Wasted Beauty and Sadness
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The novel Snow Country, written by Yasunari Kawabata, takes place in the mountain region of western Japan, and these region experiences long months of snow in the winter. In this mountain region, hot springs villages are common and are frequently visited by unaccompanied gentlemen. These gentlemen come to enjoy the delights of the "hot spring" geishas and hotel maids. In one of these hot spring villages, the author sets the stage for the relationship between Shimamura, a businessman from Tokyo, and Kamako, a hot springs geisha. Throughout the novel, Kawabata uses the relationship of Shimamura and Kamako's life as a geisha to portray the overall theme of wasted beauty and sadness.
In the novel, Komako's beauty and life is wasted by her life as a geisha and her relationship with Shimamura. When Kamako first met Shimamura, she was a young girl with a promising life ahead of her. The second time that Shimamura met up with Kamako, she had become a hot-springs geisha in order to assist in the payment medical bills for her gravely ill fianc. Despite the medical care that he received, her fianc eventually died. As a result of her selling herself to the life of a geisha, Komako became part of a profession that was considered low-class and little better than prostitution...