Life Choices

Life is a long line of choices. Each day is filled with choices, ranging from trivial to possibly life changing: What time do I need to wake up? What should I wear? What do I want to eat? Should I apply for that new job? Should I make that phone call to an old friend? Should I enter to win the ten million dollar sweepstakes? Every choice made may be categorized into good or bad. Usually the decision is made depending on a person’s morals, ideas, intentions and the consequences of a choice. Choices can also be both good and bad or even somewhere in-between. Today I chose to spend the day with my three year old goddaughter rather than to work on my homework. Was this a good choice or a bad choice? It was both! It was good to spend time with my goddaughter and play in the sunshine today. It was a bad choice because it will mean late night hours to try and catch up on my schooling.

Ishiguro leads readers through many of Masuji Ono’s life choices. The choice to pursue artistry despite his father’s lack of consent., allowing his background to be investigated for the chance to live in the house of Akira Sugimura, leading to what to do with his position as advisor to the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities (the choice I’m mainly concerned with). There was not just one single choice for Ono to advise the police to keep an eye on his student Kuroda. There were other choices leading up to it.

The choice a reader sees Ono make to change his life course was in his painting themes. Under the supervision of Mori-san, Ono had always been encouraged to see being an artist as part of the floating world. Art was supposed to be about beauty. Life was about drinking and merry making. At a sudden turn, Ono begins paintings pictures of a more political nature. This is viewed as a bad choice by Mori-san and the other artists working with him and ultimately leads to Mori-san telling Ono to leave. Do I believe this is a bad choice? No. Art definitely can bear meanings relating to what a country and its people are going through. Art is a great way to express many of those feelings and thoughts that may be difficult to speak. Also, art is able to conjure up patriotism and feelings of unity with one’s peers. I believe this is exactly what Ono’s intentions were. It is up to the art looker to view a painting with logic and reasoning.

Ono’s bad choice was to use his position to turn his student into the police. Kuroda trusted and respected Ono and was betrayed by him. Why did Ono make this decision? I wish Ishiguro had told us a little more about it. Was Ono trying to take some attention away from himself? Was he trying to show the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities he was doing his job? No matter the reason, it was a bad decision full of selfish intentions and horrible consequences for Kuroda.

Does a bad choice mean Ono is a bad person? Not necessarily. Does he seem repentful afterward? Ono does tell the police that the “tip” he had given them went way too far. This is too little too late though. Later in life Ono seems a little more apologetic when he admits to the Saito family he made some wrong choices. There is also a hint of repentance at the end of the book where he is talking about life with Masudo. In my opinion, Ono is not sorry enough for what he did. He makes excuses for himself all day long. Although this is a fairly human reaction, Ono played with another man’s life, a man who was working doing the things Ono instructed.