One Arm - Response

   This story by Yasunari Kawabata is definitely one of the weirder ones we have read for this class. As I read, I continuously had a very uncanny feeling that simultaneously made me very curious as to what was going to happen next. The story is paced in a way that slow and conversational, but it also reveals enough new information as the story goes that makes you want to read more. The story is grounded in reality, but the surrealist aspects allow for an entirely unpredictable experience.

   After finishing this story, I was reminded of one my favorite films - Spike Jonze's Her. In this movie, a man has a relationship with an operating system. The surface-level similarities between Her and "One Arm" are easily recognizable (man has relationship with unconventional "object"), but they also tell a similar story of a human need for intimacy told in an unorthodox way. This unusual play on an otherwise fairly normal relationship story in both examples is very fascinating to me because it makes me ask myself questions about my thoughts on the human experience. Why does it make me uncomfortable that this man has a relationship with a severed arm? What are the implications of intimacy?

  (Note: Implications of Intimacy is a great title for a project).

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