Frame Story. A frame story opens and closes with the telling of one story, which forms a frame. Within that story another story is told. In this case the story within the story takes up most of the entire piece. The length of each component—the frame and the inner story—can vary. As you read “The Inn of Lost Time,” consider why the author chose to use a frame around the inner story. What purpose does the frame serve?
Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is the act of hinting at events that will happen later in a literary work. As you read the story, look for places where the author uses foreshadowing and try to predict what will happen.
Irony of Situation. Irony of situation is an event that contradicts the expectations of the characters or the audience. If you were planning to leave on a camping trip the day your favorite relative unexpectedly arrived for a visit, you would experience irony of situation.
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• History Connection. In feudal Japan (from the 1100s to the 1800s), the country was broken up into many domains, each held by a feudal lord, or land baron. Fighting between domains was common, and by the 1400s many barons built thick stone walls around their castles. Samurai made up the warrior class—the privileged elite—in feudal Japan. They were the only Japanese who were allowed to carry weapons (usually two swords). Following a special code of conduct, they swore themselves to a feudal lord, whose land they protected in exchange for payment. Masters of the martial arts, the samurai led a life of discipline, self-control, and watchfulness. In addition to samurai, two other classes made up each feudal domain: farmers (or peasants) and artisans (or craftspeople). Gradually, a merchant class also arose and eventually gained wealth and power. Each class led a very separate and distinct lifestyle, with no intermixing among them.
• This story takes place in Japan during the 1700s, when the country experienced famine and civil wars. During this time, Japanese landowners lost money and could not pay their debts. Many landowners could no longer afford to keep samurai, and these samurai wandered the countryside looking for work. As the merchant class grew wealthy, merchant families clustered in cities and earned money by trading goods. At the same time, peasants worked hard and still did not have enough to eat. Peasant uprisings were common during this period. While peasants wanted a better life with less suffering, landowners needed money to pay their debts. Meanwhile, merchants wanted to increase their wealth as much as possible, and samurai were looking for opportunities to be paid to defend others.
• “The Inn of Lost Time” draws on Japan’s rich oral tradition. An oral tradition is a work, idea, or custom passed by word of mouth from generation to generation. The Japanese and many other cultures around the world have a rich tradition of passing stories on by telling them out loud rather than by writing them down. Works found in oral traditions include folk tales, fables, fairy tales, tall tales, nursery rhymes, proverbs, legends, myths, parables, riddles, charms, spells, and ballads. “The Inn of Lost Time” opens with the telling of a traditional Japanese folk tale and then continues with a tale told by Zenta, a wandering samurai.
If you were to wake up one morning and find you had slept for fifty years instead of one night, how would you feel? What would you miss the most?
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