Memoirs of a Geisha; Chapters 21-25

Nobu San gives Sayuri a ruby and Sayuri has to give it directly to mother. I suppose that is obviously a very smart decision since Sayuri is severely in debt, but that would still stink. Sayuri has never seen anything as beautiful as the ruby and she has to hand it right over. When the betting for Sayuri's mizuage was finally over and Dr. Crab was announced the winner, I was horribly disgusted. Dr. Crab is seriously such a creep and I do not think he is a nice man. Its even creepier, though, that the man he was betting with wasn't Nobu San, but the Baron. The Baron is probably more creepy than Dr. Crab, though, so I suppose it was best that he wasn't the winner. If the Baron would have been the winner that would have been awful for Sayuri and I think she might have committed suicide. I was also surprised to learn that even though the Baron had actually won the bidding, Mameha had chosen Dr. Crab. And even though it wasn't the highest, bid, it still made history. Sayuri's mizuage sold for 15000 yen, which apparently is a lot because it was the highest a mizuage had ever been sold for, with Mameha's being the second highest. I know nothing about yen, but Sayuri doesn't get to keep any of the money anyways, it goes straight to the okiya. The whole process is disgusting and horribly awkward. Its strange that Sayuri didn't really think it was that big of a deal. She just sort of went through with it. I suppose as a geisha she didn't really have a choice, though. Plus the large sum of money she made finally convinced mother to adopt Sayuri as her daughter instead of Pumpkin. Of course Hatsumomo was very angry. She flipped out on mother, which probably made her look even worse. I think that was probably Hatsumomo's breaking point. Pumpkin was also very upset, too. Becoming mother's daughter was all that Pumpkin really wanted in her life and Sayuri took that away from her. I think its pretty sad when Mameha goes to collect her money from mother, since she had won the bet, and mother tries to trick her. Luckily Mameha has her "accountant" with her who has record of the original bet. Mother's a sly little fox. Also, I figured that Nobu San would become Sayuri's danna..but apparently not. General Tottori that actually becomes her danna just comes out of nowhere. It is no longer Mameha's choice, though, so Sayuri has to deal with the general, whom she doesn't particularly like. I have no idea why at such a politically unsafe time, mother and Mameha would think it would be a good idea to choose a general as a danna for Sayuri. They both just agree that its a great idea because he will keep Sayuri safe. They are very wrong, though. Sayuri deals with it, though, and continues to dream about the Chairman. Also, Nobu San basically stops talking to Sayuri or seeing her. He basically doesn't even exist to Sayuri anymore.