E.K. Ota’s “The Paper Artist” tells the heartbreaking story of pride tearing a family apart and the effects it has on each of member. Though a relatively new writer, Ota displays a strong authorial voice and a great understanding of the multifaceted aspects of human beings. Each writer below has employed a different critical lens to better recognize the significance Ota’s story by examining a variety of factors, including gender, socioeconomics, and national culture.

NEW CRITICISM

In “Forging in the Loss of Tradition”, Madison McKinney employs a New Criticism lens to examine the significance on tradition present in Ota’s story. There is a specific focus on traditional attitudes in Japanese cultural and how they impact Mana after she and an American man have their child out of wedlock. As a divide is put up between Mana and her father, Ota explores not only how the traditions one is raised in impacts their view on the world but the potential consequences of going against them. Madison also portrays how newer generations, as personified by Mana, can defy cultural expectations and change the way these traditions are viewed.

NEW HISTORICISM

In her essay, “Breaking Free from Tradition,” Mina Eggleston critically analyzes E. K. Ota’s short story “The Paper Artist” and explains the struggle of historical culture and one’s own identity. She approaches the short story through a New Historicism critical lens, interpreting the loss the main character endures through the aspects of his culture, a culture that controls his decision-making and creates narrow beliefs and an inability to have personal growth. But through his experienced loss, he gains perspective on his life and wrongdoings and is given a new opportunity to try and be the father he should have been in the beginning.

MARXIST CRITICISM

Sam Hazard examines E.K. Ota’s “The Paper Artist” through a Marxist lens in order to understand how core aspects of our lives such as family dynamics, our careers, and even personal prejudices are influenced by our material surroundings. There is a particular focus on how the protagonist, Muneo Mizukami, serves as a reflection of many of the attitudes that have become Japanese society, such as xenophobia and class antagonism. To better understand how Ota’s story draws on these kinds of beliefs and where they originate from, Sam’s essay incorporates historical background of Japan’s postwar economy, as well as directly citing Marxist theory. While primarily focused on examining the consequences of Japan’s socioeconomic conditions, such as present classism and social isolation, the piece also draws on Ota’s hopeful ending as a sign of what the future may hold for the people of Japan.

CULTURAL STUDIES

The cultural studies essay explores how traditional marriage in Japan both shapes and prohibits men and women by making them follow strict gender roles and dynamics. Rye Johnson’s essay uses the short story “The Paper Artist” by E.K. Ota to illustrate how holding on to traditional ideals and beliefs around marriage and sex has resulted in Japan today struggling to achieve gender equality. Context is given for Japan’s present situation with their decrease in marriages due to women wanting to focus more on their careers than with relationships along with the country’s economic decline. With context given, the essay is able to make observations about the family in “The Paper Artist” and argue how they either follow or disobey traditional Japanese gender dynamics. Despite this, the essay ends on the potential for Japan to evolve beyond their past ideas around gender so that in the future the country can then achieve equality between the sexes.

QUEER THEORY

In Harlan Gauthier’s essay “Reimagining Paper and Identity: A Queer Theory Approach”, he uses a queer and gender theory lense to critically examine E.K. Ota’s “The Paper Artist” and discusses topics such as gender roles, and how art can reshape them. He uses the experiences of the main character throughout the story and how he himself changes at the end after experiencing a loss that flips his whole life around. He is a man of tradition, which is heavily set on how he views gendered roles set in place by the culture and society he grew up in. After countless fall outs with his own daughter because of his heteronormative views, he doesn’t realize until the end of the story just how different things could have been if it weren’t for his need to stick with tradition.

Through her story of a family’s hardship brought upon by the stubborn attitudes of the father, E.K. Ota is able to craft a story that encompasses a wide variety of themes. This helps make “The Paper Artist” an excellent story to view and interpret through a wide array of critical lenses. Not only does Ota strike a great balance between telling a very intimate story and addressing wider national concerns, but her work invites readers to come away with their interpretations and conclusions of the subtext she is dealing with through the story of the Mizukami family.