1A Lesson for “The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day” page 235

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.