Floating World

                    As citizens of this vast world we have responsibilities that we sometimes overlook. It is like when I was a kid and I got my first dog. I really wanted it pretty badly, but I did not realize the responsibility that it entailed. I would get busy and forget to feed him, which had no affect on me; but a big effect on Buddy. Sometimes we need to just sit back and think of our responsibilities, no madder how busy we get. In most cases every decision or action we take, affects someone else, or in some cases everyone else. We must be aware and critical of our role in our communities and society.

                    Everywhere we look these days we face controversy over roles and responsibilities. From the president of the United States to the most popular celebrities in Hollywood, they are expected to act in a certain way. These expectations are getting more and more specific to the common citizen with the effects of secondhand smoke and obesity in children. So exactly how do we choose to be a responsible citizen of the floating world? This is the question explored in the following artists in their books, Salmon Rushdie’s “East West”, as well as the book “An Artist of the Floating World” by Kazuo Ishiguro. Each artist explores the does and don’t in society and the consequences that come with being an “irresponsible” citizen of this world.

    Rushdie is a unique writer because he uses a sarcastic or ironic form of writing to get his point across. This use of a satire is very effective making us realize just how ridiculous humans can be. In his short story titled “At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers” there is a man trying to win these slippers at an auction that are said to give you anything you want. The man wants his old girlfriend back and decides that he will go to any length and pay any price for them. At this auction everything is sold including “the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty, the Alps and, the Sphinx” (East, West Pg.98), there is no limit to what you can buy. Rushdie is basically poking fun at what we are becoming as a society. We have become so materialistic, and we continue to buy and consume; and want and want. We are using up all of our resources and destroying our ecosystems with the trash we are producing; we are being irresponsible. It took this ridiculous story to make me come to my senses and realize how out of control we are as consumers. The main character in the story in the end comes to his senses as well, realizing the price he was paying was not worth it. We need to be responsible citizens and leave a livable planet for out children and theirs.   

Ishiguro tells his story of a man named Ono who was faced with a tough decision to help his country in their time of war. He uses his art to recruit soldiers for World War II. After his country loses the war his total mindset begins to change about the art he did for his old country. At the time he felt it was his responsibility to serve his country in the way he did. Now after defeat he is looked down upon by his piers for his involvement in the war. Throughout the book Ono struggles with his decision and the effects of it. This just goes to show even when you think you are being a responsible citizen, it is not always so. There is no distinct guidelines to say if you are a responsible citizen of this world, but I believe that if you can go to sleep at night after each day feeling good about what you did as a citizen of this floating world, that you are being to true to yourself as well as the rest of the occupants of this world, then you are responsible citizen.

These artists are doing their part to share the importance of being responsible citizens, and perhaps it is our turn to catch on to this evolving trend. Probably the best thing these authors have done is bring people together. Theybring us together as cultures and as people. As well as help us to realize that we must all do our part to be responsible citizens, of the floating world. We are no longer black or white or from here or there. We are all becoming one as a people and we must work together and do our part to make a change in the long run.