A Study Of The Theme Of Discipline In Kazuo Ish Iguro's An Artist Of The Floating World

Kazuo Ishiguro,whose works are mostly historical,is a renowned contemporary Japanese-British writer.In An Artist of the Floating World,Ono's story time stretches over World War II and the story presents the dramatic social change in Japan.The transformation of social system and the ubiquity of disciplinary power in daily life make characters in the novel shackled both physically and mentally.Based on Michel Foucault's theory of disciplinary power,this thesis aims at exploring the theme of discipline in An Artist of the Floating World,and digging out the causes for modern people's dilemma.Chapter One gives a detailed exposition of the causes of characters' being disciplined: the supervision from the father,teacher and boss;and the control of various power institutions.This kind of supervision and control has an indelible impact on disciplined objects' values and ethics in their childhood,schooldays and career.The impact is mainly embodied in Ono's contemptuous attitude to the female,his strict demanding on the students and the subordinates and his determination to indulge in militarism.Thus,the disciplinary power plays a vital role in people's formation of values and ethics.Chapter Two analyses the symptoms of characters' being disciplined: being tamed by paternity and master'sauthority and limited in activity space.Ono's instilling of male supremacy and samurai spirit to his grandson Ichiro well explains the disciplined objects' obedience under the disciplinary power.The disciplined objects' limitation in physical and spiritual space presents the power institutions' constraints on their thoughts and deeds.It can be seen that the disciplined objects under the disciplinary power mechanically follow the internalized authority.Chapter Three presents the consequences of characters' being disciplined.The older generation represented by Ono who has been assimilated by leader-member relation in the prewar period still stick to the past hierarchical power when democracy,equality and individualism flood in;after the war,when the younger generation enjoy the convenience of the westernized buildings,the older generation like Ono,Matsuda and Mrs Kawakami are still immersed in the convention of traditional architectural design which stands for militarism and past achievements.The research of the theme of discipline reveals the primary cause for modern man's dilemma.The social surveillance,various institutions' controlling and discipline are extraordinarily common in current society.Power,making use of the discourse and supervision,decides the formation of people's values and ethics in order to trap them to serve as a political tool for the authority.Power never cares about the importance of people's existence,but the ruling class' profits.The discipline as thethesis' research theme based on Foucault's power theory corresponds with Ishiguro's concentration on one's significance of existence and individual freedom.