Saiyuki vol 7 : Gojyo and Sanzo
May. 9th, 2005 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
louiseluxI keep looking at one particular bit of volume 7. Opinions welcomed, please.
Images under the cut:
Sanzo hits Gojyo and Gojyo just takes it because he thinks he deserves it.
His submission to Sanzo is very compelling (shut up) because on the surface it's very un-Gojyo-like. But there's more than just surface, because his ashamed, head down reaction to Sanzo's anger is an uncanny echo of his childhood, which we are shown only a few frames previously.
It's as though some deeply ingrained response has kicked in when Sanzo hits him, combined with the awful guilt from thinking he's responsible for Hakkai and Goku's death. If you take the parallel further, then, alarmingly, this moment puts Sanzo in the place of Gojyo's mother,
who hits him
and leaves him feeling guilty and desolate.
I don't really know what to draw from this, but I love the layers. I think this makes their relationship even more interesting, because Sanzo has some measure of authority over Gojyo as leader of the group, which Gojyo tacitly acknowledges by never challenging it. Sanzo is also, technically, a holy person. Even though both Sanzo and Gojyo are as far from holy as you can get, Sanzo still represents something unattainable to Gojyo. Perhaps in a spiritual sense, although I think Gojyo becomes more self-reflective as the story goes on, but more in Sanzo's sense of privilege and higher social standing and power. We know that Gojyo was constantly ashamed as a child and felt terrible guilt. His adult bravado is partly a reaction to that and partly to being an outsider.
Images under the cut:
Sanzo hits Gojyo and Gojyo just takes it because he thinks he deserves it.
His submission to Sanzo is very compelling (shut up) because on the surface it's very un-Gojyo-like. But there's more than just surface, because his ashamed, head down reaction to Sanzo's anger is an uncanny echo of his childhood, which we are shown only a few frames previously.
It's as though some deeply ingrained response has kicked in when Sanzo hits him, combined with the awful guilt from thinking he's responsible for Hakkai and Goku's death. If you take the parallel further, then, alarmingly, this moment puts Sanzo in the place of Gojyo's mother,
who hits him
and leaves him feeling guilty and desolate.
I don't really know what to draw from this, but I love the layers. I think this makes their relationship even more interesting, because Sanzo has some measure of authority over Gojyo as leader of the group, which Gojyo tacitly acknowledges by never challenging it. Sanzo is also, technically, a holy person. Even though both Sanzo and Gojyo are as far from holy as you can get, Sanzo still represents something unattainable to Gojyo. Perhaps in a spiritual sense, although I think Gojyo becomes more self-reflective as the story goes on, but more in Sanzo's sense of privilege and higher social standing and power. We know that Gojyo was constantly ashamed as a child and felt terrible guilt. His adult bravado is partly a reaction to that and partly to being an outsider.
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Date: 2005-05-11 01:02 pm (UTC)I think that's exactly what makes Sanzo mad, to the point where he can't even bear to listen to Gojyo's name being spoken aloud. His entire existence is about keeping rigid control over himself and his feelings and to do that he needs to keep control of others too, to make sure their actions are expected and ones he can cope with. So he's developed this life where he has the expectation that everyone will do as he says and give him what he needs without question or argument. Gojyo's refusal to comply must shake him hugely.
He certainly is bound by the other three and by the needs of the ordinary people he encounters on the journey. I think the resolution of vol 9 points to him realising this and, while maybe not being happy about it, being able to accept that there are some things he needs, even more than to stay in control.