Etiquette in Early Summer (Danping Long)

Spleen

I have more memories than if I'd lived a thousand years.

A heavy chest of drawers cluttered with balance-sheets, 
Processes, love-letters, verses, ballads, 
And heavy locks of hair enveloped in receipts, 
Hides fewer secrets than my gloomy brain. 
It is a pyramid, a vast burial vault 
Which contains more corpses than potter's field.
— I am a cemetery abhorred by the moon, 
In which long worms crawl like remorse 
And constantly harass my dearest dead. 
I am an old boudoir full of withered roses, 
Where lies a whole litter of old-fashioned dresses, 
Where the plaintive pastels and the pale Bouchers, 
Alone, breathe in the fragrance from an opened phial.

Nothing is so long as those limping days, 
When under the heavy flakes of snowy years 
Ennui, the fruit of dismal apathy, 
Becomes as large as immortality. 
— Henceforth you are no more, O living matter! 
Than a block of granite surrounded by vague terrors, 
Dozing in the depths of a hazy Sahara 
An old sphinx ignored by a heedless world, 
Omitted from the map, whose savage nature 
Sings only in the rays of a setting sun.

— William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)

When I try to capture the essence of Noriko's love, I wonder whether I am putting her in a bird cage. I share the spleen of Baudelaire, for I have sinned by writing (judging) instead of living. In hindsight, I think Noriko's love resembles the silence of a wheat field, and her stubbornness of not naming her love empowers her to transcend her love.

Noriko in Early Summer is very observant. She sees through lies and worries, but seldom poking fun at the people because of it. 

For Noriko, etiquette comes prior to truth. So she smiles instead of pointing things out (except for her brother, whom she always enjoys confronting). Although she is not the official head of the household, her tacit endurance always helps to maintain the peace of her household. Because of her grace, her sister-in-law is not exhausted by fiancing and educating children like the doctor's wife in Tokyo Story; and the children in the house can relax from time to time, not being constantly scolded for minor issues. Even the grandparents can enjoy the household merely because Noriko lives here, so it feels like the house still belong to the whole family, instead of Noriko's brother.

I think Noriko and her brother are playing good cop and bad cop for the family. Yes, the family needs to scatter eventually, and her brother will inherit the house sooner or later. But without Noriko's mitigation,the grandparents will be viewed as burdens for her brother's career development, and the traditional family value will be disgracefully discarded. 

Without Noriko's offering, her sister-in-law wouldn't have chance to enjoy shortcake for her own sake. Her brother is stingy, and a full-time house wife has no say fiancially. But what interests Noriko is not shortcake, but each indivdual's freedom inside the household. She takes it as her personal responsibility to assure that everyone is respected in the household and hence everyone is happy and finds the household trustworthy. 

For Noriko, erotic love is beyond the consideration of happiness, because she believes in familial happiness instead of personal happiness. She and Aya can't persuade each other on this matter, because while Aya is a modern woman who believes in Indivusualism, Noriko is deeply traditional and considerate.

Although being single, Noriko wasn't drifting around. She roots in her family, and family is all her cares about, even when she is getting married.

Noriko knows that the family is going to be divided, just as she knows her sister-in-law can't buy shortcakes. So she takes actions, in case other people will act for her. "But if someone gives us some, I'll eat it." In fact, Noriko is not eating the cake; she has always been this angelic someone who brings harmony and resolution to others. Because of her etiquette, the fruits of her family ripen and are ready to harvest. Her grace is the last spark of humanity before a sullen winter.