Need two responses to two posts. These responses should be 100- 150 words each

Need two response to two posts. These responses should be 100- 150 words each and say more than “I agree” or “Good point.” Rather, your responses should extend or somehow further the discussion and analysis that was begun by one of your classmates. (These post are based on the readings in the attached file.)

Post 1 In the reading passage “Letter Found in a Cement Barrel”By Hayama Yoshiki,the author depicts a short story of Yozo Matsudo as a proletarian literature. Yozo Matsudo,who works as a cement digger,discovers a small wooden box in a barrel containing cement powder while he is mixing the cement without stopping. At the end of his work,he trampled the wooden box and broke it,and a letter came out from a woman who sewed a cement bag wrapped in cloth from inside. The content of the letter is that a female worker's lover was sucked into a crusher that crushes and shatters stones,was crushed with stones,burned,and bones,meat and soul were mixed and turned into cement. did. She eagerly wants to know where and what her cement lover is used for,and asks for a reply to this letter. There were few descriptive sentences in this reading,and the story was spelled out mainly in descriptive sentences,and I was afraid of the depiction of her lover becoming cement. But I doubt that the human body can be so easily crushed,and it can never be used. What I read from this depiction does not mean that human beings are used as cement,but that the society is made up of the hard work of workers like them. I think that I wanted to convey the painful situation of the workers that made me describe the working environment and the woman who lost her lover in an accident.

Post 2

The Unheard Laborer The story that really held my attention was "Children for Hire" by Ono Koji. This piece reads very straight-forward but it also has an impact when read because there is a transmission of the character's vulnerabilities into the heart of the reader for the most part. One aspect that really comes to mind when reading this story is, rather than all the characters being represented in the situation, there seems to be a lack of consideration for the interiors of the children. Taichi and Junzo are perfect examples of this circumstance in different ways. It is very evident that Omino and Oseki were vigorously competing for Tachi’s attention, but he seldom looks in their direction. Taichi would do as he was asked, earned money, and gave it to Sazo who was later to be revealed as his favorite person. The moment he shares this information with Omino represents not only one of the moments where he shares his interior self but it is also a chance to see his interior being neglected because Omino was more interested in understanding her standing in his eyes over his true experience. In contrast, Junzo was more fixated on the toys and candy to the point that his mother mentioned that he refuses to eat anything other than candy due to the

business he is doing for the sake of his family. Junzo was not thrilled to enter this situation but it could be argued that the candy was means for him to cope with his circumstance and in some manner became addicted to the feeling of rewards. Tachi’s motivations always seemed allusive, but I think that was because it was a narration performed from the perspective of the adults rather than his own personal narrative. In the end, his motivation for doing what he does so diligently is indirectly laid bare when he leaves intending to never return. Under the guise of friendly yet aloof behavior, he wanted to protect his family, Sazo. Despite being five years old, Tachi seldom seemed to be that small of a child until the story literally said so. So, in the final moments when Sazo says, “If I were all alone, well I could always find myself a hole to curl up in. But there’s Taichi” (229) Tachi’s world is practically shattered without a second thought as to why he might have been doing that work in the first place. So as a final attempt to lessen Sazo’s burden he is up without a trace. The children of poverty stricken families much like Tachi in this story do not have the luxury to do as they please, but to simply write them off as children that don’t understand anything and to treat their efforts as though they meant nothing will certainly break them long before the labor begins to wear them down.