Finally, after several busy weeks of dwelling in this book, I finally made it to the last page. Dreams Of Gold is the story of a figure skater who switched from skating pairs to singles, after her partner was involved in a career-ending injury.
Determined to defeat her opponent, Doe Rawlings, Maggie Campbell returned to Japan where she was born and bred, to be trained under her former coach.
After several years of intense training, her hard work was paid off when she won a gold medal in the Olympics at the age of 23, defeating Doe Rawlings who snapped an ankle while attempting a quad jump during her long program. Maggie won by performing a spectacular triple axel in a combination of other jumps.
Besides telling the tale of Maggie’s career as an award-winning figure skater, Dreams Of Gold is also about romance, honor, duty, and obligation.
After Clay Bartlet, Maggie’s skating partner, was injured in a car accident, Maggie returned to Japan to train skating in singles’. During this period of time, Maggie was united with her childhood friend, Hiro Araki, whom Maggie once had a crush on.
While Clay worked for a skating agency in America and became obsessed with material gain, Maggie appreciated the company of Hiro, who supported her training until the Olympics.
Clay was later ordered by his superior to sign a contract with Doe Rawlings on behalf of the agency. This upset Maggie, who felt that the contract was a question to her chance at the Olympics, and the amount of faith Clay had in her.
In order to keep his job, Clay had no choice but to go behind Maggie’s back and signed the contract with Doe Rawlings, by making the latter believe that he had intentions of marrying her. (oh, I forgot to say Doe had a crush on Clay)
Although the word play of skating techniques is admirable, and the emotional stimuli provided by the characters are to be applaud, but what is more intriguing, is the fact that this story is set amidst Japan’s rich culture.
Maggie’s winning at the Olympics brought honor and glory to Japan. Since childhood, Maggie was often insulted and bullied for inheriting her mother’s American body features. The winning not only glorified Japan, it also brought honor to her family, by proving that difference in skin color did not make her any less Japanese.
As a child, Maggie’s American mother was insistent about her daughter being taught at an international school in Japan. Her Japanese father, however, was adamant that by placing his daughter in a national school, she would be a turning leaf for the people’s discrimination against foreigners in an attempt to preserve national identity.
An obvious incident of discrimination occurred when Maggie was lowly scored by judges at the Nationals, when she clearly demonstrated better than her opponents who were ranked higher.
The story also tells the background of Hiro Araki, a burakumin, who struggled to conceal his true identity. The ill fate of burakumins was a result of the huge social gap in Japanese society. Traditionally, the burakumins did things that no one else would have done, and hence was seen as pariah. They were separated from mainstream society, often needing to conceal their identity to avoid being identified and discriminated against.
Other aspects of this book include Doe Rawling’s coach who was obsessed with fame and money, and her superficial mother. An interesting book to read, I must say. Definitely one of the most thrilling ones I have read. With reasonable amount of plot and unique identity behind each character, Dreams Of Gold is a book rich in literary value.
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
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Posted by Yvonne in Faith 
