Message from richardrodriguez

[Anonymous]

I recently saw The Twilight Samurai and thought it an excellent movie. I will not summarize it in detail since so many others have already done such a fine job.

I am planning to use the movie with my modern literature class. The movie explores themes that I feel are relevant to modern literature such as making meaning of ones existence in a seemingly absurd society. The protagonist has trouble coming to terms with the death of his wife and his inability to care for his two daughters and senile mother on a meager petty samurai salary. He is trained in sword fighting and yet hides the fact allowing those around him to think of him as unkempt and unmotivated.

The protagonist Seibei Iguchi is a classic underachiever who is very capable of but has no will to rise in social rank. We are led to believe that the death of his wife has resulted in some sort of death in himself. This death of self debilitates him and he seems to only have enough energy to make it through one day at a time.

That is until he reunites with an old childhood friend, the beautiful and recently divorced Tomoe Iinuma. When Seibei defends Tomoe against her violent ex-husband the bond between the two is sealed and Seibie’s life takes on new meaning. This rupture in his daily routine seems to shake him from his depression and he is motivated to act again.

We see so many of our students experience similar scenarios of loss and death that leave them shattered and immobile. I have spoken to numerous students who seem unmotivated and unwillingly and yet through conversation I have found some loss to be at the root of the problem.

I also feel that Seibei Iguchi’s abililty to walk away from a fight and show mercy to his enemies is a very good lesson for our kids. When Tomoe’s ex-husband challenges Seibei to a duel, Seibei shows mercy to the man and does not kill him. He fights him and wins and spares his life. The movie ends with a similar scenario in which Seibei does all he can to spare the life of the man he is supposed to kill.

Recently at VeniceHigh there was a shooting that resulted in the death of a student. And as teachers we all know that this is not an uncommon event. Maybe if these kids see that a skilled fighter is unwillingly to fight and even shows mercy to his enemies, they themselves won’t feel the need to stand so tall and not back down form a fight. Maybe they will look for alternatives that will allow them to save face and/or simply walk away.