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Amy Kooiman
Professor Gillard
Introduction to Literature
November 28, 2007
The Sound of a Voice: Admirer or Assassin?
The Sound of a Voice by David Henry Hwang depicts an emotional journey between two secluded strangers who had discovered a deeper meaning of company. A Japanese warrior travels to the home of a woman that lives mysteriously in the heart of the untraveled woods. Unsure of the man's intentions of his visitation, the woman tends to him in return for his company. During the man's week-long visitation, both the man and the woman interact as though they long for, yet repel against the final possibilities to experience love. Along with hiding their true feelings, the Man and Woman experience differing sociological views which motivate their actions throughout the play. Such motivations to bury their feelings could be understood using knowledge of mythic symbolisms of Japanese culture.
Symbolism is a strong writing device used by writers to verbally express their imagination using objects or living beings to creatively convey ideas about their subjects and to push the story along with meaning. The use of symbolism in writing was very important to author David Henry Hwang; in fact, he claims that the use of Symbolism in The Sound of a Voice was an experimental process of writing, according to the Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. (Kennedy, Gioia, 2007) Furthermore, the biography of Hwang quotes, “...he creates a placeless scene in which two characters named Man and Woman act out a story reminiscent of a fold legend or a traditional Japanese Noh drama.” (Kennedy, Gioia, 2007). The reader must use key evidence to understand that The Sound of a Voice was written as a Japanese Noh drama, or a retelling of a popular Japanese folk tale. Because many folktales are built upon the sociological background Kooiman 2
of a society, the motives of each character can be easily understood when put into the Japanese folk tale context.
The first obvious question many readers wonder is the question of the characters' names. If
not awarding the characters with defining names was Hwang's intention, a possible conclusion on that matter could include the idea that the characters are as much of strangers to each other as they are to the audience, or the reader. On the sociological criticism, the Japanese culture uses names in
ways of showing respect or superiority to another. For example, according to the Japanese Names: How to Read Them, members of the Japanese culture either address each other by their last name in a sign of respect or by their first name to express closeness. In addition to using first or last names, many would use a certain title. Depending on gender and social position you are addressing, some would address a person using titles such as san, which is used in most situations except formal; in addition, chan is used to address very close friends or family members. Finally, sensei is used for addressing teachers, doctors, or others of a higher service status than yourself. In the play, neither the Man nor Woman uses the acceptable title in addressing each other; instead, the Man refuses to reveal his name with the appropriate title, “If I gave you a name, it would only be made-up. Why should I deceive you?” (1978) Perhaps the man refused to reveal his title because it would be under an important one, such as sensei, as warriors and such law enforcement titles are of superiority. If the woman knew that he was an important citizen, she would suspect his motive for traveling out to the woods as an assignment to kill the wicked witch of the woods as many fear for their safety from the Woman. Under the influence that the Woman has a history of trapping men as hostage, the Man strays away from any hint of closeness he may express with the woman and even may have remembered his assignment to assassin her and to not get trapped under her love spell. Unknowingly about the man's motive to save Japan, the Woman shocks him when revealing her name as Yokiko.
The use of a single name is a display of the Woman expressing her closeness to the Man. With some Kooiman 3
persuasion, the Man gets taken under her love spell and continues his stay with her rather than to keep traveling or to assassinate her.
Another element of the story which uses symbolism to convey the Man's vulnerability to be captured under the Woman's spell is his loneliness. According to Folktales From Around the World, a typical warrior who had been hired to protect the city will not often experience a wife with a stable home environment; instead, he will spend his days traveling by himself for many days at a time, keeping a close eye on the city or person. (Shannon, 35) Much related to many folktales of the legends of warriors, the Man could begin to be expressing a great deal of loneliness for family or love as the Woman brings him into the realization of what it is like to spend a night with company. For example, hearing any kind of sound for the man is both rejuvenating and eye opening as he rarely associates with people on his long travels. At the beginning of the play, the Man suggests that the graceful sound of the Woman pouring the tea is a very soothing sound. Furthermore, the Woman expresses her admiration of sounds when she says, “I will enjoy hearing. It's not even the words. It's the sound of a voice, the way it moves through the air.” ( 1977) After they both agree on enjoying the company of sounds to fill their quiet lives, they begin to appreciate each other's sounds as they go to sleep, such as breathing. In the third scene, the simple sounds have begun to give excitement as the Man discovers his stomach as a musical instrument and uses it as entertainment and joy. In this scene, the Man and Woman have their first feeling of a fulfilled emptiness, and finally, life has filled their bodies. It is not until scene four, however, when the Woman has entirely captured the Man under her spell by neglecting him of sound. He wakes in the middle of the night to silence in desperation for her company. The Man has just begun to fall into defeat as the beginning of falling in love with her: a danger that he had been warned of by his fellow Japanese civilians. With the way the Woman is imprisoning him with her love, it will lead to him falling under her spell and be a
defeated warrior.
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The third symbolic item Hwang uses to understand the motive of the Man's travels is flowers. For many years, flowers were used to display hidden messages. For example, the popular chorale song which says, “My love's like a red, red rose” was written by a man to his wife to display his affection using the color red, or the color of desire or romance. The subtle and secret messages that can be seen in flowers was also a popular Turkish secret language during the 18th Century.
According to New-Age, sending a coded bouquet of flowers would reveal your true feelings for another person. In addition to the Turkish secret language, the Victorians engaged in the communication system when the society discouraged courtship or displays of affection before marriage.
Based on the accepted sociological views of societies and folklore, the play offers a chance to explore the different kinds of love the Woman had experienced and the Man's interest in the flowers. During the first scene, the Man takes awe of the brightly colored flowers that previous travelers had given to the Woman. The Woman analyzed the flowers as a way of the men to communicate their love for her, just as the Victorians did. Because the flowers are in a variety of colors and types, the Woman may have believed to have had experienced several kinds of love such as everlasting, rememberence, constancy, true love, and so on. When the Woman is not aware, the Man steals a flower from the vase and hides it in his clothes. The flowers symbolized not only different kinds of love, but also the men that gave the Woman the flowers as stated in scene seven when the Man explains, “Sometimes-when I look into the flowers, I think I hear a voice—from inside-a voice beneath the petals. A human voice.” At this point, the reader would believe that this was symbolized as a point where the man understood his mission to save the men that have fallen under her spell as well as the men in the future; however, a few lines later, the man explains what the voices say, “It hums with the peacefulness of one who is completely imprisoned.” This was a turning point which
gives the reader a chance to understand that the Man has accepted that the other men had willingly Kooiman 5 gone under her spell in exchange for eternal happiness with the Woman's love. It is not until the next scene where the Man actively shows his defeat as he decides to pick flowers with the Woman. After the Man's week-long visit has been completed, he realizes his failure as a warrior and a sensei as he has fallen under the Woman's spell.
During the concluding scene, the major symbolisms discussed have wrapped up the story in a meaningful finale. The Man rejects his feelings of love for the Woman. Not long after, she finally hangs herself with nothing to be heard except the unbearable silence. Silence is read as the emptiness the Man feels, unable to feel alive with the Woman, although he tries but fails to make noise with a musical instrument. The once beautiful flowers that the Woman cared for finally took their last form in a dramatic explosion of petals. The scene of a blizzard of petals is much like the Sakura Tree, or Cherry Blossoms. After the tree's full life of beautiful bloom, it ends on a popular holiday where everyone watches the petals fall off of the Sakura Tree. In the Japanese culture, the scene may not only represent a symbol of feminine beauty, love, the gift of life (because of their short blooming times), but also metaphors for the fallen warriors who had bravely died in battle, according to The Meaning of Trees. Hwang's symbolic method gave understanding to the conclusion of the play. Using the idea that the Sakura Tree is a symbolism of a brave fallen warrior, it depicts the brave act of the Man that had given up his one last chance for love and joy to save the men that would become prisoner of the Woman's spell.
The question of whether or not the Man is the Woman's admirer or assassin is a debatable process, however, when analyzing the Man's motives and actions throughout the play, he became both. Such symbolisms such as his important title reveals his beginning motive as a working samurai, saving Japan from the Woman's wicked ways. It is agreeable, however, that the Man falls in love with the Woman, which is considered falling under her spell. His happiness and love is shown
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through the way he regained life through music, color, and flowers. It is not until the final scene that Hwang reveals to the audience that the Man regains his motive to assassinate the Woman to achieve his goal to save Japan in battle, even if it meant eternal loneliness for himself.
Bibliography
"http://www.new-age.co.uk/flower-language.htm." New-Age.
Hageneder, Fred. The Meaning of Trees. 2005.
Kennedy, X.j., and Dana Gioia. Literature: an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Pearson Longman, 2007.
Koop, Albert J., and Inada HogitarÅ. Japanese Names: How to Read Them. 1995.
Shannon, George. Folk Tales From Around the World.
