My Year of Meats!

April 12, 2008 bonkie02

So far I love this book and it is definitely my favorite book during this course. For this blog I am going to focus mainly on the theme of meat and the way American’s are perceived that Ozeki has in her book, The Year of Meats. Lets be honest Americans are obsessed with meat. Usually men are really big in to meat because when I go out to eat with my family my mom and I are eating like chicken or something and then their is my dad and uncles who are eating these huge steaks or burgers. Have you ever heard the “saying”: ‘Girls are treated like a piece of meat’. I think that that is the message that Ozeki is trying to portray to her readers. If you look at it women are always used and thrown away like a “piece of meat” and although we have tried many times over the past decade, century, etc it is like we will never be equal to men because they always try to degrade us. Also women are the ones who are always the ones who are cooking and doing the house work while the men are outside grilling the steak (’cause you know women will “mess it up”).

Isn’t it funny that when we talk about America we talk about Walmart or for example on page 33 Ozeki wrote “Suzuki had a passion for Jack Daniel’s, Walmart, and American hard-core pornography.” We have drinking, shopping, and movies all in one sentence. But, honestly, that is a bit stereotypical to say that it’s what American’s do all the time. Also Japan sees Walmart as a place that is abundant in many different things while Americans see Walmart as a place where you can get everything you want from food and clothing to i pods and video games. Furthermore we portray ur country as the “Land of Opportunities” and yet when immigrants come from across the globe we whine and tell them to go home. I feel as though we are very hypocritical when it comes to stuff like that. I think that Ozeki is trying to get across a lot of different themes so I’m excited for what is next to come in this book.

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4 Comments Add your own

1. aae619 | April 13, 2008 at 4:36 pm

I agree, this is a very good book so far. And i think its true that Americans are obsessed with meat. haha I never looked at it how Ozeki may portray it as women being treated like meat. Thats interesting. The walmart situation was also odd to me. That is a bit stereotypical towards America. You make an interesting point on having immigrants come over. We do tend to be seen as the “land of opportunities” and yet we complain about how their taking all our jobs. hmmm…
2. Iwona | April 13, 2008 at 6:11 pm

I also enjoy reading this novel. It is very funny and quite different from other books that we have read so far in this class. And I agree with what you said about Americans being obsessed with meat. This may sound a little bit funny but clearly meat plays an important role in American society.
3. Leah | April 16, 2008 at 11:42 am

Funny how we from the beginning of time we always stereotype other countries and now that our country is being portrayed in ways we don’t like, we’re all defensive and hate it! But it is true, Wal-Mart is an important part in our lives. I loved this book because it never stereotyped Japan and instead showed the things that really do go on, such as men who beat their wives. It was necessary for people to see this occuring in places other than America. I also saw the many stereotypes in women, something we haven’t seen. This book, which I really enjoyed, wasn’t like the other books, thankfully. It gave a greater insight to how peopel are viewed and how we view things.
4. martink852 | April 16, 2008 at 3:03 pm

Although this wasn’t a memoir, there were many things that i believe to be completely true, for example the Wal-mart part that Ozeki puts in her book. I feel that this really shows how people view americans has this greedy individual that is all about convenience and a “one stop shop” kind of person. I feel that this really opened our eyes, as a class, and told us that when you really do sit back and watch us Americans, it really is about food, abundance and convenience. I’m not saying all the time, but we are a lot different than other countries. I liked your comparison between women eating chikcen and men eating burgers or steaks. Thats completely true! I feel that it makes men feel “bigger and better” when they have a big piece of steak in front of them!