1. How is the theme of commitment raised in the story’s first page (235)?
2.
Characterize the relationship between the father and son and how does
the relationship connect to the story’s theme? Aloof masculinity
protects a man but impedes intimacy, commitment, and the ability to let
go so that he can experience the mystery of love. Additionally, his
reticence causes women to “jump ship” and find other men who are more
emotionally available (236).
3. What vicious cycle regarding Junpei’s hardened heart is revealed on page 236?
4.
What is Junpei’s “existential crisis” that he is aware of on page
236? How does his crisis make him a universal figure more than a
pathological aberration?
5. What defense mechanisms does Junpei
create to prevent him from falling in love even as he pities himself
for not being in love? 236
6. In what way has Junpei made the
“three-women theory” a chimera? How does this chimera betray him as
chimeras betray all of us? 237
7. What is the inextricable link between Junpei’s sexual foppery and his romantic emptiness? 237
8.
What evidence in the story suggests that Kirie has a supercilious,
perspicacious, assured, and ironic personality that someone like Junpei
would be drawn to? 237-239; also consider her eclectic interests on
page 241. Also see 243 where she “calls the shots,” announcing her
limited interest in Junpei, which of course would drive any man crazy
and make him fall in love even more than he already is.
9. What
contributes to Kirie’s mystery? She shows genuine interest in Junpei
but reveals little about herself, a quality that is contrary to most
people who are so self-absorbed that feel compelled to monopolize
conversations with information, often tedious, about themselves.
10.
What on page 239 suggests Kirie’s supernatural powers or at least
hints to the possibility that she plays a role much larger than a “love
interest”? It appears she wants to teach him how to really observe
others instead of being so self-absorbed. As a writer, he needs this
quality of observing others, so perhaps she is some sort of artistic
muse. Also see 244 where Kirie makes Junpei violate his rule of never
discussing a story evidencing her role as muse. Her role as muse is
evinced further when we see that his story becomes “un-stuck” and he
continues telling it to her, as if she were the inspiration on page 245
and 247 and 248.
11. How is Kirie Junpei’s opposite? See 242
where we see Junpei achieves balance and brings Junpei out of his
shell, including knowledge about feelings he doesn’t even know he has
regarding another woman.
12. How is the kidney-shaped stone a
metaphor of Kirie who in turn is a metaphor of artistic creation? Great
essay topic question. See pages 245-247.
13. What fallacies and follies in the character’s life is the kidney-shaped stone protesting? 247 and 236
14.
What similarities does the stone have with the myth of Prometheus?
248. In brief, the theme of regeneration, especially the artist’s.
15.
Why does Kirie disappear? 248. Perhaps Junpei does not know himself
yet and is not ready for love like the doctor in his short story.
16.
What does Kirie do for a living and how does it bear on the story’s
theme? 249 Height is the opposite of the ocean depths that await the
stone.
17. How is Kirie’s life opposite of Junpei’s when we see her life defined on page 250 and his defined on page 236?
18. What happens to the chimera that his father infected him with on page 251? He is finally free of it.
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