clear that the narrator's haste, illustrated by his statement "I rushed forward with small steps" (219), illustrates this momentum as awe at the scene, his eyes glinting at the sight, take hold here . At this point, Kawabata introduces the reader to what he or she might not expect after reading the first lines of the story, namely the sharply contrasting movement and color of the events introduced in the second paragraph. The "group of beautiful multicolored lanterns" (219), the children playing and the diction centered on color and movement, illustrated by the observation of a "pursuit of insects" (219) and the many colors present, further illustrate this skillful achievement. and an unexpected contrast. Therefore, the effect of this use of contrast quickly grabs the reader, showing that there is much more character and aesthetic beauty in the story than might have initially been expected and all in the short space of a paragraph and a half. It is clear that at this point in the story the narrator has articulated something astonishingly visual. In the third paragraph, the narrator introduces an aspect of the scene, focusing particularly on the children, which gives their actions a deeper meaning than might have been assumed when the reader first meets them, as simply the innocence and playfulness of childhood. It is clear that the image of the children on the embankment presented in paragraph two, while exceeding the reader's initial aesthetic expectations, does not lend itself to interpreting the event as anything other than how they are visually depicted . It is clear that this event is serene, playful and focal, but nothing suggests otherwise. This is seen when the narrator simply describes what he sees, focusing on the serenity of the images which he describes as an event "that one might see at a party or in an isolated village" (219). However, in the third paragraph, the narrator creates a story for the brightly lit gathering on the embankment, showing that the lantern building alludes to something more thanthat. For example, the narrator's account of the slowly developing lantern-making ritual in this paragraph illustrates the specificity and skill the children demonstrate in making their lanterns. The lanterns are intricate and represent, with their intricate cut-out shapes and “little windows” (219), each decorated in different colors, an artistic sense exhibited in the children's creations. The lanterns represent not only the innocent play of children, as objects of insect hunting paraphernalia, but rather their heart and passion. They are more than what readers initially expected of them as playful children, they are “wise child artists” (219). This rigorous nighttime ritual that encompasses various tools and techniques, old-fashioned designs, and the children's individual names, "engraved in square letters"(220) into their lanterns, further adds to the notion of complexity that accompanies lantern making. which, again, the reader does not expect when first confronted with the raw visuals of this scene in the second paragraph. Thus, the narrators instill in children an artistry, versatility, and heart-filled passion that are the driving force behind something as arguably unimportant as making a simple paper lantern, which could easily be understood as “a simple, innocent childhood game”. Thus, Kawabata uses the narrator's subjectivity and the poetic assumptions he makes to show that children and their actions matter much more than what is on the surface, transforming this seemingly normal or average event into an expression of something exceptional in children. . Through the narrator's subjective interpretation of the scene on the embankment, Kawabata, using the symbols of light, grasshoppers and crickets, is able to emphasize something more than what one might expect. wait about the seemingly innocent interaction between Fuijio and Kiyoko. , which transcends the event itself. The sense in which this interaction might initially be seen by the reader as a product of childhood innocence comes from the way Fuijio gently assures himself that his gift, of what he thinks is a grasshopper, is 'that is, the precious artifact of insect hunting, goes to the subject that interests him, Kiyoko. This interest can be characterized by the fact that he asks the group out loud three times: "Does anyone want a grasshopper?"(220). His goal here is to attract the attention of Kiyoko, who hadn't heard him the first and second time, so that he can impress her and pique her interest. There is a feeling in Fuijio's "technique" of catching her attention as innocent and honest as he hands her the cricket so gracefully and generously, their hands meeting as "the insect was transferred between the thumb and index finger of the girl” (220). At this point, the encounter is seen by the reader as significant, but nothing more than a testament to how children value crickets more than grasshoppers, as shown by the repetition of "that's a cricket! It’s a cricket!”(220). , and a sweet display of childhood love that puts Fuijio's previous actions into context. However, as the narrator later explains, the light from their lanterns inscribing their names on each other and the unexpected twist in the story, when Fuijio, Kiyoko and the children joyfully discovered that Fuijio's gift was more precious that what they all expected, represents a special moment of connection. This is demonstrated by the narrator's view of this connection as being a ".
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