Refusal of the Call

The event that represents refusal of Sayuri's call to adventure in Memoirs of a Geisha is when she tries to escape the okiya when she is little. The reason this event is so significant is because it creates tension in the story's plot. Sayuri tries to escape so that she can go back home with her sister to their village of Yoroido. However, Sayuri is caught in the act and ends up with a few minor injuries. Sayuri's minor injuries are examined by a doctor, which adds more to Sayuri's debt to the okiya. As well, since Sayuri tried to escape the okiya, she was considered unreliable and not worth the risk to invest in as a geisha.

These events almost completely ruin Sayuri's chances of becoming a geisha. This is not only for the fact that the mother of Sayuri's okiya doesn't want to invest money for her but also because Sayuri's debt grows and grows. However, things end up turning around for Sayuri when a highly revered geisha offers to be Sayuri's sister geisha. The mother of Sayuri's okiya takes some time to decide whether to allow Sayuri a chance to become a geisha. In the end, she decides in favour of it.

"I should explain just what Mameha meant by 'older sister', even though at the time, I hardly knew much about it myself. By the time a girl is finally ready to make her debut as an apprentice, she needs to have established a relationship with a more experienced geisha. -- She {the older sister} does a great deal more than just making sure her younger sister learns the proper way to blend embarrassment-- She must also make sure her younger sister attracts the notice of people she'll need to know." - (Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha, pg.128-129).

You can also notice an apparent contrast in Sayuri's character once she has become a geisha. Sayuri's initial refusal of her call is what makes her later change of heart so shocking: she desires more than anything to become a geisha and to stay in the district of Gion. Although Sayuri does become a geisha as she wished, she ends up having to leave the district of Gion for five years during World War II, and on her return, notices much has changed in her "new world". It seems as though Sayuri's original "new world" is becoming another "normal world" that she will have to confront very soon. We all change through out our lives so it only makes sense that our ordinary worlds change and that we are always overcoming them.

Which leaves the question:Will Sayuri refuse the call to her new special world?

Crossing the Threshold

The event that I think best represents the character Sayuri's call to adventure is when she begins to be auctioned. (Before I jump into this, I want it to be known that I don't agree with the way of the geisha however, this would be considered crossing the threshold from a geisha's point of view).

Hatsumomo, another geisha in Sayuri's okiya, continually tries to ruin Sayuri's career as a geisha. One thing Hatsumomo does to bring Sayuri down to her ordinary world is by building up Sayuri's debt to the okiya. This debt includes feeding costs, doctor appointments, etc. Now that Sayuri has been auctioned off, for a large sum of money, she has more than enough to pay back her debts. Now, Sayuri has also become the daughter of her okiya, taking the chance away for Pumpkin, Hatsumomo's sister geisha. Since Sayuri is now the daughter of her okiya, Hatsumomo cannot treat her so roughly as before and must show Sayuri respect. Sayuri is also now a full-fledged geisha, and a very famous, and popular one. Sayuri has reached her new special world successfully.

As of yet, I do not know what happens when Sayuri crosses this new, special world. However, it has been mentioned in the text that she may soon have a danna. A danna is someone a geisha more or less becomes the mistress of, and she is paid very well by them and usually receives many gifts from them.

Predictions I can make as to the success of Sayuri as she embarks on her journey are that she will continue to be a successful geisha for a long while, and will not fade into obscurity like some geisha. Sayuri may also change her mind about the ways of the geisha and may think it unjust for her to stay in the field. I know that later on she will move to New York but as of yet I don't know whether she went there to flee her life as a geisha or not. However, I think it is very likely Sayuri went there for sanctuary, I just don't know what she needed sanctuary from.

Limiting Beliefs

The main character from Memoirs of a Geisha is Chiyo, now known as Sayuri, her geisha name; she has just become an apprentice geisha.

The main conflict holding "Sayuri" back from her dream to become a successful geisha is Hatsumomo. Hatsumomo,a full-fledged geisha that lives in the same okiya as Sayuri, is extremely jealous of Sayuri's beauty and feels very threatened by her. So, Hatsumomo has decided to try her hardest to ruin Sayuri's chances at becoming a great geisha, since her potential seems so very high.

This has been limiting Sayuri from going to a lot of parties with her sister geisha, Mameha. A sister geisha's job is to help bring an apprentice geisha out of obsurity so that they, like their sister geisha, will become very successful. In return, the sister geisha will get a portion of the apprentice's earnings once they're a full-fledged geisha like herself. However, it has been very tricky for Mameha to introduce Sayuri to all the great tea houses of Gion because she continues to encounter Hatsumomo every time Sayuri accompanies her. Hatsumomo has bribed servants from various tea houses so that they will tell her when and where Sayuri will be. With this information, Hatsumomo always arrives shortly after Sayuri where ever she goes, and tries her hardest to embarrass her by making up horrid stories about her and telling them to the gentlemen visiting the tea houses.

For a while, Mameha tells Sayuri that she cannot join her on her excursions to the tea houses. Sayuri can't enter another tea house until Mameha comes up with a plan to rid them of Hatsumomo. Finally though, Mameha comes up with any idea, inspired by a sumo wrestler match the two of them watch. Mameha won't tell Sayuri what it is though, for she is worried that her idea could easily leak, and be sent straight to Hatsumomo.

If I were able to talk to Sayuri, the advice that I'd give her would be to not pay attention to Hatsumomo, and realize why she is acting the way she is. I'd tell Sayuri to look at the optimistic side of things; she has been to several tea houses and because all over her visits have been brief, this is probably getting the men curious about her. Currently, Sayuri certainly isn't sinking in to obsurity. All that Sayuri can do for the time being is wait for Mameha's instructions and follow them. Mameha has been a geisha for a long time, and has had to deal with Hatsumomo for a longer time as well. If anyone can out smart Hatsumomo it's probably Mameha.

Sayuri's ordinary world is the okiya, the threshold she will have to cross is out smarting Hatsumomo, which leaves her new adventure to be becoming a full-fledged geisha.

Hero Study

The main character in the book I'm reading, Memoirs of a Geisha, is a girl named Chiyo who is taken from her family to the district of Gion to be trained as a geisha. Chiyo is the closest character in the story to being a hero.

Qualities I see starting to form in Chiyo are intelligence, and bravery. Intelligence, because, as a woman early on in the story says: "You've got a smart one here! Born in the year of the monkey I think!" Bravery, because when Chiyo first arrives at the okiya, all she wants to do is find her sister and runaway back to their hometown. When Chiyo has her last chance to escape with her sister, she tries to escape the okiya by climbing on the roof since the doors had been blocked off. Chiyo does not end up succeeding in escaping, and ends up falling into the yard of another okiya. However, she shows tenacity by trying to escape via hopping roof to roof.

Other qualities I see in this book's characters (focusing on the geisha) are confidence and wit. Wit, because geisha are out at parties to entertain men and must stay in their good humor.Confidence, because of all the socializing being a geisha entails.

"In that brief encounter with the Chairman, I had changed from a lost girl facing a lifetime of emptiness to a girl with purpose in her life." -Chiyo,Chapter 9 pg.113