The Unrepentant Fire: Tragic Limitations in Hisaye Yamamoto's "Seventeen Syllables"

Abstract

Syllables, perhaps most anthologized, acclaimed and analyzed short story by Hisaye Yamamoto, epitomizes com- plex rendering of characters within an intricately drawn plot charac- teristic of her larger body of works. Yamamoto masks secondary, deeper plot concerning relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Hayashi in an ostensibly larger, primary plot relating stage in maturation of their daughter Rosie, narrated from her limited point of view.' In analyzing dynamics of husband-wife relationship within this subplot, critical commentary is aligned on discus- sion of role of male. McDonald and Newman state that the wife (Mrs. Hayashi) seeks release (from an unhappy marriage) through writing of haiku, and as result begs her daughter nev- er to marry (28). The cause of her unhappiness is revealed by Stan Yogi in his description of actions of male, becomes in- creasingly intolerant of his wife's literary preoccupation, erupts in anger and violently destroys prize she wins, Hiroshiges print (170). The negative assessment of male's role in tragic end of is further developed in King-Kok Cheung's in- troduction to 1982 volume entitled Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories: But her husband, farmer who is indifferent to her creative endeavors, expresses disapproval and resentment whenever she en- gages in long discussions of poetry with people who share her inter- ests. Mr. Hayashi becomes increasingly impatient while his wife dis- cusses poetry with editor in main house, and finally stalks in- side in anger and emerges with prize picture (xviii). Cheung describes father's final act as cruelty, an outrage, and a jeal- ous husband's fury while remarking upon wife's anguish as direct result (xix). Charles Crow clearly perceives female as victim, murdered by the ineptitude and brutality of men she has known (Issei Father 35). In an unusually accusatory critique of author, he blames Yamamoto for his perception of her negative de-