My Year of Meats: Chapters 1-4

Jane, Akiko and Sei Shonagon: Similar or Difference

In the novel My Year of Meats there are three main women who from the outside seem completely different, but with a further glance, have many similarities. Jane, Akiko and Sei Shonagon have different morals, values and traditions and, yet there are some visible connections between these women in the reading. Jane and Akiko don’t know one another, but they both look to Shonagon’s writing for inspiration for their own writing and their personal lives.

Jane is a woman who has always struggled with fitting in whether it was Japan or America. However, America was able to allow Jane to be more comfortable with herself. Her “freakish” height and different colored hair fit in with the diverse culture of America. She has always been a more masculine, than feminine woman. She prefers to be comfortable with baggier clothing and is far from superficical. Form the start it is obvious that Jane possess the strong value of domination. She feels that she is dominant in most circumstances, even if she is the minority in some settings. She is a strong woman who got the chance to become a documentarian. She accepts the chance to work on a huge project called My American Wife!.

Akiko, on the other hand is almost the complete opposite of Jane. Akiko is a woman who is very lost and has had many ambitions (some which she does not know of), but everything she has ever wanted has been completely erased. She is married to an arrogant and abusive man who believes that Akiko should do anything that he pleases because she is his. He makes her fill out stupid questionnaires for his show and then proceeds to question every response she has made. She constantly sides with “John” to avoid confrontation and Akiko is continuously trying to portray the wife that John thinks that she should be. He wants to have children with Akiko and for Akiko this thought makes her sick to her stomach. She purposely and subconsciously purges her food after each meal or when she is upset. I think that throwing up her food is the only thing, in her mind, that she has control. This is very apparent that she in fact, does not. Due to Akiko’s unhealthy eating habits.

Sei Shonagon is an inspirational female writer from the past. Shonagon’s writing is both inspiring and motivating to Jane and Akiko. Although these women are very different from one another and possess diverse values, they both share their Japanese culture. A majority of an individual’s identity is solely based on their race and cultural background. Jane loves how Sei Shonagon uses the masculine Japanese language in her writing because it is something that she can connect with. Akiko is able to look to Shonagon’s writing as inspirational and her writing is able to help her through her difficult daily life.