Rahomon

The author sets the story in a time that is, in many ways, analogous to early twentieth century Japan. In Rashomon, there was a great deal of social trouble taking place and the samurai for who the servant had worked for many years had let him go. In the early twentieth century, the times were rapidly changing and the closed feudal society, which had been in place for hundreds of years, had been rapidly abolished. Both the servant, and the society in which Akutagawa lived, were facing a future radically different from what they were accustomed to, and fraught with unknown and uncertainty. The story finds the servant contemplating becoming a thief to survive. This is a choice that is contrary to the ethics of his former life in the employment of a Samurai, and he is apprehensive about making it. Similarly, the radical transformation of Japan had left many people in situations where they felt compelled to make choices that seemed immoral under the Feudal

Some topics in this essay:
Feudal Japanese, Akutagawa’s Rashomon, Japan Rashomon, twentieth century, customs ethics, japanese people, ethics customs, former life,