English 2700

Synthesis Essay

April 20th

Character Profiles

Catherine Paridae, pictured above, is a researcher for a law firm.  She is an intelligent, well spoken individual who deals with interpreting people's motives on a daily basis.  Catherine can usually be found wearing an outfit fitting for her law firm, business casual.

Natalie Chordata, pictured above, does art for an ad firm.  She is an artistic type who seeks to understand people so that she can better craft ad campaigns toward them.  Natalie can usually be found wearing Capri pants and a stylish top.

Daniel Aves, pictured above, is an IT professional for a company that does billing for an insurance firm.  Not needing to be around the clients of the company he works for, Daniel feels no need to impress people and just lives as he feels most comfortable.  Daniel can usually be found wearing old jeans and a t-shirt he bought at a concert.

Negative Relation and Its Application In The Portrayal Of The Feminine Ideal In Ai Yori Aoshi

This piece begins just outside the Kennedy State University Auditorium.  A speech by famed philosopher Rob Summers just wrapped up and the audience is beginning to leave the auditorium.  The audience included Catherine Paridae, Natalie Chordata, and Daniel Aves, old college friends who went to the speech to catch up with each other and be intellectually inspired.  The three are walking toward a restaurant they frequented when they were students, Le Manger, when the topic of the speech is brought up.

Catherine Paridae-  Seeing all those students hanging on every word of Doctor Summers’s speech just brought me back to when we were in school.

Natalie Chordata-  How many of them do you think are actually philosophy majors?

Daniel Aves-  Along with that, you could ask how many of them went to the speech because the tickets were free.

Natalie Chordata-  Yeah, but would they have paid that much attention if philosophy wasn't their area of study?

Catherine Paridae-  I doubt it.  What did you think of Doctor Summers's argument of the difference between language used about military skirmishes, like the ones seen in Grenada, and the full scale military wars, like Vietnam or Korea?

Natalie Chordata-  I've never really heard something like that.  To take negative relation and apply it to the way that various groups of people interpret military actions was mind blowing.

Catherine Paridae-  What about you Daniel?

There is a short pause before Daniel responds.

Daniel Aves-  I didn't get it.

Natalie and Catherine seem flummoxed by this.

Natalie Chordata-  What do you mean?

Daniel Aves-  I don't get it.  I mean, I understand the basic concept of people interpreting conflicts in different ways, but the concept of negative relation has always eluded me.

Catherine Paridae-  But I thought you took a philosophy class.  You took it with me.

Daniel Aves-  Yes and I didn't really get it then.  I got it just enough to pass the test, but after that the concept just evaporated from my mind.

Catherine and Natalie still have a look of concern on their face.  By now the three have walked from the auditorium to Le Manger.  The three enter the restaurant and continue their conversation.

Natalie Chordata-  I can understand how negative relation cannot sink in with people.  Negative relation is a different way of thinking from the way we traditionally view the world.

Daniel Aves-  I don't think that is it.

Natalie Chordata-  Then what is it?

Daniel Aves-  I think it was the way that the concept was taught.  The professor Catherine and I took philosophy from was very big on reading large amounts of text with very little in class discussion of what we had just read.

Catherine Paridae-  Yeah, I remember the professor was going through a divorce at the time, and had to spend time dealing with that.

Daniel Aves-  Well, that kind of teaching has never really worked for me.  Reading academic texts or listening to academic speeches just has the effect of throwing a giant wall of text at me that I just cannot handle.

Natalie Chordata-  So, what kind of teaching does work for you?

Daniel Aves-  In class discussion.  Talking with people, interacting with other people's understanding, the accumulation of knowledge, that kind of teaching works wonders for me.

Natalie and Catherine no longer have this confused look on their faces.

Natalie Chordata-  I get that.

Catherine Paridae-  Yeah.  There are subjects that lecture style teaching works best for me as well.

Daniel Aves-  Yeah.  It's just too bad I can't go back and learn about negative relation in a lecture type format.

Natalie Chordata-  Why not?

Daniel Aves-  Because I don't have the time to go back to school.  Also, I'm lazy.

Natalie Chordata-  Catherine and I have a pretty good understanding of negative relation.  We can give you an overview of it right now.

Daniel Aves-  Right now, in the waiting area?

Catherine Paridae-  Well, let's get seated first, then we can start talking.

Catherine, Natalie, and Daniel wait untill the hostess is ready to seat them.  Finally, the three are shown a table and order dinner.  Catherine orders a salad with light dressing and a glass of water.  Natalie orders a hamburger with a Coke.  Daniel orders a chicken club sandwich with a Fresca.  While they wait for their order, Catherine, Natalie, and Daniel's discussion continues.

Catherine Paridae-  Okay, let's begin to discuss negative relation.  The concept of negative relation began with a look into the association that words have with objects, or as Ferdinand de Saussure put it the sign and the signified.

Natalie Chordata-  Saussure was interested in studying what’s behind objects and the names that we give that object.

Catherine Paridae-  Correct.  Saussure noticed how different languages had different words for different objects, sometimes drastically different.  Take the example of the difference between how English speaking people and French speaking people articulate a dog's bark, a difference shown through an Eddie Izzard routine in his Glorious special.

Daniel Aves-  I remember that.  The whole routine he does about the language tapes and the problems with learning language in that manner.  It's quite funny.

Catherine Paridae-  Yeah.  In that routine, Izzard touches on how strange it is that French people say "ouah ouah" and the English say "woof woof".  Izzard's humorous example can be extrapolated throughout each of these languages, and in languages in general.

Natalie Chordata-  Saussure concluded that this difference shows that there is no inherent bond between an object that the name given to that object.  Saussure also asserts that the association that currently exists is arbitrary and subject to the experiences and biases of the culture that crafts the language that they are using.

Daniel Aves-  Okay.  That explains how differences between languages occur, but what explains how those differences take shape?

At this point the waiter comes back with Catherine, Natalie, and Daniel's order.  Catherine's salad is placed first, with a small bottle of dressing placed in the middle of the table.  Natalie's hamburger is placed in front of her with the waiter promising to deliver her fries in a moment.  Daniel's club sandwich is placed next to his Fresca.  Daniel immediately takes the toothpick out of the sandwich and begins to swirl the ice in his glass with it.

Natalie Chordata-  Well, that brings up the deeper question of how we differentiate things in our minds.  What makes a thing special, what makes a thing stand out in our minds, what makes a thing significant?

Daniel Aves-  I would think that would be the attributes that a thing has.

Natalie Chordata-  Most people think that.  Most people think that there are things that anything has that make that thing special, what is called a transcendental signified.  However, a French philosopher named Jacques Derrida, among others, called that into question.

Daniel Aves-  How so?

Daniel is about to bite into his club sandwich when Natalie stops him.

Natalie Chordata-  Well, let's take that club sandwich for example.  What makes a club sandwich a club sandwich?

Daniel Aves-  Are you referencing a Dane Cook routine?

Natalie Chordata-  Never.

Daniel thinks over this question for a moment then comes up with an answer.

Daniel Aves-  The toothpick?

Natalie Chordata-  No.  What makes a club sandwich a club sandwich is that it is not, for example, Catherine's salad.

Catherine Paridae-  What's wrong with my salad?

Natalie Chordata-  Nothing, looks great, but it has attributes that a club sandwich does not.  A salad is comprised mostly of leafy vegetables, a club sandwich is not.  A salad is often covered with bacon bits, a club sandwich is not.  A club sandwich has bread that is often toasted, a salad has croutons.  A salad is generally seen as being healthy, even if it is slathered with dressing, cheese, and enough bacon to make Paula Deen jealous.  A club sandwich is not generally not seen as healthy.

Catherine Paridae-  Now I think you have a problem with my salad.

Daniel Aves-  So what makes a thing significant is not what it is alone, but what it is in comparison to other things?

Natalie Chordata-  Exactly, that is negative relation.

Daniel Aves-  Oh, I see.

Catherine and Natalie are about to dig into their dinners when Daniel begins to speak again.

Daniel Aves-  That makes me think of Ai Yori Aoshi

Catherine and Natalie stop just as they are about to take a bite of their dinners to look at Daniel oddly.

Daniel Aves-  What?

Almost as if they were doing it in synchronization, Catherine and Natalie put down their meals and begin to talk to Daniel.

Catherine Paridae-  Daniel, I have no idea what you just said.

Natalie Chordata-  Neither do I.

Daniel Aves-  Oh.

Natalie Chordata-  You can't just drop a reference like that into a conversation and expect people to know what you are talking about.  I mean, for all I know, Ai Yori Aoshi could be an actress, a department store, or even a soda.

Catherine Paridae-  It's not like if you referenced The Godfather or Lost in a conversation, you need to explain the significance of Ai Yori Aoshi in order for us to get it.

Daniel Aves-  Okay.  Then let me explain.  The manga series Ai Yori Aoshi revolves around the relationship between two characters, Kaoru Hanabishi and Aoi Sakuraba.  These two are childhood friends who reconnect later in life and fall in love.

Catherine Paridae-  That sounds like a sweet story.

Natalie Chordata-  That sounds like a sappy romantic cliché.

Daniel Aves-  In a way it's both, but in an endearing way.  Anyway, in this manga series, Aoi is presented as the ideal wife and mother.  Now, there is no universal ideal for the role of a wife and mother.  The definition of that ideal can change from person to person, culture to culture, country to country.  So, how is the image of Aoi being the ideal wife and mother presented?

Natalie Chordata-  And what, if anything, does it have to do with our discussion of negative relation?

Daniel Aves-  Aoi is presented as the ideal by comparing the attributes she has with the attributes that other characters have.  Take cooking.  In the series, Aoi is shown to be an excellent cook.  This excellence is shown by the cooking skills of the other characters.  Taeko's cooking skills, while not being bad, is always outpaced by Aoi's skills.  Tina's cooking skills is abysmal compared to Aoi's or even Taeko's skills.

Catherine Paridae-  There'd better be more to the building of this ideal than just cooking.

Daniel Aves-  When it comes to cleaning-

Catherine Paridae-  Sigh.

Daniel Aves-  Aoi manages to clean the entire boarding house that the characters in Ai Yori Aoshi share, and she does it with effortless ease.  Taeko's clumsiness always seems to get in her way, causing her to create giant messes that she has to clean up.  Mayu's upbringing, one of papered privilege, causes her to project a viewpoint of cleaning as beneath her, which only serves to paint her character as a snob.

Natalie Chordata-  Is there a way that Aoi is presented as the ideal that doesn't subjugate her in traditional feminine roles?

Daniel Aves-  Yes.  Aoi's general demander, one of reverence but also joyful wonder, is compared to other female characters in the series, Tina, Mayu, and Miyabi.

Catherine Paridae-  You could be making up these names at this point.

Daniel Aves-  Miyabi always projects an aura of impenetrable seriousness, only really breaking in her interactions with the pet, Uzume.  Aoi exhibits similar behavior, but does allow herself to have fun in situations where Miyabi absolutely does not, particularly as it relates to Kaoru.  Tina is rarely serious, only shedding her party girl type demeanor when she has to deal with possibly leaving the country.  Mayu is completely self-centered, to the point where Mayu uses Aoi's generosity in an attempt to win Kaoru for herself.

Catherine Paridae-  Wait, Mayu has her eyes set for Aoi's boyfriend?

Daniel Aves-  Well, throughout most of the series Aoi and Kaoru have to keep up the appearance that they are not romantically involved.  This causes some strain in their relationship, especially given that most of the other female characters in the series have romantic thoughts about Kaoru at one time or another.  This is another way that Aoi is shown to be an ideal.  Aoi exhibits a level of patience that is rarely seen today, and is certainly not seen in the face of the kind of adversity that Aoi undergoes.

Natalie Chordata-  Is it just that other women want to date the man that she wants to date?

Daniel Aves-  No.  Aoi has to deal with her family disapproving of the relationship with Kaoru that she is pursuing, despite the fact that her family had previously been all for this relationship.  Aoi's pursuit of her love in the face of her family's pursuit of the success of their business serves as a great example of the power of love.

Catherine Paridae-  In comparison to...

Daniel Aves-  In comparison to the traditions of Japan, traditions followed by many generations, including many of the people who read Ai Yori Aoshi.  A tradition where you follow the wishes of your family, follow the path that they have laid out for you, even if it means you end up living an unsatisfying life.

Catherine and Natalie think this over for a second.

Natalie Chordata-  You know, I bet if I knew the source material better, I might be able to follow your argument better.  However, because I don't, I am really skeptical about what Ai Yori Aoshi has to do with negative relation.

Catherine Paridae-  Yeah, but both of us are new to this source material.  Setting up the character of Aoi as the ideal wife and mother is probably something that is done over many volumes, and is reinforced again and again that the series goes forth.

Daniel Aves-  Exactly.

Catherine Paridae-  That's also an aspect of negative relation.  The comparisons that are made that serve as the basis for negative relation are made on a daily basis.  It's not just something that is done once and never reinforced again.  If it was, that would be an argument for the transcendental signified.

Daniel Aves-  So the fact that we question whether Aoi is the ideal, and compare her to the other female characters in the series, of which you have limited knowledge of, shows that negative relation is how in fact we come to an understanding of our world, an understanding that is constantly in flux.

Natalie Chordata-  Yes.  You get it!

Catherine Paridae-  Well, do any of us really get anything?  Isn't the fact that knowledge of how we perceive our world has changed throughout time serve as proof that we never really get anything?  Doesn't our questioning of everything mean that everything we know now will get disproven at some point in the future?

Daniel Aves-  Look, we could discuss this all night, but I have work in the morning.  Maybe we can discuss this again after the next academic speech that I don't understand.

Natalie Chordata-  Maybe.

The three continue in light conversation as they finish their dinners.  They never touch upon a subject as deep as negative relation again, saving that for the next time they get together.

END SCENE

Persons Referenced And Works Those References Are Based On

Derrida, J. (2007). Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences. In D. H. Richter, The Critical Tradition (pp. 915-926). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Fumiziki, K. (1998-2005). Ai Yori Aoshi. Los Angeles, California, United States: Tokyopop.

Izzard, E. (1997, November 17). Glorious. (E. Izzard, Performer) Hammersmith Apollo, London, United Kindgom.

Saussure, F. d. (2007). Nature of the Linguistic Sign. In D. H. Richter, The Critical Tradition (pp. 842-851). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's.