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A review by bookishdaylight
The Life of a Stupid Man by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
emotional
fast-paced
3.0
" His own works were unlikely to appeal to people who were not like him and had not lived a life like his-this was another feeling that worked upon him. And so he decided to write his own brief " poetry and truth. "
The writing explores the fear of madness, loneliness, and death at its finest. It could be seen as something for the author to only relate to because of the different snippets of details in life that can be described as endless melancholia.
The first story " In the Bamboo Grove " hooked me in with the narration of the killer's victims which I find fascinating on how the actions were acted upon. The mindset of the bandit and how he generalizes everything had a certain peculiarity in it that makes you more curious about that person.
“Oh come on, killing a man is not as big a thing as people like you seem to think. If you’re going to take somebody’s woman, a man has to die. When I kill a man, I do it with my sword, but people like you don’t use swords. You gentlemen kill with your power, with your money, and sometimes just with your words: you tell people you’re doing them a favor. True, no blood flows, the man is still alive, but you’ve killed him all the same. I don’t know whose sin is greater – yours or mine.”
The second story " Death Register " didn't interest me that much with its inconsistent pacing and dullness of information being told. You don't really know much about the characters that died except for one or two traits that were mentioned, other than that, it makes the impact non-existent.
" A shimmering of heat-outside the grave, alone I dwell. "
Now, the third story " the life of a stupid man" has some good and mediocre points. Some I think were quite unnecessary to be included but it connects it to the other main points that were delivered. It showed the life that the man didn't care about with no intention of living but just being there physically but not mentally. The act of him being exhausted and forced to live his life makes it seem that he would do anything to end it.
" He barely made it through each day in the gloom, leaning as it were upon a chipped and narrow sword. "
Overall, this is something that would stick with me in some situations, especially the in the bamboo grove. Keep in mind that this is something to grasp with depth considering how short it is.
The writing explores the fear of madness, loneliness, and death at its finest. It could be seen as something for the author to only relate to because of the different snippets of details in life that can be described as endless melancholia.
The first story " In the Bamboo Grove " hooked me in with the narration of the killer's victims which I find fascinating on how the actions were acted upon. The mindset of the bandit and how he generalizes everything had a certain peculiarity in it that makes you more curious about that person.
“Oh come on, killing a man is not as big a thing as people like you seem to think. If you’re going to take somebody’s woman, a man has to die. When I kill a man, I do it with my sword, but people like you don’t use swords. You gentlemen kill with your power, with your money, and sometimes just with your words: you tell people you’re doing them a favor. True, no blood flows, the man is still alive, but you’ve killed him all the same. I don’t know whose sin is greater – yours or mine.”
The second story " Death Register " didn't interest me that much with its inconsistent pacing and dullness of information being told. You don't really know much about the characters that died except for one or two traits that were mentioned, other than that, it makes the impact non-existent.
" A shimmering of heat-outside the grave, alone I dwell. "
Now, the third story " the life of a stupid man" has some good and mediocre points. Some I think were quite unnecessary to be included but it connects it to the other main points that were delivered. It showed the life that the man didn't care about with no intention of living but just being there physically but not mentally. The act of him being exhausted and forced to live his life makes it seem that he would do anything to end it.
" He barely made it through each day in the gloom, leaning as it were upon a chipped and narrow sword. "
Overall, this is something that would stick with me in some situations, especially the in the bamboo grove. Keep in mind that this is something to grasp with depth considering how short it is.