The Bridge of Hesitation: A look at an artist and us

So how does the  bridge of Hesitation apply to Ishiguro's novel "An Artist of the Floating World" in the beginning of the novel?

Is there one at all?

First of all, a bridge is defined as a structure built to overcome a physical obstacle to take you from one place to another. There are only two possibilities to go. If you were to look at this metaphorically, standing on a bridge gives you two directions to choose from. 

The bridge of Hesitation refers to decisions we make in our life and how we are hesitant to make a decision on important issues. This decision takes us from one place to another. We often procrastinate on some and regret others. Looking at Ono in the story, we can see that it is definitely relevant in this novel so far. We are first introduced to Ono and we learn about his house and his family. We find out that he is a retired artist of some note and an art teacher. Various other information is also given to us.  However, there are details that are not fully explained about his life and his family, of which he is either hesitant to tell us or he is still deciding to reveal the information.  This decision to hide these unknowns about his life may reveal that he is standing on the bridge of hesitation. 

It feels as though he is lying to us about his past at this point due to some missing information or he wants us to believe he is a good and honest man.  Ono's daughters seem to be hiding something from him in the novel. The acquisition of his house is not explained. His involvement in the war and early retirement are also not known to us. Many other questions also arise so far in the novel as well. Looking at these unknowns, Ono may be plagued by doubts or uncertainties in decisions he has made in the past which may explain why he is not sharing this information with us. He is denying to tell us. Ono may not be comfortable with his past or his prior decisions, so he is stuck on the bridge of Hesitation. Only by reading further in the story may all this information become clear and by which Ono will acknowledge his whole past and be honest with himself. By becoming comfortable with himself, Ono may be able to step off the bridge of Hesitation. 

Ishiguro does a good job of relating our lives with the "bridge". We all have to make important decisions in our lives, of which will determine who we are as a person. Ono is a good example in the story for the above reasons. Some choices can be regretted and some may have not been good in general, but you must learn to accept all the choices you have made and be comfortable with yourself. We often get stuck on the "bridge" with some decisions we have to make in our life, but we must come to a resolution and move on.  Some individuals stay stuck on the "bridge" their whole life due to their inability to make a decision.  Deciding on a career path or whether to attend college or not are just some examples of hard decisions we all must make.