Fear and Trembling is a novel that provides the reader with a view into a different culture. A Belgian girl working in corporate Japan, shows the difference between eastern and western cultures. This is important because it illustrates a new taboo culture to western audiences. In the Japanese culture, the regular person sees themselves as a small being who need to start small and the only way to grow is to have experience while in a western culture, a regular person sees themselves as a large, significant part of society and that you need to have individual traits that set you apart from others to grow. Amelie Nothomb uses characterization, irony, and symbolism to illustrate the differences between cultures throughout her novel, Fear and Trembling.
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In pages 48-57 it shows the struggles Amelie goes through when given the accounting job. It took her days to do the job that Fubuki could do in "3 minutes and 50 seconds." It caused her so much stress she went crazy and one night got completely naked and hugged Fubuki 's computer for warmth. This is ironic because Fubuki expected the job to be done in a few days but it ended up taking her a lot longer and to find Amelie the next morning naked and covered in trash is the opposite of what she imagined. When telling the truth, western culture tells it how it is; Japanese culture tells the truth a little more complex. Say their talking about an apple, they 'll describe it as a pear, somewhat of an apple, but not really. Another ironic event in Fear and Trembling is Fubuki ratting out Amelie and Mister Tenshi for the dairy task on pages 33-38. After taking the task brought upon her by Mr. Tenshi, him and Amelie get yelled at by Mr. Omochi saying that it 's a huge disgrace to the department and that she is a traitor. It was later said that Fubuki told Mr. Omochi about the job and her reasoning was that it took forever for Fubuki to get a job at the Yumimoto Corporation while Amelie got in right away. This tells the reader that …show more content…
In western culture, people usually present their ideas with as much passion as is if it were their life. In Japanese culture, people play their ideas off like it isn 't as big as a deal but really it means the world to them. Same goes for emotions, when Japanese people are angry, they paint a happy face and hold in their emotions and act professionally while western culture shows their emotions as they are and doesn 't go to as great of a deal to hide them. When Amelie gets naked in the office on pages 57-61 it 's because she worked herself too hard during the accounting job. This event is a symbol because a baby is naked when it comes out of womb and it shows that Amelie got naked to reinvent herself after going through extreme stress. She wanted to have a sense of being free after being in the office for so long. Another symbol in Fear and Trembling is the view on pages 1-2. Right as she walked into the Yumimoto Corporation she was infatuated with the view and could not lay her eyes off of it. This tells the reader that someone can forget about what 's happening in their life by appreciating nature 's
In pages 48-57 it shows the struggles Amelie goes through when given the accounting job. It took her days to do the job that Fubuki could do in "3 minutes and 50 seconds." It caused her so much stress she went crazy and one night got completely naked and hugged Fubuki 's computer for warmth. This is ironic because Fubuki expected the job to be done in a few days but it ended up taking her a lot longer and to find Amelie the next morning naked and covered in trash is the opposite of what she imagined. When telling the truth, western culture tells it how it is; Japanese culture tells the truth a little more complex. Say their talking about an apple, they 'll describe it as a pear, somewhat of an apple, but not really. Another ironic event in Fear and Trembling is Fubuki ratting out Amelie and Mister Tenshi for the dairy task on pages 33-38. After taking the task brought upon her by Mr. Tenshi, him and Amelie get yelled at by Mr. Omochi saying that it 's a huge disgrace to the department and that she is a traitor. It was later said that Fubuki told Mr. Omochi about the job and her reasoning was that it took forever for Fubuki to get a job at the Yumimoto Corporation while Amelie got in right away. This tells the reader that …show more content…
In western culture, people usually present their ideas with as much passion as is if it were their life. In Japanese culture, people play their ideas off like it isn 't as big as a deal but really it means the world to them. Same goes for emotions, when Japanese people are angry, they paint a happy face and hold in their emotions and act professionally while western culture shows their emotions as they are and doesn 't go to as great of a deal to hide them. When Amelie gets naked in the office on pages 57-61 it 's because she worked herself too hard during the accounting job. This event is a symbol because a baby is naked when it comes out of womb and it shows that Amelie got naked to reinvent herself after going through extreme stress. She wanted to have a sense of being free after being in the office for so long. Another symbol in Fear and Trembling is the view on pages 1-2. Right as she walked into the Yumimoto Corporation she was infatuated with the view and could not lay her eyes off of it. This tells the reader that someone can forget about what 's happening in their life by appreciating nature 's