"Masks" By Fumiko Enchi

"Masks" was a difficult book for me to understand.  There were a lot of characters to keep track of and their names were ones I was not familiar with.  With this book being a Japanese narrative it made reading difficult.  "Masks" is about a woman, Mieko Togano, and her widowed daughter-in-law, Yasuko.  Mieko manipulates the relationship between Yasuko and the two men who are in love with her. 

"You and I are accomplices, aren't we, in a dreadful crime - a crime that only women could commit."  This quote comes in at the very end of the book.  I found this quote very interesting because it is said after the fact that Yasuko and Mieko find out about Harume's pregnancy.  I think this quote is referencing to the idea of abortion.  Harume has a mental disability and with her being pregnant there is a chance she could die giving birth.  So when Yasuko says this I think she wants Harume to have an abortion, that way she will survive.  Women are the ones who can only have an abortion and I think that it what is meant by "a crime that only women could commit." I think Yasuko is the one who wants Harume to get an abortion more than Mieko because she doesn't think it is right for a woman with so many "physical and mental handicaps" to risk childbirth.  By getting an abortion Harume would survive, but by having the child they would be able to carry on the blood line of Akio, who is the dead son of Mieko.  I think having an abortion is wrong, but I am not going to get in to that debate. 

"The Icarus Girl"

"The Icarus Girl" is a novel by Helen Oyeyemi.  It is about a young girl, Jessamy, who has an extraordinary imagination.  She has a hard time fitting in at school, but makes a friend, TillyTilly, who understands her.   TillyTilly's visits soon become more disturbing and Jessamy realizes she doesn't know her friend at all. Jessamy comes to the realization that she is in her imagination or in the spirit world.

A few quotes stuck out at me and got my attention.  One is from Jess's grandfather.  He says, "two hungry people should never make friends.  If they do, they eat each other up.  It is the same with one person who is hungry and another who is full:  they cannot be real, real friends because the hungry one will eat the full one" (248-49).  I think Jess's grandfather is talking about Jess and her friend TillyTilly.  I don't think Jess and TillyTilly should be friends because Tilly is a bad influence on Jess and makes her do bad things. TillyTilly gets Jess into a lot of trouble at school and influences her to do bad things to kids at school. By the word hungry in this quote, I think it means that Jess really wants a friendship and she wants it so bad that she would be friends with anyone.  Jess is in need of a friend and doesn't want to be lonely anymore.   I think Jess's grandfather knows that TillyTilly is not a good friend for her to have.  That is what he could mean by the statement "two hungry people should never make friends."  Both Jess and TillyTilly want a relationship or friendship so bad that they don't realize how much their friendship is not working.  I don't think their friendship is working because Jess used to be a well behaved girl who didn't get into any trouble at school.  After meeting TillyTilly, she turns into a completely opposite person.