Rashomon
The novel Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe and the novel Rashomon by Akutagawa Ryunosuke both have the universal motif of Truth. In the novel Woman in the Dunes, Kobo Abe questions the concept of truth that Jumpei, the main characters, have about life. Likewise in the novel Rashomon, Akutagawa Ryunosuke questions the truth of each testimony that given about the murder of a samurai. In the novels Rashomon by Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe both use the universal motif of truth to reveal the true nature of the characters and the events that transpire in the novel through the journeys that are taken by the characters in the novel. What is the truth? Is the truth one sided or can it have more than one version? The audience is forced to ask these questions throughout novel Rashomon. Ryunosuke intentionally makes the audience question the testimonies of each witness to make the point that there is really no truth but rather meaningful concepts of an event. In order to make the audience question the concept of truth, Ryunosuke in the short story, In the Grove give several different testimonies. The grave detail to the belonging of the samurai is imperative in making the audience question the concept of truth.