Commentary: The Doctor’s Wife Chapter 4

I will be writing about a very small section of The Doctors Wife, by Sawako Ariyoshi. The section I will be mentioning is the eat up of chapter four, from the last paragraph on page thirty four, until the end of the chapter, on page thirty seven.When Naomichi starts forward the paragraph on page thirty four, he mentions Twenty three years ago, Umpei was born. The way he starts off his speech like this is as if he is speaking of his life story, or the most important and interesting story ever, as if no one had heard it before, which contrasts with what comes next, probably being repeated for the ordinal time which shows that it is not a young story, but one that many provoke heard countless times. In the next few lines, Ariyoshi uses more contrasting ideas, when Naomichi tells of Umpeis birth, of which he delivered with Otsugi in terrible pain even though outside, it was a fine day without a patch of cloud. This contrast shows that there is always a silver lining on the other si de after the rough patch, here, with the silver lining being the fine day and the rough patch being Otsugis painful labour.Naomichi tells this story with very good memories, as he remembers the small details of Umpeis birth which he delivered himself. At the top of page thirty five, the sentences are considerably short, which creates a sentience of tension in the text for the readers, which make them look forward to something that may be coming ahead for them to look forward to. As Otsugi got into labour, there is another(prenominal) contrast, as the weather started getting bad, and thunder roared nearby, which is a personified phrase. As Naomichi was the person to deliver Umpei, he has alot of very fond memories of Umpei growing up, of which he mentions remembering his inaugural sounds, and the way he gestured to show how he cradled the baby shows the reader that he remembers it as if it happened yesterday, and not decades ago. At the end of the very long paragraph lies a interr ogatory mark, which signifies a rhetorical question, showing Naomichis pride for naming Umpei as well as his family pride.Kae has been looking up to Otsugi ever since she first heard about her when she was a little girl, and the way Kae is visualising her mother-in-law near the bottom of page thirty five shows that Kae looks up to Otsugi, and is trying to understand her underlying emotions, feelings as well as thoughts. not only does she think about Otsugis emotions, Kae also has repeated thoughts of Otsugi running through her mind. Otsugi is shown as a smart lady at the bottom of the page when she cleverly managed to bring Naomichis interminable tale to a mean. On the top of page thirty six, there is evidence which points to the fact that this family is not well off as Kae entered a small room which was a sleeping quarter for the women.This shows that Naomichi does not have enough money to have a house where each member of his house would have the priviledge of getting their own rooms. Kae is used to being looked after by Tami, so as there is a change in surroundings, she feels uneasy from the kindness of her new sister in laws. The contrast between the two families is shown around the middle of the page, as the wedding date had been hastily set by Naomichis family, whereas Kaes bridal costume had been guardedly planned by her mother.Kae is a girl who is used to taking compliments all the time from her family, so when Ryohei compliments her bridal costume, she is glad that she had finally achieved recognition. At the end of the chapter, it is described that Kae felt neither enstranged nor unhappy sleeping next to her mother-in-law which shows that Kae is happy as she is finally close to Otsugi, which has been her lifelong dream, and now she has the chance to be close to Otsugi all the time. Her marriage is very peculiar, as she did not really marry Umpei to marry him, but in fact, she married him to marry his mother.