Memoirs of a Geisha Literary Elements

A novel

The actions take place before, during and after the World War II in different places, but mostly in Kyoto, Japan. The first location is a small town Yoroido where the protagonist is born, then it is Kyoto where Sayuri (the protagonist) is taught to be a geisha and finally it is New York City where she lives after the World War II.

First-person

The story is told in a calm and thoughtful mood.

The protagonist of the story is Sayuri (Chiyo in the past), and Hatsumomo is the antagonist.

The major conflict stands in difficulties one has to endure in order not to betray his/her love and to stay loyal to oneself despite all the struggles which a life may present one with.

The climax of the novel happens when Sayuri got adopted by Mother which means that for this moment her life no longer depends on other people.

From the very beginning of the novel it is very clear that Sayuri is going to have difficult life. Her parents are not able to take care about her sister and her properly, since her father is rather old and mother is ill. The family also has no extra money. The atmosphere is soaked up with anticipation of tremendous life changes for both girls.

When Chiyo gets injured and needs to spit blood the fishermen are horrified, because girl’s blood is believed to be dirty, it is a certain ominous sign. Although the narrator doesn’t blame them, it shows how girls’ position in Japanese society used to be.

The novel contains an allusion to the World War I. One of the characters - Toshikazu Nobu – loses his hand and gets burn marks on his face.

The author uses imagery a lot in order to describe life of working class people in a small fishing town, living conditions of geishas to be and luxurious tea parties thrown by wealthy aristocrats.

Despite the fact that Sayuri is taken away from her family and deprived of childhood, she is still grateful to Mr. Tanaka Ichiro.

This figure of speech is also used a lot in the novel.
‘’I could hardly see the other side for all the people, bicycles, cars, and trucks.”
“I looked at Satsu, and Satsu looked at me.”
“And her clothing wasn’t the only extraordinary thing about her; her face was painted a kind of rich white, like the wall of a cloud when lit by the sun. Her hair, fashioned into lobes, gleamed as darkly as lacquer, and was decorated with ornaments carved out of amber, and with a bar from which tiny silver strips dangled, shimmering as she moved.”

“Perhaps it ought to have been a simple task to raise my eyes and look at the Chairman, and yet somehow I couldn’t have left more nervous if I’d stood alone on a stage with all of Kyoto watching.” Kyoto is a metonymy which is used to denote people who live in the city.
“When we climbed up over the ridge leaving Yoroido, the wheel passed over a rock and the wagon tipped to one side quite suddenly.” The wheel is a synecdoche.

“Water never waits.” Water in the novel acquires qualities of a living being which can influence one’s decisions and actions.