Commentary: The Doctor’s Wife Chapter 4
I will be writing about a very small section of ‘The Doctor’s Wife’, by Sawako Ariyoshi. The section I will be mentioning is the end of chapter four, from the last paragraph on page thirty four, until the end of the chapter, on page thirty seven.
When Naomichi starts off 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 hundredth time’ which shows that it is not a new story, but one that many have heard countless times. In the next few lines, Ariyoshi uses more contrasting ideas, when Naomichi tells of Umpei’s 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 side after the rough patch, here, with the silver lining being the fine day and the rough patch being Otsugi’s painful labour.
Naomichi tells this story with very good memories, as he remembers the small details of Umpei’s birth which he delivered himself. At the top of page thirty five, the sentences are considerably short, which creates a sense 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 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 first 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 question mark, which signifies a rhetorical question, showing Naomichi’s 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 Otsugi’s 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 Naomichi’s interminable tale to a close’. 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 Naomichi’s family, whereas Kae’s bridal costume had been ‘carefully 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.
