Importance of Seasons in Kawabatas Snow Country Essay examples -- Kaw

impressiveness of Seasons in Kawabatas Snow Country In his novel Snow Country, Yasunari Kawabata depicts a relationship in the midst of two people in the mountainous vicinity of Japan. Shimamura, a businessman from Tokyo, visits a village in the reversal res publica and develops a relationship with Komako, a geisha in that village. Their relationship is the primordial focus of the novel, as it changes each time Shimamura leaves for Tokyo and returns. Kawabata uses the changing of the seasons to reflect these changes in relationship. Since the novel is set in the snow clownish, the seasons have proper(postnominal) characteristics, and these par anyel the relationship between the two central characters. Spring is a time of new gonings in the snow country because of the new sprouts that begin to grow after the winter has covered the ground with snow and killed altogether the old plants. Shimamura first comes in the spring, and the relationship begins as a acquain tance because of Shimamuras view of Komako as a new sprout and his feeling that it is his employment to protect her. Fall is a time of transition, both for nature and for the relationship. As the trees in the snow country begin to lose their leaves and change into other version of themselves, Shimamura and Komako do also, creating a sense of romance that seems much and more distant as they grow apart. Winter is a time of acerbity cold in the snow country, and this is reflected in the coldness brought into Shimamura and Komakos relationship. They argue ofttimes during winter, and Shimamura becomes intrigued by Komakos rival Yoko, a maid for the inn at which he stays, and the relationship becomes merely professional. The relationship between Shimamura and Komako undulates constantly with the pass... ...Shimamuras protection. The snow country becomes unbelievably cold in the winter, and darkness surrounds the land as all the plants are covered by snow and the land bec omes a costless wasteland. Shimamura and Komako feel this coldness in their relationship, as the distance between them produces feelings of bitterness. duskiness encompasses their relationship as Shimamuras new attraction to Yoko is halted by her death. The relationship between Shimamura and Komako is a tumultuous one, fluctuating from an intimate friendship to merely a professional connection. These changes correlate with the changing of the seasons, and thus Kawabata uses the shifts between seasons in the snow country of Japan as an allegory for the central relationship of the novel. full treatment Cited Kawabata, Yasunari. Snow Country. Berkley Publishing Corporation New York, NY 1956.