Subject/Purpose: To convince parents,
particularly mothers, to make their daughter’s boxes (minds) wide, spacious and
to fill them with knowledge and education. The wider and more free the box is, the less likely the
daughter will run away or elope, which is appealing to parents as they’d have
to waste resources to get her back (this point/appeal is the last line of her
speech)
Effectiveness: For
the period and the way Japanese are about women, it was really controversial
and out of the box (no pun intended). Due to the controversy in her argument, it
really stands out in your mind.
Audience: Fellow feminists and parents
Context: Speech in front of other feminists
in Kyoto, monitored by the police, during the Meiji Restoration where the old
ways of government were abolished and all centralized powers were centralized
and modernized (mostly imperial rule with a limited parliamentary rule). This was during the time of the first
feminist movement in Japan and Kishida was one of its leaders. The government passed many laws that
denied women everything (rights, property, ability to participate in government
etc.) and mainly, freedom.
BIAS OF AUTHOR: Upper class girl, spoke
more properly/formally, might’ve used different slang and words than the people
listening (some of these words might’ve been lost in translation)
BIAS OF SCRIBE: The one who copied down the
speech was a listening police officer, who when writing what she was saying,
might’ve missed other points she was saying.
BIAS OF TRANSLATOR: The translators of this speech are
Rebecca L. Coperland and Melek Ortabasi.
There are some words in different languages that just can’t be
translated into others, so the full and truthful meaning of something could be
lost due to the language barrier.
Tone/Diction: Very formal and polite,
probably because she was of the upper class and might’ve have a more
sophisticated vocabulary and sentence structure. By speaking formally she would’ve been respecting her
audience showing them that she thought they were equal or if there were older
members in her audience she would’ve been respecting her elders, which is
another part of Japanese etiquette.
This way of speaking would’ve appealed to the parents in the audience.
Appeals
Pathos: She believes in the daughters and
thinks that they have a great capability to attain great knowledge which
invokes pride and happiness among her audience
Ethos: Uses her own experience with the box (she had a wide,
educational filled box); she also analyzes the three different boxes (the ideal
one and the two bad ones). This
shows that she’s put a lot of thought into the idea and really understands it.
Logos: She didn’t use much logos, except
what might be considered common sense.
Rhetorical devices: Though Kishida’s speech
is short, its jam-packed with big ideas, metaphors and symbolism. Her style is clear and to the
point. Even her symbolism is easy
to comprehend.
Techniques: The box metaphor symbolized the
mind of the daughter. The box/mind
need to be open, wide, spacious, strong, well built, and filled with
knowledge. The box doesn’t have
walls and is made of heaven and earth (that point appeals to the Japanese
regard for nature and the many gods that come from it).
General Evaluation
·
She criticises the unfairness
of how middle and upper class girls are tucked away from the world.
·
Girls miss opportunities
outside the home because they are boxed away.
·
Saw Japanese girls as capable
of great knowledge and capacity to learn (pathos).
·
Speech demonstrates the
possibilities of Japanese girls (pathos).
·
Highlights other themes from
previous speeches (strengths and capabilities of women. By using the same themes, her keeps her stance and arguments similar and this somehow makes her argument seem more steady when she's so clearly built her foundations on the same grounds.
