오가와 요코(小川洋子) 의『약지의 표본(薬指の標本)』론-기억으로 인한 불안을 중심으로-

Abstract

The theme of The Ring Finger is the interest in memory, border, body and relationship such as Ogawa’s other works. Especially it has been researched about memory so this paper focused on considering the associated anxiety and memory. The main character, ‘I’, is a woman to be 21years old, working in sample room of specimen owned by Deshimaru. Before being here, ‘I’ had worked at the factory of manufacturing soft drinks. While ‘I’ was working at the factory, her ring finger in left hand was sandwiched between the machine and the fingertip was cut little bit. From this point it is considered that her memory and anxiety are intersected each other. ‘I’ think that is not so hurt, but it’s not clearly described her attitude for accepting the accident and temporal point into this novel. A piece of finger that was swaying in the cider tank can be interpreted as a lack of virginity or identity. Deshimaru is an eccentric scientist who specializes in preserving people’s personal mementos. Deshimaru and ‘I’ start dating. He said that everyone has the anxiety on goods(things to sample) of their own at first, so the specimen is required in order to block off their anxiety. And ‘I’ can not stand to find something to make her own specimen. ‘I’ got the black shoes from Deshimaru, and felt that boundary between the feet and shoes become ambiguous gradually. As this feeling reminds the ring finger in her left hand, ‘I’ get anxiety unfounded and would like to strongly desire to be a specimen ‘myself’. Accordingly, ‘I’ throw herself into a test tube so as a piece of finger in the cider and the rest of body became one. The main character disappears in perfect shape just as the writer Ogawa intended to. In other words, ‘I’ am trying to return to the state unblemished.