Suicide and Its Cultural Impact as Depicted through Literature - Essay Example

? and Section # of Suicide and its cultural impact as depicted through literature Death is viewed drastically differently in many different cultures. Some view it as the final resting place of a spirit, others say that it is merely a continuation of the spirit in a different form, yet others would say that it is a means for restarting one's life and coming back to earth. Whatever a specific culture or religion's view may be on death and the afterlife, suicide, as a sub-culture of death is viewed in the same different way, often even within a culture, in comparison to death. Where death is the loss of one's life to a Higher being or even a natural ritual of time, depending on how it is viewed by a particular culture, suicide, is the voluntary ending of one's own life. Some view this as a disgrace, as they consider life not to be their own property but rather the possession of a God merely entrusted to them. Others view it as a viable option as they consider the soul of a human to be their own as much as their body or any other of their possessions might be. Yet others view it as a complete disgrace, a dishonor to the Gods they hold in such reverence, and to the laws of dignity or courage that their culture abides by. As a result, the topic of death and suicide is one that is continually investigated through literature, in reference to a culture and their ideals. This essay aims to investigate three such views on one common act: suicide. The first example of a culture's views on suicide is through Ama Atta Aidoo's play, Anowa. The story centers on the a young girl, Anowa who chooses to go against the conventional ways of her family and village, and marries a man of her choice and moves away to live with him. Over the story however, she finds that the life she had hoped for with her chosen husband is not turning out as expected and instead took on a number of tragic and unexpected twists, despite their prosperity in terms of monetary status and power. Eventually, as a result, differences arise between Anowa and her husband, and because they are unable to resolve them, Anowa eventually takes her own life, which is viewed by her village as a fitting end and punishment of sorts for the choices she made throughout her life. Anowa on the other hand took her life in an attempt to carry on living life in her own way, making her own choices, even when it related to the choice of death. In her view, it was the final statement of freedom that she would make. Naturally, the village people condemn her for it, as they had condemned her for her actions throughout. Nonetheless, Anowa dies a free spirit, and because the Akan culture believes that death is not the end of a person's life, but a mere continuation of it in a different, more concrete form, the likelihood is that Anowa as a spirit would remain free and uninhibited as she had hoped to be, despite the criticism of those around her in the village she chose to leave behind, but was ultimately brought back to anyway. The second story, Patriotism, by Japanese author Yukio Mishima, draws on the theme of seppuku, the honored samurai tradition of ritual suicide, a theme that is often used in Japanese literature. The story focuses on the significance of honor and loyalty in the Japanese culture, particularly towards one's country. The story centers on a Lieutenant and his wife, who commit suicide together, after the Lieutenant learns that his comrades have been working against the emperor, and he therefore needed to choose whether to be loyal to his comrades or to his country. Unable and unwilling to choose any over the other, he decides to commit suicide through the Japanese samurai way of ritual suicide, seppuku, thus showing how his own personal honor was greater than life itself. He did not want to compromise on his loyalty, which would be against the ethics of honor that are upheld so strongly in the Japanese culture, and thus he took his own life rather than choose. His wife in return also takes her life by the same way, even though it was not a question of choosing her loyalty or compromising her honor but because for a Japanese wife, there is no question of an option except for loyalty towards her husband. As a soldier's wife, when he gave up his life, she in return had to do the same. While it is an idea that might seem repulsive or strange to those who are unfamiliar with the Japanese culture, to those who have an idea of how strongly the Japanese uphold honor and loyalty, it would make sense as to how they would rather not carry on living than live with the knowledge of any decision they had taken which compromised on those ethics of honor. Suicide is almost an accepted form of death in Japan, and is seen in many cases as a responsible decision to a problem. Warriors have used it for centuries to avoid shame or torture in enemy hands and it was seen as a heroic act of honor to do so (Seward, 1968). This story thus illustrates that belief, in considerable detail, often gruesome at times, to provide the reader both with the idea how strong a sacrifice it is and yet administered willingly by those who honor the Japanese culture and its considerable emphasis on the ethics of loyalty and honor. On the other hand, suicide in the Igbo culture is considered almost inversely, as is seen in the African book, Things Fall apart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. While it is honorable in Japanese culture to take one's own life rather than leave it in the hands of others, in the African culture, as depicted through the book, it is a breach of justice and fairness to do that. One must be dealt with according to the crimes he has committed, and as they are normally committed against others, they must also be dealt with by others. Suicide is seen as a week and escapist form of retreat, the mark of one who does not have the courage to face what they are about to be dealt with(Chinwe & Ikebudu, 2000). The protagonist of the story, Okonkwo is seen throughout the book as a man of honor, who upholds the traditions of the clan he belongs to. But when he returns from the seven years of Exile his clan enforced upon him, he finds that things have changed and in an attempt to change them back to how they were, Okonkwo finds himself betrayed by his people and his expectations of them. Unable to take that, he is found hanging in his house. While Okonkwo did it from a sense of pride and honor, and unwillingness to submit to a death in the hands of a white man, or those of his tribe who went against his clan, he ironically goes against the clan's ways himself by committing suicide. Although done with the intentions of honor and dignity, it ends up being seen as a cowardly act of escape, and although he was viewed as a hero throughout his life, he is ultimately treated as the corpse of a coward. Thus, through these three examples we can see that what for one culture may mean the ultimate act of heroism is for another the ultimate act of cowardice. These three stories, though all ending with the same tragic death of the hero, all have considerably different positions of emphasis in their respective cultures. References 1. Chinwe Ukwu, D & Ikebudu, A. Igbo people (Nigeria) & Their Beliefs or Views About Suicide 2000 2. E. Anothony Hurly, Larrier, R. & McLaren, J. Migrating Words and Worlds: Pan-Africanism Updated 1999 3. Seward, Jack Hara-Kiri: Japanese Ritual Suicide. Charles E. Tuttle. 1968 Read More