In the novel, “The
Buddha in the Attic,†the author explores the journey and lives of Japanese
women who travel from Japan to America during the early 1900s. Julie Otsuka
provides an account of the lives of these immigrants in the eight chapters in
the book. The desire to achieve the American dream includes one of the
significant themes in the book. The believers of the American dream perceive
that a better life is a product of hard work. The women who traveled from Japan
to America, therefore, hoped they would find a better life in America. The
Japanese women hoped to marry well-to-do men who would take care of them. This
paper will entail an analysis of the theme of the pursuit of the American dream
in “The Buddha in the Attic.â€
In the novel, the
Japanese women leave their home country to search for a better life in America.
The living conditions in Japan are unbearable due to hardships associated with
poverty. One of the women asks “Do you want to spend the rest of your life crouched
over a field?†(Otsuka 16). The Japanese women, therefore, make the voyage to
escape the poor life in Japan and hope for a better life in America. The
decision to make the voyage, therefore, represents the pursuit of the American
dream. America is considered the land of opportunity where people can seize
their dreams through hard work. The Japanese women believed that America would
offer them the opportunity to have a better life. After they board the ship,
the women compare photographs of their future husbands. They envision their
future husbands as handsome young men with impressive cars and luxurious
lifestyles. The handsome young men have promised to wait for their brides at
the dock. “During the journey, the women wonder whether they will have happiness
with their husbands†(LeGuin).
The experiences of the
women while on the boat further show the theme of the pursuit of the American
dream in the novel. In their sleep in small and dirty beds, they dream of a
better life with their future husbands. They dream of having “pretty houses and
other luxurious items including silk clothing†(Campbell 8). Sometimes the
women dream of the rice paddies in Japan and they wake up from the nightmare
gasping for air. They are determined to achieve the American dream, and they
dread their past life in Japan. For a woman who did not make the voyage, “she
would wonder about the life that could have been†(Otsuka 15). When the women
are not asleep, they chat about their expectations of America late into the
night. They are optimistic that they possess the qualities required to make
good wives for their future husbands. According to the women, life in America
will be better since the women there do not have to undergo the hardships
experienced in Japan. In America, the women do not work in the fields unlike in
Japan where the women spend hours cultivating rice paddles. The women,
therefore, desire to live the American dream, a life of fortune and happiness.
The arrival of the ship
and the fate that the women meet further reinforces the theme of the American
dream in the novel. After the boat arrives in California, the Japanese women
realize that they had been deceived. The men they meet at the shore are
anything but the men in the photographs. The men are not handsome, and they do
not meet their expectations. They are also not rich and do not have prospects
of acquiring fortunes. The Japanese women discover that they were duped and the
letters they received were meant to lure them into America. “Despite the
disappointment, the women believe that they can continue to pursue the American
dream†(Becker 13). They accept their fate and hope that things will take a
turn for the best in the future. However, the women are presently unaware of
the ill-fated future that awaits them. On the first night after their
marriages, they are expected to consummate their marriages. Some of the men are
decent and rent the best hotels that they can afford. However, some women meet
“ill-mannered men who take them by force on the floors of cheap and horrible
inns†(Campbell 9). After consummation of the marriages, the men share secrets
that reveal their struggles through life including their poor backgrounds as
fishermen. The experiences of the women on that night show their disillusion of
the American dream. They realize that they might not live the American dream
and a life of happiness.
The tolerance of the
women of the life in America further shows their hope for the materialization
of the American dream. The women expected that they would live with their
husbands in pretty and luxurious houses. They dreamt of decent jobs rather than
their previous “tedious jobs working in rice paddles†(Campbell 11). However,
the women live in labor camps with their husbands in the outskirts of towns.
The living conditions are deplorable including the heat that they experience
while working in the fields picking strawberries and grapes. They lived in
structures such as long tents and abandoned school buildings instead of decent
houses. Their husbands teach the women to work in the fields and to shout for
water in case they feel faint while working. The working conditions are harsh,
and one woman dies from the heat. Although the women hoped to live the American
dream in the new country, hardship characterizes their new lives (Becker 13).
Their new lives are worse compared to their past lives in Japan working in the
rice paddies. They work for white bosses who they are taught to fear and comply
with the orders that they give. The women attempt to bridge the language barrier
by learning some English phrases and words, but their knowledge does not help
them. Their husbands urge them to work hard in the fields, and they cover for
them when they sick or unable to work. Despite their hard work, the women do
not achieve the American dream, and they live a deplorable life.
“The Buddha in the
Attic†recounts the lives of Japanese women who strive to achieve the American
dream. The Japanese women leave their homeland to “search for a better life
devoid of hardships†(LeGuin). In Japan, the women live hard lives where they
work in rice paddles and struggle in their social lives. They, however, believe
that America would liberate them and enable them to create new families with
their husbands. Before their arrival in America, the women perceived that they
would have a happy life in the new land. They desired to have a decent job
rather than the tedious work of the rice paddies in Japan. However, the
Japanese women meet a horrible fate in America, and they learn that they were
deceived. The men they meet are neither handsome nor wealthy. Most of the men
are not gentlemen, and they subject the women to non-consented sex and
undesirable living conditions. They introduce them to the harsh life working in
the fields for white bosses. Their life in America does not live up to their
expectations, and they do not have they happy lives they desired. The fate they
meet in America further reinforces the theme of the American dream in the
novel. However, the lives of the women in the new country contradict the
conceptions of the American dream.
In conclusion, “The
Buddha in the Attic†emphasizes the theme of the pursuit of the American dream.
The voyage that the women make and their decision to leave their country
represent their hopes for the American dream. They envision themselves living
in pretty houses with their handsome husbands. According to them, leaving Japan
and the rice paddles is the best event to happen in their lives. However, their
life in America does not fulfill their expectations and hopes. They find
themselves living in deplorable conditions with men who they did not deem as
worthy husbands. In the novel, the experiences of the women reinforce and
reveal the theme of the American dream. In their journey, the women are filled
with expectations of fortune and happiness. They envision living happy lives
with their handsome future husbands. They believe that leaving their home
country is a step towards achieving the American dream in their lives.
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