Prices Never Drop in the Shadow of the Rake 1945-1960 The Day Famous Texans Priced Out Dolls (Postwar Reconstruction Era)

Prices Never Drop in the Shadow of the Rake 1945-1960 The Day Famous Texans Priced Out Dolls (Postwar Reconstruction Era)
As postwar reconstruction progressed and people began to return to the city for recreation and entertainment, the rooster market was a symbolic place that brought life to the burned-out city. At the market, a famous person whom we have seen on TV appears with many people at a tekiya (a store selling dolls). The dolls come with a price tag and are not easily bargained down. In postwar stalls, bargaining was a manner of conversation, not hostility, but dolls were half-crafts, and their prices bore the workmanship and pride of their makers. The narrator used my mother's dictum, "Another time, please," and politely refused, while keeping a good face on the other person. The narrator does not give any special treatment or condescending rejection, but only quietly observes the lines of business, and in these words is condensed the wisdom of not destroying the occasion. The fact that he can simultaneously be nervous in the presence of a celebrity and be relaxed in defending his pric
e tag is the result of his experience in dealing with numerous customers in the postwar city. In a marketplace where status and recognition are temporarily flattened, this brief exchange straightforwardly reflects the culture of street vendors during the Reconstruction era, the skill and pride of the tekiya.