What does Hisaye Yamamoto’s story Seventeen Syllables suggest about the potential dangers for young women living in mid-twentieth-century Japanese and Japanese American cultures enjoying their own sexuality? How does the story of how Rosie’s mother came to marry her father complicate Rosie’s own feelings of sexual awakening? Why does Rosie’s father smash and burn the painting? What effects do his actions have on Rosie’s mother? Explain.

Yamamoto's story seems to suggest that human sexuality was subject to social dictates in mid-twentieth-century Japan. This is contrasted with Japanese American sexuality, which takes its cues from the larger American culture. In the story, the differing views about sexuality complicate Rosie's own sexual awakening.
In the story, Rosie's mother, Tome Hayashi, is an amateur poet. As the story ends, we learn that Tome was suicidal before she married Rosie's father. In Japan, Tome had fallen in love with a young man from a wealthy family. The match had been frowned upon, and Tome had no means of ingratiating herself in her lover's family. Eventually, Tome gave birth to a stillborn baby boy, and her reputation in Japanese society was shattered.
Devastated by her loss, Tome begged her sister to receive her in America. In her adopted country, Tome married Rosie's father. The latter, however, was none the wiser. Tome's story complicates Rosie's sexual awakening because it highlights the stark contrast between Japanese and American perspectives about female sexuality. Since Rosie is a second-generation Japanese American, which perspective should she prioritize? Should she prioritize that of the mother culture, which prioritizes status over love, or American culture, which sees love as the great equalizer?
If Rosie rejects the Japanese perspective, she risks being disloyal to her mother. If, however, she wholly embraces the American perspective, she risks rejecting her connection (however tenuous) to her Japanese heritage.
As for Rosie's father, he smashes and burns the painting because he feels threatened by Tome's haiku obsession. Instead of helping with the tomatoes, Tome's attention is drawn toward a mysterious world he cannot enter. Due to his inability to grasp the intellectual signifance of haiku, Rosie's father feels marginalized and forgotten. This is the main reason he gives vent to his emotions. For her part, Rosie's mother is devastated by the loss of her prize. Above all else, Tome understands the true significance of her husband's actions. The desperation inherent in his behavior mirrors hers. Both are desperately unhappy: the husband cannot reconcile himself to his wife's obsession, and the wife cannot reconcile her present reality with the memories of her past.