Child's Play

What were some of the main motifs that can be seen throughout Child’s Play?

One of the main motifs that can be seen throughout this story is pride.  A sense of pride is revealed early in the story when it says that a boy would “sooner die than admit his father collected bills for a brothel” (1809).  This shows that the boy was concerned with his image of his family and did not want to hurt his pride by revealing the actions of his father.  Also, pride can especially be seen through the character Chokichi; the reader can instantly infer that pride is important to him because it refers to him as “cocky” (1810).  He also proves to the reader that pride is important to him because he goes to Nobu begging him to take sides with him because he is saying that he cannot lose to Shota and that he wants to “see to it that Shota eats his words” (1811).  Pride is revealed in the gangs because they constantly want to outdo one another by competing with each other.  The motif of pride adds a great amount of significance to the story.

Another motif that can greatly be seen throughout this story is a childhood that appears to be lost.  This motif is proven when it is said that Midori was from the Daikokuya which was where her sister was a prostitute (1812).  Because she grew up around prostitution, the reader can instantly infer that she did not have what we consider a childhood.  The things that she had as a child, such as the pocketbook, were given to her because of the success of her sister’s prostitution.  Therefore, Midori probably viewed prostitution as something positive as a child because she was able to get certain things (pocketbook, ball, doll).  It is also said that when she was not in school or learning, she was typically “on her own: lolling around her sister’s room for half the day, playing in the streets the other half” (1813).  Because of that, the reader can infer that her childhood was not like what we consider a childhood to be.  She did not appear to have any guidance from her parents, but was instead just expected to do things on her own.  Because of this, it ultimately leads to the motif of a lost childhood.

What can be inferred about the role of women in Child’s Play?

            One of the main roles of women that can be inferred from the story is prostitution.  In the story, it seems as if women viewed prostitution as a job that was acceptable during the time.  For example, it said in the story that customs there were “indeed a little different,” which could possibly infer that things one may usually see as unacceptable were seen as acceptable there (1808).  After that is said, it goes on to say that girls of only fifteen or sixteen were participating in prostitution.  A women could probably not escape prostitution due to the influence in the society and also because they probably did not know better.  In the story it even questions as to how the children could escape being influenced if it is something that they have always been around (1809).  Although prostitution is seen as negative today, it was the role of women in Child’s Play due to societal influence.

            It could also be inferred that one of the roles of women in the story is simply to satisfy.  For example, it says that “wives rub good-luck flints behind them to protect their men from harm” (1808); therefore, they are trying to satisfy their husbands and keep them safe.  Also, the story states that daughters were often servants for people, which ultimately a servant is used to satisfy whoever they are serving.  The most obvious example of the women’s role being to satisfy is that of prostitution.  It seems as if these women may view prostitution as a job, but their job’s purpose is to satisfy someone in a sexual way.  Although the women may not have known it then because it was what they thought was acceptable and what they had to do, it seems as if one of their main roles was to satisfy others, especially men.