PREU1 LA N G LI T H L

After Dark
(Chapter 3-4)

by: Teacher Carol

Chapter 3
• Introduces us to new characters and central events within the
story

• Beginning of rising action

⚬ Exposition - literary device designed to convey important information
to the reader; utlised by writers to provide essential backstory for
characters, plot, and other narrative elements
⚬ Rising action - element of the plot which begins immediately after
exposition; series of relevant incidents that create suspense, interest,
and tension in the narrative

• Introduces themes
ELEMENT TEXTUAL DETAILS ANALYSIS

SETTING

CHARACTERS
ELEMENT TEXTUAL DETAILS ANALYSIS

Love hotel
Neon lights = red light district Type of customer:
prostitute & client Just business → no concierge,
SETTING
just press button, “no need to meet or talk to
anyone” Place is made for a specific purpose: to
have sex (type of charge - rest or overnight)

CHARACTERS
ELEMENT TEXTUAL DETAILS ANALYSIS

Love hotel
How does it create meaning for the chapter? A
Neon lights = red light district Type of customer:
place of cold, transactional relationships
prostitute & client Just business → no concierge,
SETTING (customer & hotel staff; The ‘dirty underbelly’ of
just press button, “no need to meet or talk to
the city, where illicit activity goes on → captures
anyone” Place is made for a specific purpose: to
the hidden parts of a person’s life?
have sex (type of charge - rest or overnight)

CHARACTERS
ELEMENT TEXTUAL DETAILS ANALYSIS

Love hotel
How does it create meaning for the chapter? A
Neon lights = red light district Type of customer:
place of cold, transactional relationships
prostitute & client Just business → no concierge,
SETTING (customer & hotel staff; The ‘dirty underbelly’ of
just press button, “no need to meet or talk to
the city, where illicit activity goes on → captures
anyone” Place is made for a specific purpose: to
the hidden parts of a person’s life?
have sex (type of charge - rest or overnight)

• Kaoru - ‘open face with an innate fondness for

people’; rough but caring, as seen through her
treatment of the Chinese prostitute
• Mari - softer side of Mari revealed in this
CHARACTERS
chapter through her willingness to help
• Guo Dongli - a Chinese prostitute who
becomes the object of concern for Mari and
Kaoru
ELEMENT TEXTUAL DETAILS ANALYSIS

Love hotel
How does it create meaning for the chapter? A
Neon lights = red light district Type of customer:
place of cold, transactional relationships
prostitute & client Just business → no concierge,
SETTING (customer & hotel staff; The ‘dirty underbelly’ of
just press button, “no need to meet or talk to
the city, where illicit activity goes on → captures
anyone” Place is made for a specific purpose: to
the hidden parts of a person’s life?
have sex (type of charge - rest or overnight)

• Kaoru - ‘open face with an innate fondness for

people’; rough but caring, as seen through her
treatment of the Chinese prostitute
• Mari - softer side of Mari revealed in this
CHARACTERS
chapter through her willingness to help
• Guo Dongli - a Chinese prostitute who
becomes the object of concern for Mari and
Kaoru
One way to appreciate the characters in this
chapter is through their relations with one
another. The Chinese prostitute seems to be a
device to develop the characterisation of Mari and
Kaoru, with their treatment of her revealing the
softer sides of their character.
ELEMENT TEXTUAL DETAILS ANALYSIS

• In the beating of the prostitute, we see the

• Key event is narrated, though it has already happened by
treatment of another person as a mere
the time this chapter takes place: beating of the prostitute
commodity or provider of a service.
⚬ “He swung so hard he dented the wall in a few places. He
Because she could not provide the service,
really lost it. He didn’t know what he was doing.”
she was discarded and thrown away by the
PLOT ⚬ “Her period started all of a sudden before they could do
other.
anything. It was early. So he got mad and…”
• After chapter 1’s depiction of Mari as alone
• Action of the story starts with Mari suddenly brought into
relation with characters from the ‘dirty underbelly’ of the city
and reserved, we see her brought into
connection with a web of other characters.

• Instances of communication and near-communication, Together, the elements of the chapter

showing empathy and connection (character, setting, and plot) seem to
• Kaoru speaking to prostitute: “But it’s hard for you, isn’t it?
comment on relationships. This seems to
You come all the way from China, sneak into Japan, and you
be a world of cold, transactional
THEME end up with those goons sucking the life outta ya. I don’t
know what it was like for you back home…” (pp. 55-56)
relationships that finds bright spots in
• “Turning, she looks back at Mari and at Kaoru. Then she chance moments of connection and
looks at Mari again. She seems to want to speak, but finally empathy between characters.
says nothing.”
Chapter 4
• Provides further information about the Man
with No Face
• The masked man stands as a symbol of the male
violence directed towards women in society.
The presence of the masked man indicates that
women are always haunted; they are always exposed to
male violence.