Reference
Lisa Jean Allswede
Winchester Thurston School
MS/US Studio Art (grades 6-12)
Twenty-four Eyes has all the elements to engage a reader: a teacher’s generational relationship with her first 12 island students, a female teacher questioning the ways of her country, the effects of World War II, the sacrifices families made to survive, and death of loved ones. But somehow all of these trials and tribulations leave the reader a bit empty and wondering if the intimate relationship this teacher had with her students got lost in translation.
The story starts out in 1928 (pre WWII), as a young teacher, Miss Oishi, sets off for her first teaching assignment at a primary school in a small village on the Inland Sea of Japan. The village rest at the tip of a long cape and was filled with about 100 or so fishing and farming families. This young, “modern” teacher eagerly rides her bike from the principal village along a three-mile winding trail to the primary school where she will meet her 12 first-graders. Being a conservative village, the “modern” ways of this young teacher inspires much curiosity among the community. The children, of course, love the teacher and it was their devotion to their teacher that finally convinces the villagers to accept her. An unfortunate accident relocates the teacher back to the principal village’s branch school, but the children and the teacher meet again at this branch school in 5th grade and the relationship continues through out the WWII and the adulthood of the students who survive the times. The reader is given hints of the economic and political challenges of Japanese during the war and how class and traditions determine the fate of the students and even Ms. Oishi. The story ends after the WWII (1946), when Ms. Oishi returns to the village to teach once again. This is s sign of the financial crisis the country experiences after WWII. It is at this time the original students, now adults, arrange a reunion at the village with Ms. Oishi and together share the struggles they experienced throughout their generation together.
Although I was immediately intrigued with idea of a story about a young Japanese teacher spreading her wings in an intimate village and forming a generational relationship with her very first students, I was disappointed by the lack of development of the story. Was this because of the translation of the story? I wanted to know more about the students and how they came to their decisions. What was it that made them make the decisions they made? How did the war influence the times? Ms. Oishi husband was a mystery to me. Why is that? From my vantage point, I think I lack a clear understanding of the true role of traditions and relationships play in the Japanese culture. But on the other side that of that coin this is what I am trying to gain a better perspective about – how tradition, culture, class, etc. determined destinations for one and what makes them so devoted to that determined path. I wonder if the film brings a different light to the story?
Because my discipline is studio arts, I would not use this book in my class. There are no ties to art history that would support the disciplines I teach, such as printmaking, ceramics or painting. A social studies or language arts teacher would more likely find a more substantial way to use this book in their curriculum when teaching about WWII. The book could stimulate conversations about class, gender, and political viewpoints that the Japanese experienced during this time period.
