Bridges as Barriers and Portals

Chico State University is a college campus with more than its share of bridges. A beautiful waterway called Little Chico Creek winds its way through the middle of the campus, and there are something like 5 or 6 bridges that give students and visitors access to different parts of the campus. Thousands of students walk over these bridges every day without consciously thinking about it. There is really no better place for a bridge than on a college campus. Everyone there is in the process of crossing their own metaphysical bridge from one life to another. College itself is seen by many as a bridge to the adult world of work and career.

The first human being to ever conceive of and create a bridge must have been seen by his fellows as a wonderful and powerful person. To be able to access the world on the "other side" where all kinds of strange and wonderful things could be waiting was probably cause for celebration, and possibly trepidation. Bridges have always been powerful symbols for the human race, and many authors use them in their writings not only as physical objects but as metaphysical and metaphorical ones. One example is Kazuo Ishiguro, in his novel "An Artist of the Floating World". The bridge in his story is called"The Bridge of Hesitation" and as you read, the bridge becomes almost another character in the story.

The bridge of hesitation in Ishiguro's novel is both a familiar and mysterious symbol to the reader. Ono, the protagonist in the author's story of post WWII Japan, gives a straighforward definition of why the bridge has this name..."men would stop on the bridge and hestitate, trying to decide if they should cross over to the pleasure district or go home to their wives and family." The bridge represented a physical barrier that separated the world of work and family from the world of pleasure, partying and possible debauched behavior. As long as a person would stand on the bridge, they would be "floating" between the two worlds, neither part of nor apart from either one.

The "bridge of hesitation" also respresented a line between the part of Ono's city that had been destroyed by the bombs of war, and the part that was untouched by them. To stroll on the side of what was still called the "pleasure district" was to be exposed to the skeletal remains of what was before a beautiful and bustling city. It was impossible to turn away from the reminders of the responsibility that the people of Japan had for the stance they took during the war. The humiliation of defeat is even harder to face when that defeat meant the total loss of a way of life. The other side of the bridge, the uphill side where Ono's "house on a hill" was located, was relatively untouched by the violence and destruction. There were neighborhoods where some families still tried to live and work as if the old Japan still existed. But even in these areas of relative physical normalcy, the political structure of their society had become one in which a man had to decide whether he should hide his views from others, and pretend that the past did not exist.

In this way, the "bridge of hesitation" is also a metaphor for not only Ono's inner turmoil, but for the inner turmoil of the Japanese people. Ono seems at times in the story as if he is stuck between admitting to himself (and to others) the truth about his past, and staying in a dreamworld where he cannot quite remember those things anymore. He even says at times that "those things have no relevance to now". His daughters and other members of the younger generation of people around him are frustrated at his apparent "dimness" of memory. Many feel he is just putting on an act, in order to not have to admit to his involvement with the government during the war. It is impossible to tell if Ono's hesitation to admit guilt is just to protect his ego and reputation, or if there is a deeper wound that would be opened. One that he might not be able to survive.

The Japanese people also feel this psychic hesitation, an inability to go forward and unable to go back. Their culture is on the brink of great change after WWII. From thousands of years of warriors and emperors they must now change to democracy, and allow the country that defeated them to remake their way of life. It is this time of hesitation that is the most crucial for a country that is rebuilding itself. To step forward into the future is the only way to survive.

An example of this time of hesitation in our own country happened after the civil war. The south was in this same quandry, holding on to the past and memories of a antebellum era that could no long support them. Their ability to allow the north to help them to reconstruct their culture and society is what enabled them to survive and become part of the United States again.

We all come to points in our lives where we find ourselves standing on our own "bridge of hesitation", whether that means finding a way to live in another culture without losing our own or making a life decision that we know will change everything from that point on. The period of time that we live in the "floating world" between what we were and what we are to become can be one in which we have a unique vantage point that others cannot share. Our view from there can be a wide one, and we can learn truths about not only ourselves but about others too. A bridge is just that: a crossing point between two worlds. It is not a place where you can stay for long. The decision to go back or go forward is the point.