Read the passage from “Red Cranes,” a short story written by United States writer JaceyChoy. from “Red Cranes”by Jacey Choy1 Jiro removed his hat and the cloth band tied around his forehead. Bending over, he untiedhis shoes, then set them in the shoe rack next to the door. He opened the door and shuffledover to the sink to wash his hands. Shaded by the aged cherry trees, the small houseremained cool. Jiro wiped his hands on a towel and sat at the low table.2 “Father,” said Mie as she sat beside him, “how is the work going today? Do you think theplants will be ready to harvest in time? Do you have enough men to help you?”3 Jiro turned to Mie and smiled. “Yes, yes, Mie, I think we will have a good crop this time.Kinshi and the others have been working hard … we can always use more help, but we’redoing fine. I was going to tell you that I thought I heard some cranes early this morning, beforethe sun came up. I tried to find them, but I wasn’t sure where their calls were coming from.They’re so loud and resonant, so it’s sometimes hard to tell. I was going to wake you, but Idecided it wouldn’t be worth it, especially if it wasn’t a red crane.”4 “The red cranes! Father! Please wake me next time, even if you’re not sure! I don’t mindgetting up that early, anyway.” Red cranes were rare around this part of Japan, but Mie longedto see one. She imagined herself on the back of a red crane, flying high in the air.5 “Oh, Mie,” said Yuki, “all your talk of red cranes. Dreams, just dreams.” Yuki picked up herchopsticks and shook her head.6 “I know I sound foolish, but I’m so excited to see a red crane. I’ve been reading about themin one of your books, Mother, and I just wish I could actually see and hear one. Did you knowthat their nests usually contain only two eggs and can be found on the ground in marshyareas? And, most cranes are usually brown, gray, or white, so the red crane is unusual with itsred feathers.” Mie’s eyes flashed with excitement as she talked.7 “Well, Mie, if I hear any cranes, no matter what, I will come and get you.” Jiro gazed at hisEnglish 2_Post_Writing_20-21Page 2 of 5
daughter and then stood up from the table.8 Mie and Yuki finished clearing the dishes of rice, namasu or pickled vegetables, and misosoup. Jiro had returned to the fields, leaving Mie and Yuki to spend some time in the house.Mie wanted to read her poetry anthology, the Man’yoshu, and practice her calligraphy.Because she lived in the country, she was unable to go to school like the girls who lived inEdo. They were closer to the priests and temples, where they could be taught how to readand write. But Yuki had learned how to read and write as a girl, and she worked hard with Mieevery day to teach her what she knew. It was Mie’s favorite part of her day, not only to learnhow to read and write, but to interact so intimately with Yuki. She admired Yuki, a strongwoman and a gentle mother.9 Yuki walked over to Mie, drying her hands on a soft cloth. “Mother, what were your dreamswhen you were a girl? I know life was difficult, but did you ever think how things might bedifferent for you? Did you dream you would be a wife and mother? Or did you have otherdreams as well?”10 Yuki turned to Mie. Dreams are for youth, she thought to herself. She had so many dreamswhen she was growing up, most that she dared not share with anyone. Life, for her, held sofew choices. What should she say? She worried that if she told her the truth it might influenceMie in the wrong way. Women had a hard life if they chose not to marry and be a devotedwife andmother and she wanted Mie to have a comfortable life.11 “Well, when I was your age I had many dreams, as children do. One of my dreams was tofall in love and get married. I was lucky that one of my dreams came true … and that I met yourfather, who is a wonderful husband and father.” Yuki worried that she didn’t sound strongenough, sure enough about the path that her life took.12 “Of course, Mother. But I mean, did you ever dream that you would be a famouspuppeteer, or a rich merchant that traveled the oceans, or maybe a poet whose poems werewritten in the Man’yoshu? How about an artist that painted beautiful landscapes?”13 Yuki laughed. “You have some wild ideas for a young girl. I suggest that you concentrate onyour own reading and writing for now. You can work on your dreams later.” Yuki shook herhead and walked toward the kitchen. She felt like her own mother, discouraging Mie fromcarrying around her dreams. She wanted her daughter to have her dreams yet she didn’t wanther to grow up with unrealistic ideas and goals.14 Mie continued reading, but when she heard her mother leave the room, Mie glanced upand stared out the window. She watched her father working in the fields, and the mountain,Fujisan, far in the background. Fujisan, a volcano said to have been created during anearthquake hundreds of years ago, was a sacred place filled with magic-or so many who hadbeen theresaid. Mie dreamed of visiting Fujisan one day and climbing to its summit. She imaginedherself at the peak and, like a red crane, flying into the sky. With these thoughts apeacefulness, a serenity, traveled through her. She closed her eyes and imagined the plumblossoms in the spring, their delicate fragrance. She imagined the Japanese maple trees inEnglish 2_Post_Writing_20-21Page 3 of 5
the autumn, deep purple and brown penetrating the landscape. She saw the snow inwinter, covering the ground, the trees, and the bridge in the crisp air. Mie felt her heart soarand her mind drift.from “The Firefly Hunt” by Jun’ichiro TanizakiPassage 2Read the passage from “The Firefly Hunt,” a short story by Japanese writer Jun’ichiroTanizaki (1886-1965).from “The Firefly Hunt” by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki1 It was a strange house, of course, but it was probably less the house than sheer exhaustionthat kept Sachiko awake. She had risen early, she had been rocked and jolted by train andautomobile through the heat of the day, and in the evening she had chased over the fields withthe children, two or three miles it must have been…. She knew, though, that the firefly huntwould be pleasant to remember…. She had seen firefly hunts only on the puppet stage, Miyukiand Komazawa murmuring of love as they sailed down the River Uji; and indeed one shouldproperly put on a long-sleeved kimono, a smart summer print, and run across the eveningfields with the wind at one’s sleeves, lightly taking up a firefly here and there from under one’sfan. Sachiko was entranced with the picture. But a firefly hunt was, in fact, a good dealdifferent. If you are going to play in the fields you had better change your clothes, they weretold, and four muslin kimonos-prepared especially for them?-were laid out, each with adifferent pattern, as became their several ages. Not quite the way it looked in the pictures,laughed one of the sisters. It was almost dark, however, and it hardly mattered what they hadon. They could still see each other’s faces when they left the house, but by the time theyreached the river it was only short of pitch dark…. A river it was called; actually it was no morethan a ditch through the paddies, a little wider perhaps than most ditches, with plumes ofgrass bending over it from either bank and almost closing off the surface. A bridge was stilldimly visible a hundred yards or so ahead….2 They turned off their flashlights and approached in silence; fireflies dislike noise and light.But even at the edge of the river there were no fireflies. Perhaps they aren’t out tonight,someone whispered. No, there are plenty of them-come over here. Down into the grasses onthe bank, and there, in that delicate moment before the last light goes, were fireflies, glidingout over the water in low arcs like the sweep of the grasses … And on down the river, and onand on, were fireflies, lines of them wavering out from this bank and the other and back again… sketching their uncertain lines of light down close to the surface of the water,hidden from outside by the grasses…in that last moment of light, with the darkness creepingup from the water and the moving plumes of grass still faintly outlined, there, far, far, far as theriver stretched, an infinite number of little lines in two long lines on either side, quiet, unearthly.Sachiko could see it all even now, here inside with her eyes closed…. Surely it was theimpressive moment of the evening, the moment that made the firefly hunt worthwhile…. Afirefly hunt has indeed none of the radiance of a cherry blossom party. Dark, dreamy, rather… might one say? Perhaps something of the child’s world, the world of the fairystory in it… Something not to be painted but to be set to music, the mood of it taken up on apiano or a koto…. And while she lay with her eyes closed, the fireflies, out there along theriver, all through the night, were flashing on and off, silent, numberless. Sachiko felt a wild,romantic surge, as though she were joining them there, soaring and dipping along the surfaceof the water, cutting her own uncertain line of light….English 2_Post_Writing_20-21Page 4 of 5
“The Firefly Hunt” by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki from Modern Japanese Literature, edited by DonaldKeene, copyright © 1956 by Grove Press Inc.1.You have read two passages, one from Jacey Choy’s “Red Cranes” and one fromJun’ichiro Tanizaki’s “The Firefly Hunt.” Though Mie and Sachiko, the main characters inthe passages, have certain similarities, the authors develop their characters in verydifferent ways
Write an essay in which you analyze the different approaches the author stake to develop these characters. In your essay, be sure to discuss how eachauthor makes use of such elements as:• the main characters’ interactions with other characters,• the presentation of the main characters’ thoughts, and• the strong feelings each character experiences at the end of each passage.
