Final Thoughts On Citizenship In The Floating World

I have never left the United States, hell I’ve only left California three times.  I don’t know much of what happens in the rest of the world.  Sure I hear about huge events on the news and read about them online, but how people in the rest of the world live their lives.  I don’t know anything about that.  There is very little I know about how this works, but I feel that I have got somewhat of an idea from the books that we have read in our class so far this semester.  I feel that reading these has opened up my views on the world and that I can actually say what it is like to be a responsible citizen in the floating world.  If I were asked this before this semester my first response probably would have been something like, “what is the floating world?”  After that I probably would have said someone who is good for the world ecologically and someone who is doing their best part to “go green.”  But that answer really couldn’t be further off.  As Rob Burton states in his book “Artists of the Floating World” “… it is only when we learn how to stand outside ourselves, literally seeing ourselves as a character in a novel, that we come to realize the extent to which our choices are compromised both by values consciously or unconsciously adopted by ourselves and by the communities to which we belong” (Burton 131).  The biggest part of this quote to me is the end basically saying that it is going to be different for everyone based on the communities that they are from. 

Out of the stories we read I feel that Masuji Ono in the story “An Artist of the Floating World” by Kazuo Ishiguro, is a prime example of this.  Ono was originally a very recognized artist.  This was before the war happened in Japan.  Once the war came along he began doing artwork as propaganda.  His artwork was promoting the war, and this made it to the point where Ono was now looked down upon.  People no longer were amazed by his artwork.  Ono was just adapting to the community that he was in, but he was doing it in the wrong way.  The community didn’t really change but they had just become involved in a war.  Ono had to take a look at himself to realize that he had done something wrong.  He didn’t realize anything was wrong while he was doing it.  Once Ono actually realized what was happening with him he says, “All I can say is that at the time I acted in good faith. I believed in all sincerity I was achieving good for my fellow countrymen. But, as you see, I am not now afraid to admit I was mistaken” (Ishiguro 123-124).  Ono had to take a look at himself from the outside to be able to notice that he had made a mistake. 

Another story in which the main character showed what it is like to be a citizen in a changing floating world is the story “Jasmine” by Bharati Mukherjee.  The main character Jasmine goes through many different changes in which she is now surrounded by different communities.  She has to change in order to adapt to these communities.  The biggest change that she makes is by changing her name.  She changes her name many times throughout the story.  Each one of these name changes represents a new stage in her life and the way that she is a citizen in the floating world.  Basically by changing her name she is trying to find herself.  She is almost looking onto herself from the outside to find this.  Eventually Jasmine escapes the problems that she has had and comes to America.  Once living there she finds who she really wants to be.  It took many changes by her but eventually she made these changes and found herself. 

From this class I have learned not only what the floating world is, but what it takes to be a good citizen in it.  It takes a view from the outside to see who you are and who you want to be.  This helps the person change to what they feel is the right way to live.  Of course this will be different within different communities.  Although as I stated earlier, I haven’t been out of my community much but these two stories have helped me realize what it takes for someone to adapt to the changes in life and find themselves in order to become a good citizen in the ever changing floating world.