Pumpkin lead the Chairman instead of Nobu to witness Sayuri and the Colonel together as a way to humiliate Sayuri. However at the end, the Chairman revealed to Sayuri that he knew of Sayuri's initial intentions. In this way, Pumpkin's plan didn't succeed after all.
Was it ever mentioned on what became of Pumpkin afterwards?
I haven't read the book in years, though I just skimmed over it and after that incident, Pumpkin isn't mentioned again... At least not from what I saw while skimming.
In the movie, she's definitely not mentioned again.
If I had to guess, since, if I remember correctly, she'd become a prostitute before Sayuri went to ask her to come back, I assume she'd have gone back to it after she left.
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I've already read an abridged version of the novel, near the end of it, the Chairman explained to Sayuri that he knew something was amiss when he saw Sayuri having sex and was actually angry at Pumpkin for showing him that scene, so he repeatedly cornered Pumpkin demanding for an explanation until she finally confessed that Sayuri intended for Nobu to witness it.
shareJust to clarify, that isn't exactly what happens in the novel. In the novel, Pumpkin tells the Chairman right after the incident that Sayuri asked her to bring Nobu to the old theater.
The Chairman doesn't repeatedly corner Pumpkin. The novel never says what happens to her.
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you are right that the chairman doesn't "corner" pumpkin but she doesn't admit it right away. He does demand to know and pumpkin admits that it was for nobu to witness
Your pencils are creating a health hazard. I could fall and pierce an organ.
I assumed Pumpkin would return to prostitution.
She was a character I felt sympathy for.
I felt more sympathy for Pumpkin than just about any other character in the novel.
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I agree; the poor girl as described in the novel was very plain with little chance of becoming a successful geisha. Her only hope of security and avoiding a life of either servitude or prostitution was to be named Nitta's heir to the okiya. And she unfortunately lacking much choice after the war, became a prostitute. She never forgave Sayuri for being Nitta's choice instead of her, because Sayuri got it all: a successful career as a geisha, and the okiya.
"..sure you won't change your mind? Why, is there something wrong with the one I have?"
What I don't get, if Pumpkin was supposed to be plain is why did Mother pick her? Mameha says to her "You have an eye for beauty" and basically goes on to say how she can pick a successful geisha. Why would she pick Pumpkin? I assume by the beginning when Sayuri meets her that the same thing happened to her. She was sold into a geisha house and was always going to train as a geisha, ripped from her sister.
I didn't see the Pumpkin in the movie as 'plain' I thought she was cute...not gorgeous like Hatsumomo or pretty and delicate like Sayuri, just cute.
Beautiful does not automatically mean successful. Hatsumomo was a wench, but when she was young, she was smart enough to treat her customers well. So they never had a problem with her personality. Pumpkin was easy to control and was, financially, doing great. The novel does a much better job of explaining this, but basically, Sayuri caused several issues in the okiya and had tons of debt that never would've gotten repaid if Mameha's smart planning hadn't paid off, whereas Pumpkin was very docile and made a lot of money because Hatsumomo rushed her around a lot. The novel--and most geisha memoirs--describe plenty of geisha who weren't the most gorgeous, but were still the most popular because they were funny, intelligent, sexy, etc.
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Mother herself does not seem to have been a beauty, either. One didn't have to be a beauty to run an okiya. Pumpkin knew (in the book) that she was not beautiful, and hoped for the security of being chosen Mother's successor to avoid the life she ended up with: she became a prostitute. Being the Mother would have been a lifetime occupation, unaffected by age, as geishas who lost their looks would be affected. Many of them went on to become teachers for aspiring geisha when age eroded their beauty. Sayuri's sister, who was not beautiful, either, was sold into prostitution. I don't think these things were made clear in the film.
I agree that Pumpkin in the movie was cute, but not in the book, making her anger and disappointment at not being chosen by mother more understandable.
"..sure you won't change your mind? Why, is there something wrong with the one I have?"
I think Pumpkin envied the life that Sayuri was.
shareI'm pretty sure she became a prostitute.
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