MIKAN

MIKAN: translation

“Mikan” (1919; tr. Tangerines, 1949) is one of many beloved short stories written by Akutagawa Ryunosuke. The male narrator, boards the second-class car of a train. After a short while, a young woman holding a third-class ticket takes a seat across from him. Her lack of decorum and repulsive appearance annoy the man, but, when the train passes through a small town, the young woman pulls a handful of mandarin oranges out of a sack and throws them toward a group of young boys waving at the train. This moment of kindness causes the man to have an epiphany that changes his view of both the young woman and life in general.

See also WOMEN IN LITERATURE.