The Japanese Quince
...8:30am and has his breakfast while reading his paper. However, in the day the story is set, Mr. Nilson wakes up at 8:00am, and since breakfast won’t be ready for another half an hour, he goes to the square gardens, where he noticed a beautiful tree from his window. As he walked down to the gardens, he smells an unusual lemony scent, and he doesn’t know what it is. There, he finds a bird singing a beautiful song, but it seems that he is still walking in a circle, perfectly paced. He is still conforming, and the bird is a break in conformity. In this story, the conformity is never broken. One of the main ideas in The Japanese Quince is the idea of becoming more spontaneous. Mr. Nilson never breaks his routine, so one must wonder, why did he decide to go to the garden? Mr. Nilson seems like the kind of man that has probably never been late for anything, or forgotten an appointment. Doing something out of the norm would be a good thing for Mr. Nilson, because with all this balance in his life, he’s not actually living his life. As he gets to the tree, he hears a blackbird singing a song, and admires its beauty. He paces around the tree in an orderly fashion, and listens to the bird sing. The bird is like a break in conformity, because it’s not something Mr. Nilson experiences every day of his life. The problem is, Mr. Nilson is just listening, and so he’s not actually sacrificing his stability. He is still conforming and keeping with his routine, even when he’s trying to break it. Spontaneity is this short story is not achieved to the effect that Mr. Nilson would hope for. Lastly, the final idea developed in The Japanese Quince by the author is the idea of sociability. Mr. Nilson has lived next to Mr. Tandram for 5 years, but he doesn’t even know him! This is ...