artist of floating world essay questions

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An Artist of the Floating World Essay Questions

1. Ono is widely considered to be an example of an unreliable narrator. What does this phrase actually mean and in what way does Ono prove that the moniker fits him?

An unreliable narrator is a first-person narrator whose credibility is seriously compromised and whose version of the narrative is therefore highly skewed and subjective. Sometimes an unreliable narrator’s unreliability is obvious immediately; in other instances, their unreliability does not reveal itself until the latter stages of the novel or movie in question. When the latter occurs, it often forces the reader or viewer to completely change their view of a character or a situation, and sometimes changes their thoughts about the events in a story entirely.

Ono is somewhat unique as an unreliable narrator because it is he who tells us at the start of the novel that he is unreliable. He tells us that he cannot remember all of the details of the events he is recounting. He even hints that his memory and cognitive abilities are slipping, describing some of his new absentminded habits. Strangely, though, this honestly causes us to trust him more in certain ways, since he appears self-aware. Later, however, we learn that Ono has exaggerated many facts of his career, trying to match his own feelings of guilt to an external narrative, as well as in an attempt to feel relevant and important as he ages. Therefore, while we understand him to be somewhat unreliable from the start, the true extent of this tendency is revealed much later.

2. What are the two main artistic ideologies represented in this book, and which does Ono ultimately believe is correct?

Some characters in this novel believe that art exists to capture beauty, especially if that beauty will otherwise go unrecorded. Moriyama, for instance, subscribes to such a belief. Other characters, most notably Matsuda, believe that art should exist as part of social and political movements, and that aesthetics should influence rather than imitate life. Ono begins his career under Moriyama’s tutelage and is clearly struck by his ideology of art, but Matsuda manages to eventually convert him to his own side. After the war, at the time of the novel’s narration, Ono seems torn. His descriptions come alive when they focus on the floating world of Moriyama’s paintings, but he also speaks about his political awakening and political art with vivid conviction. In the end, it seems, Ono believes that art is powerful enough to do both, or else—he fears—powerless enough to do both without causing any disruption or change.

3. Why is Ono so upset by his grandson’s pretend games, and how does this conflict relate to the theme of generational divide?

Ichiro enjoys pretending to be a cowboy, specifically the Lone Ranger. While doing so, he pretends to speak English to himself. Ono catches him playing this game, and is disturbed when he finds out that Ichiro likes to pretend to be an iconic American figure rather than a Japanese one. His seeming overreaction occurs because he feels stifled by the American military occupation in Japan, and, to an even greater extent, by the American cultural influence at play in his country. Younger people, including Ichiro’s parents, are completely accepting of American influence and even see it as a positive cultural factor. Therefore, when he sees his grandson pretending to be a cowboy, Ono fears that his children’s generation is corrupting his grandson’s generation, reinforcing their own Westernized values and implicitly rejecting Ono’s own values.

Read also Characterization In An Artist Of The Floating World By Kazuo Ishiguro

4. how does ishiguro distinguish the atmosphere of the “floating world” from that of the regular world using imagery and figurative language.

For the most part, Ishiguro’s language is fairly understated, and he avoids metaphor and simile. The “floating world” is an exception. In Ishiguro’s descriptions of this world, as well as in Moriyama’s paintings of it, lantern-light plays an essential role. Ishiguro describes the light with metaphors that create an ethereal, spooky mood, such as that of a “grotesque miniature graveyard.” In addition, while Ishiguro tends to use mostly visual images to describe everyday reality, he uses non-visual images to describe the “floating world” and Ono’s life in that period. These images include the sound of wooden sandals on the ground and the smell of rotting wood in Moriyama’s villa.

5. Discuss the use of Noriko’s marriage negotiation as a means to drive this novel’s plot forward while revealing Ono’s past.

Noriko marries through a traditional arranged marriage, even while Japan goes through a period of rapid economic growth and westernization. The negotiations, then, are a useful way to show how Japan has remained familiar to Ono in certain ways while transforming with overwhelming speed in others. Engagements, marriages, and the subsequent starting of a household and family are a familiar and fairly linear pattern, which makes this sequence useful as the book’s main linear plotline. While Ono’s tumultuous past appears in bits and pieces, this marriage appears in a chronological order that will be familiar to most readers, even if they are not familiar with specifically Japanese norms and traditions surrounding marriage. At the same time, the negotiation necessitates interviews with people from Ono’s past, so that even as if moves forward it helps cast the novel backward. When Ono visits Kuroda and Matsuda, the plot can seamlessly transition into conversations about and descriptions of his younger days.

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An Artist of the Floating World

By kazuo ishiguro.

• An Artist of the Floating World Summary

An Artist of the Floating World tells the story of a former artist named Masuji Ono . Ono is both protagonist and narrator, and he provides a highly subjective account of the events that shaped his career, family life, and reputation, grappling with his past as he tells his story. Though the narrative leaps in and out of different periods in Ono’s life, from his first job to his childhood to his role working for the government in World-War II era Japan, the strongest linear thread revolves around the marriage of Ono’s daughter. In the years after the war, Ono works to negotiate a traditional arranged marriage for his younger daughter, Noriko . In light of a failed marriage negotiation for Noriko a year before, in which the groom’s family mysteriously pulled out at the last minute, Ono’s older daughter Setsuko suggests that he visit various old acquaintances. This way he can ensure that, if these acquaintances are interviewed about Ono and his family as part of the negotiation, they will provide positive testimony. Ono believes that Setsuko is politely telling him to find a way to make his past less of a problem, since his career before and during the war has destroyed his reputation. The exact nature of that career occupies much of the space in the novel.

Ono lays the groundwork by talking about his father, who destroyed his early paintings to prevent his son from becoming an artist and to force him instead to join the family business. Yet Ono chose to pursue his passion, and describes his first job in a factory-like studio followed by a second, more prestigious phase of his career working under an artist named Moriyama. Moriyama’s students lived together in a run-down villa, mimicking their teacher’s style, which emphasized aesthetics and technique and sought to portray the “floating world” of the city’s nighttime revelry. While becoming one of Moriyama’s favorite students, Ono was also pulled away from him through his encounter with a man named Chishu Matsuda . Matsuda, who believed that artists should engage with politics more, encouraged Ono to explore the world outside of Moriyama’s villa. He also took Ono to poor parts of town that Ono had never visited. This ignited a political awakening in Ono, who created several explicitly political paintings. When Moriyama discovered these, he refused to mentor Ono any longer.

However, the novel tells us in bits and pieces about Ono’s rise to success creating art that celebrated the “new spirit” of Japan. These works were nationalistic and portrayed military might. At the start of the war, Ono gained power working for a committee that censored unpatriotic art. He even reported on his own favorite student, Kuroda , causing Kuroda to detest his old teacher so deeply that he refuses to meet with him years later during Noriko’s marriage negotiations. In one flashback scene, Ono watches policemen burn Kuroda’s art, in an act that parallels Ono’s father’s burning of Ono’s paintings. However, Ono’s rise to power was cut short, since Japan lost the war and American troops subsequently occupied the country. It is from this period that Ono narrates. At the time of narration, he feels bitter towards the younger, more Americanized generation. He suspects that this generation hates his own generation for bringing about the war. He feels guilty not only for betraying Kuroda but for the premature deaths of his wife Michiko and his son Kenji, both of which occurred during the war.

At the end of the novel, Noriko has been successfully wed to a reputable man named Taro Saito. Setsuko tells her father that he has nothing to feel guilty about, since his paintings were well-liked but certainly not influential enough to cause harm. This is a difficult realization for Ono, since he feels genuine guilt for some of his actions, and since he would rather have a bad reputation than none at all. However, he begins to feel more fulfilled, little by little, after this conversation. When Matsuda, who has remained a friend, dies, he reacts calmly and without guilt. He recognizes features of the “floating world” in the manners of the young businessmen he once resented, and he focuses his energy on his beloved grandson, Ichiro .

An Artist of the Floating World Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for An Artist of the Floating World is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Please help me with a plot for each page characters, theme and stylistic devices.

GradeSaver has a complete study guide for this unit readily available for your use. Simply navigate to the study using the title link at the top of the page.

Describe the character traits of major characters.

Ono is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. He is, at the time of the narration, an aging retired artist in post-war Japan. He has a somewhat mysterious past, which he reveals in small pieces, and it seems that his role in the art world once...

How did Master Takeda and Masjid Ono relate?

Ono worked for Master Takeda. During his time with Master Takeda, Ono learned that art is a process that belongs to the artist.... something that should not be created under factory-like conditions and deadlines. When Kuroda and the other pupils...

Study Guide for An Artist of the Floating World

An Artist of the Floating World study guide contains a biography of Kazuo Ishiguro, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About An Artist of the Floating World
• Character List

Essays for An Artist of the Floating World

An Artist of the Floating World essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro.

• The Use of Generational Differences in Order to Establish the Importance of the Floating World

Lesson Plan for An Artist of the Floating World

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to An Artist of the Floating World
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• An Artist of the Floating World Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for An Artist of the Floating World

• Introduction
• Publication history
• Autobiographical elements

An Artist Of The Floating World By Kazuo Ishinguro Essay Questions and Answers

This is a compilation of Questions from past KCSE, Mocks, Pre/Post-mocks and Internal Exams.

An Artist Of The Floating World Essay Questions and Answers KCSE 2024 Prediction Questions

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AN ARTIST OF THE FLOATING WORLD By Kazuo Ishinguro

• War is a social evil that should be avoided at all costs owing to its adverse consequences.Validate the statement referring to Kazuo Ishuguro’s novel An Artist of the Floating World.
• War causes many negative results. Drawing examples from Ishiguro’s An Artist of The Floating World, write an essay to show the truth of this statement. (20 marks)
• War has a way of affecting not only property but also people’s lives. Drawing examples from the life of Masuji Ono in Ishiguro’s An Artist of The Floating World, write an essay to show the truth of this statement. (20 marks)
• War is a social evil that should be avoided at all costs owing to its adverse consequences.  Validate the statement referring to Kazuo Ishuguro’s novel An Artist of the Floating World. (20 marks)
• Referring to specific cases in Ishiguro’ An Artist of the Floating World, write an essay to show that Masuji Ono is the voice of reason in the story. (20 marks)
• “The memory of the past can lead to change of a life style. With illustrations from “The Artist of the Floating World” Validate the above statement.
• “Drawing illustrations from the life of Masuji Ono in Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World, write an essay to show why mentorship is important in career

development. (20 marks)

• Noriko’s marriage negotiations have been used as a means to reveal Ono’s past. Justify the statement using illustrations from the novel Artist of the Floating World. (20 marks)
• War results in devastating consequences. Justify this statement by referring to the events in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, An Artist of the Floating World
• War and Conflict can have long lasting effects in the life of an individual. Write an essay asserting to the truth in the above statement.
•  „Significant forces makes us to retrogressively question our beliefs‟ Support using illustrations from Kazuo Ishiguro‟ An Artist of the  Floating World.
•  ‘An Artist of the floating world is a Novel about intergenerational conflicts’ Discuss.
• There may be generational conflict between the young and the old in any society, but the young have a moral obligation to obey and respect the elderly. Drawing relevant illustrations from Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World, write an essay in support of this statement.
•  War has a way of turning people’s lives inside out. Using specific illustrations from Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World, write an essay to show the truth of this statement.
• War is a social evil that should be avoided at all costs owing to its adverse consequences.  Validate the statement referring to Kazuo Ishuguro’s novel An Artist of the Floating World.
•  Yearning for reputation and social status can lead someone down to a path of fear and obsession.Making reference to Ono in the Novel ‘An Artist of the Floating World’, discuss the validity of this statement. (20 marks)

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An Artist of the Floating World

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