Change Through Similarity
As Alphonse Karr once said, “The more the change the more it is the same
thing” (Peter, 99).Often people assume that with time comes change, and with change comes improvement.However, simply by looking at two books from two entirely different time periods and from two entirely different nations, one can see that similar customs and opinions are held in each.The Gossamer Years, a book from Japan’s middle Heian period, and The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, from the years 1119 to 1132 in France, were written in completely different societies with what seemed to be different customs and beliefs, yet the two stories have many similarities, such as the relationships between men and women and the importance of the child in the lives of the adults.
When it came to the relationships between the men and women in both of these books, there were many similarities.Thefirst similarity that I found was that of how the actual relationship began.In The Gossamer Years, the Prince became interested in the young author without knowing her at all.He began writing her poetry and going to visit her regularly (Seidensticker, 34).She showed little interest and felt his behavior was inappropriate; however, after her mother prompted her to, she began to turn her attention towards the Prince (Seidensticker, 34). Like the Prince, Abelard didn’t know Heloise personally at all before wanting to have a relationship with her in The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Radice, 66).The only information he knew about her was that Heloise, the niece of Fulbert, was a fairly pretty seventeen-year-old girl, who was extremely intelligent (Radice, 66).After seeing her and hearing of her, he was immediately interested in making her his love!
r (Radice, 66).While Abelard didn’t have to talk Heloise into any sort of relationship like the Prince did, he was planning on using force if she refused (Radice,…