3: Memoirs of a Geisha 309 - 487

"I had been plummeting towards the rocks, and the Chairman had stepped out to catch me. I was so overcome with relief, I couldn't even wipe away the tears that spilled from the corners of my eyes. His shape was a blur before me, but I could see him moving closer, and in a moment he'd gathered me up in his arms just as if I were a blanket. His lips went straight for the little triangle of flesh where the edges of my kimono came together at my throat. And when I felt his breath on my neck, and the sense of urgency with which he almost consumed me, I couldn't help thinking of a moment years earlier, when I'd stepped into the kitchen of the okiya and found one of the maids leaning over the sink, trying to cover up the ripe pear she held to her mouth, its juices running down onto her neck. She'd had such a craving for it, she'd said, and begged me not to tell Mother." (487, Golden)

The end of Memoirs of a Geisha is a happy ending. The geisha occupation loses all meaning during the Depression of the war in Japan and Sayuri and her peers are thrust into a difficult life of labor in factories or in Sayuri's case, dying threads. Sayuri is ultimately saved in the end by the long time object of her affection, the Chairman. In this quote, Sayuri and the Chairman are admitting their long repressed feelings to one another.
This ending ties up every aspect of Sayuri's life. "I had been plummeting towards the rocks, and the Chairman had stepped out to catch me. I was so overcome with relief, I couldn't even wipe away the tears that spilled from the corners of my eyes" refers to the beginning of the book when Sayuri was still Chiyo and lived in Yoshido. Sayuri lived in poverty and her life had began plummeting downwards when her mother died and her feeble, old, once widower of a father began to lose hope. Back then, Mr. Tanaka had sold her into the world of geishas, catching Sayuri from further despair. Now, Sayuri is falling into the depths of poverty once more, but the Chairman is catching her now.
"I couldn't help thinking of a moment years earlier, when I'd stepped into the kitchen of the okiya and found one of the maids leaning over the sink, trying to cover up the ripe pear she held to her mouth, its juices running down onto her neck. She'd had such a craving for it, she'd said, and begged me not to tell Mother." This quote represents Sayuri's life in the okiya (the geisha apprentice house), it is a tiny tidbit of her memory. Our memories are compilations of all the things that have occured in our lives. Also, this quote is one of the more powerful quotes in the book. It represents how repressed Sayuri's feelings for the Chairman were. It shows how grateful, relieved and estatic Sayuri and the Chairman are to indulge, finally in their guilty pleasures. I think anyone can relate to this quote and remember the pleasure that comes from finally getting something you have desired for so long.