Japanese Spring the Satirization of Research Paper

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This continuing trading out of one tyranny for another is also built into a recurring theme in the text.

Multiculturalism

Early on in the novel, a scene of mob violence -- that is, of a white mob practicing violence upon black students, including with the use of a baseball bat -- is described, and Puttbutt's reaction to the scene is prompted and recorded by the ubiquitous television media. Puttbutt describes the problem as one that the black students themselves have created and perpetuated, with the help of the black faculty agitators, not simply acting as an apologist for the white students but actually blaming the victims for their differences. Though Puttbutt is also angling for tenure and security, there is a sense of irony and staire in his speech that cannot be ignored.

Specifically, when he refers to the "poor white students" who let things like affirmative action and quotas "get themselves worked up" until "it's understandable that they go about assaulting the black students," Reed sounds as if he is describing a simple and apolitical anthropological observation of a different culture (Reed, 6). This places the black professor in the position of describing, to the mainstream press, nonetheless, the otherwise indiscernible actions of the white population in terms of tolerance, understanding, and acceptance -- with the same type of patronizing attitude that the dominant culture has propagated with its multiculturalist ethic, that is. The crowning glory of this scene, and the one that plunges this description into the ultimate depths of irony and satire, is that Pittbutt is smoking a menthol cigarette -- a very stereotypical thing for a black male to be doing -- while he addresses the reporters and cameras; multiculturalism reinforces and forces acceptance of stereotypes more than anything else, Reed seems to be saying.

Traditionalism/Monoculturalism

Though multiculturalism is not seen as the answer by either Reed or his protagonist Chappie Pittbutt, traditionalism or monoculturalism -- i.e. The complete ethnocentricity of the dominant power in a given region that has typified the bulk of human history and social progress -- is not seen as any better.

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Even this satirical statement is accomplished in a humorous and unexpected manner, however, as a testament to Reed's literary creativity and the extreme lengths to which he will go to get his point across.

Pittbutt is eventually placed in charge of Jack London University when the school is bought by an unnamed Japanese corporation, and all non-Japanese elements are systematically purged from the school. Non-Japanese methods of instruction and eventually even subjects are seen as automatically inferior to Japanese methods and topics, to the point of apparent ridiculousness. Yet despite how ridiculous the Japanese overseers of the changing Jack London University might seem, they are making a very real point in the larger context of Reed's work. Their actions are in reality no more extreme, though perhaps slightly -- and again only slightly -- more explicit, than the actions of individuals and institutions involved in the Western and white domination of Asians, Africans, and practically every other people on the globe have been. The traditionalist movement would crumble if it could see itself in a mirror, and this is exactly what Reed tries to ensure happens in Japanese by Spring. By presenting the satire of a Japanese university take-over, he was reflecting traditionalist attitudes and actions back at the perpetrators.

Conclusion

Many different groups, beliefs, and attitudes are satirized by Ishmael Reed in Japanese by Spring. Feminism, multiculturalism, and traditionalism/monoculturalism are three of the most prominent targets of Reed's ire and wit, but he by no means limits himself to these areas. By making the world unsafe for such isms, Reed is helping to make the world safer for us......

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