With a backpack as green as the grass in mid spring, Callie walks into a giant concrete building. She is wearing her favorite outfit; a long sleeve maroon shirt with navy blue ripped jeans and tan cowgirl boots. She even curled her dark brown hair and put on makeup. Once she enters the high school, she is faced with a human highway. She weaves between classmates towards her first period class until someone catches her eye. She immediately stops in her tracks and locks eyes with him. Though the encounter is short, she is in love. Similarly, this situation happened to Genji from the chapter “Lavender” in The Tale of Genji by Muraski Shikibu. This paper will focus on the chapter “Lavender” and Genji’s relationship between Murasaki.
Before we …show more content…
During this chapter, Genji was suffering from malaria and decided to visit an old healing sage, who was the most successful sage at curing illnesses. He took four or five attendants along to the northern hills to get cured. While he is there, he notices women in the neighboring house. He sends his servants to investigate the neighboring house and discovers that the women are pretty. Later, when his malaria subsides, he goes and takes his usual position of peeping through the fence of this house. While all the women he sees are very beautiful, his attention is particularly grabbed by the youngest girl. To Genji, she is very beautiful. Genji sees that Murasaki resemble his step mother, Fujitsubo, and his actual mother, Kiritsubo. He starts imaging how much more beautiful she will be when she grows older. With this in mind, Genji immediately meets with the guy who owns this house and asks about this little girl. He finds out that she is Hyobu’s daughter who is Fujitsubo’s brother. Genji wants her, but the Bishop tell him that she is too young. Murasaki is ten years old and way too young to be in a relationship with Genji. The Bishop claims that the governor has turned away suitors that he deems unsuitable, thinking she is destined