Everyone has a sense of responsibility concerning what they need to accomplish in their lives. This conscience guides people in the decisions they make and ultimately what they become. Good people do what they believe is right, while others may choose to ignore their conscience and act in ways they know are bad in order to simply serve themselves. The problem is that it is often difficult to discern between actions that a person believes are right and actions that are self-serving. Is it the end result of an action that determines whether or not that action was good or bad? Or is it the person’s intentions, which cause an action, that make that action good or bad, no matter the end result?

I will not pretend to know the answers to these questions, but I would like to analyze Kazuo Ishiguro’s character Masuji Ono, in An Artist of the Floating World, in relation to them. In the novel, Ono switches from painting in a style termed ukiyo-e, which focuses upon capturing the fleeting pleasures of life, to painting propagandist artwork designed to encourage Japan to go to war in the late 1930s. Up until he switched styles, Ono had been convinced that true art was tied to “portraying pleasure district women” (140). He believed that his goal as an artist was to produce pieces, like his teacher Mori-san, “capturing the unique beauty of that world” (150). However, when Ono meets Matsuda his sense of what his responsibilities are as an artist change.

Matsuda seeks to convince Ono that the ukiyo-e paintings he is focusing upon are not beneficial to the people of his country. Matsuda tells Ono that, “The truth is, Japan is headed for crisis. We are in the hands of greedy businessmen and weak politicians. Such people will see to it poverty grows every day. Unless, that is, we, the emerging generations, take action” (172). Matsuda goes on to say that, “The truth is, Ono, in times like these, when people are getting poorer, and children are growing more hungry and sick all around you, it is simply not enough for an artist to hide away somewhere, perfecting pictures of courtesans” (173). At first his arguments do not fully convince Ono to abandon his way of life and painting,but after Matsuda takes him through an extremely poor district of their city Ono begins to think that he needs to try and do something to help them. Matsuda persuades Ono to think that the best way he can help these people and others like them in Japan is by creating propagandist artwork to encourage Japan to go to war. Once Ono begins painting in this new style, he asks a fellow artist, “don’t you have ambitions to one day produce paintings of genuine importance? I don’t mean simply work that we may admire and praise amongst ourselves here at the villa. I refer to work of real importance. Work that will be a significant contribution to the people of our nation” (163). Ono truly believes that by painting war propaganda, he will help the people of Japan and so for that reason he stops painting what he used to view as true art.

Although Ono began painting war propaganda with the best of intentions, his contribution to encouraging Japan to go to war resulted in Japan’s loss and the death of many. He inspired people to fight with his artwork and because the war did not end well for his country, Ono often blames himself and sees his actions as wrong; even though he was only doing what he thought would help his country. His actions ended up being more beneficial to himself than his country, butsince he was trying to do the right thing, it is difficult to discern whether or not Ono’s actions were wrong. They resulted in disaster for his nation, but that was never Ono’s intent. Like Ono, people try to do what they think is right and just because their actions may not end well does not make their intentions any less noble. I am not saying that everyone’s actions are good when they are doing what they believe to be right, but in Ono’s case and in many others it is extremely difficult to discern whether their actions were good or bad. I guess that all people can do is what they believe is right and hope for the best because no one can control the full extent of what may result from their actions.

Post A Comment