The Tale Of Genji

How is the reader meant to respond to Genji’s actions toward Murasaki? How does this pivotal section of the plot complicate the reader’s understanding of his character? Consider the following questions as you develop your ideas:

• How do diction, imagery, characterization, and plot detail reveal the narrator’s attitude toward Genji’s choice to abduct, raise, and marry Murasaki? 
• What do Genji’s secrecy and other characters’ reactions convey about Genji’s actions?
• Which literary techniques reveal Murasaki’s perspective throughout this experience?
• What is the reader meant to make of the contrast between these various perspectives?
• How might the reader’s background as a Heian-Period aristocrat or modern Western reader impact their understanding of the text?

Teaching Suggestion: Genji’s actions toward Murasaki shock the modern conscience. This prompt asks students to step back from their own reactions and consider how various perspectives in the novel reveal the cultural context of Genji’s actions and suggest what his choices regarding Murasaki are meant to contribute to his characterization. Students may find it easier to describe these perspectives than to draw conclusions from any perception gaps they discover. You might remind students that the book’s unnamed narrator is not identical to the book’s author: The narrator is a fictive persona, and the author is making deliberate choices about what and how the narrator communicates, crafting a portrait of the narrator as much as of the characters whose story she tells.