Literature Circle Responses - Part II

This book is a very interesting piece of art that reveals some of the dark values of Yukio Mishima. The author created a very dark character and he made that character a child in order to enhance the effectiveness of that evil. From my interpretation, Noboru must be very similar to Mishima. I read a small biography of the author and I found some very close similarities between them. Mishima was an only child who was often punished by his grandma and forced into isolation. He was not allowed to participate in any sports and so he spent most of his time in his room very alone. In the beginning of this book the main character, Noboru, is also being punished. Noboru has to go to his room for some time and stay isolated. Noboru starts feeling angry that his mom would isolate him and with no one to care for him. So Noboru gets revenge on his mother by violating her privacy and staring at her through a peephole in his room. Noboru did not know any other way to get revenge on his mom for isolating him so spying on her was his way of satisfying his anger. Mishima is possibly trying to give some insight on how he felt when he was isolated. There was a part in the book that showed signs of Noboru’s sexual ignorance. The chief of the gang, that Noboru belongs to, showed them pictures of different positions during sexual intercourse. But when Noboru was spying on Fusako he was very confused as to what she was doing. Fusako was masturbating but Noboru confused that act as something else. Could this mean Noboru is repressing his sexual curiosity? This could be a viable interpretation since he was taught, by the chief, that sex is a pointless act. But then, why was he so interested in watching Ryuji and Fusako have sex? I will have to analyze the book further to find this out.
Some themes that are expressed in this book are revenge, morality, nihilism, and death. All of these topics are represented in a great way by the author. Most of these themes are related to Noboru which made me kind of suspect that Noboru could be a representation of Mishima’s values. Mishima lived somewhat of a difficult life. As I said he was isolated, punished severely, bullied because of his love of writing, his values were rejected most, and the Japan he loved changed. He came from a samurai family so he must have similar values: glory, honor, and toughness. Mishima must have been taught to never let himself be controlled by his emotions, which he took to the extreme by making Noboru a person with ultimate dispassion. Noboru believes in no morality at all which makes him very unique. Why did the author choose to make him like that? No religion or religious idols are ever mentioned in the book. This could reflect more of Mishima’s values on the world. Does Mishima believe in any omniscient being? Maybe this lack of belief in an omniscient being reinforced his belief the meaning of life. And he placed those values into Noboru. Noboru believes life is pointless and death is the only savior from that. Mishima describes death so beautifully and that reinforces my interpretation of Noboru’s and Mishima’s attitude on death. Death, to Mishima, is not a bad thing because it releases us from all our mistakes and wrong-doings.
There are definitely many questions I have related to the figurative language used by Mishima. I am deeply confused as to what the significance of the sea is. Why do Noboru and Ryuji believe the sea is such an honorable place to be? Why is the land such a meaningless and boring place to them? The sea seems to have a huge significance in the book and it is related to many things. Especially since the setting in the book is a port town. So the town is on the brink of sea and land which are opposites. I do have a final question that questions the beliefs of the chief. Why does the chief believe so deeply in nihilism and what inspired him to believe in that? Another puzzling aspect to this part is that Noboru connects the parts where he saw Ryuji and Fusako have sex to the kitten killing scene. He states that during those to scenes the world was at balance and perfection had been achieved. I cannot understand how those two acts can be connected. But I can understand why Noboru did what he did to that kitten. According to him, the night he watched Fusako and Ryuji have sex Noboru experienced a perfection and pleasure he had never experienced before. I do not know what type of pleasure Noboru was gaining out of that but I do know he said he would do anything to regain that pleasure. So when he was given the chance to kill the kitten Noboru took with ease and found the same pleasure in killing a kitten as he did watching Fusako and Ryuji. This time, he had the control over that pleasure because he was the cause of the kitten’s death. There are still some mysteries as to what type of pleasure he gains from these strange acts but I just figured out Noburo found out he has control over that pleasure now. Meaning he can seek it whenever he can.
Finally, for my quote analysis I chose a quote on page 60 on paragraph 2, “Even that marvelous horn and the great wide world whose expanse it had limned couldn’t possibly have penetrated so deeply as this…the pumping of the bared heart placed the peeled kitten in direct and tingling contact with the kernel of the world.” It seems as if Noboru gets pleasure out of taking life. Mishima definitely has a different attitude towards death. Perhaps reading more into this book will help me find an answer to this puzzling book. But I doubt it.

Literature Circle Responses - Part I

Pages 1-72: The Sailor who fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukui Micshima is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. From this one bookk, I have learned a great deal on the life of Mr. Mishima. It is a fictional book that covers physiological and philosophical topics. The main characters are Noboru, Fusako, and Ryuji. Noboru is a 13 year old boy who has a huge interest in ships. Behind that nice and childish mask is a dark person who has a hatred for mankind. He has no belief in any kind of morality. He does show some respect towards Ryuji, a sailor, because Ryuji does not let anything distract him from finding glory out there in the sea. Ryuji is a lonely sailor who has appears to be a tough man with no emotion but behind that mask is a man who desires comfort. After a long time of searching for the glory that he believes is his, Ryuji starts to feel like giving up and doesn’t want to waste his time searching for glory when he can stay on land and start a family. I admire the way Mishima writes the perspectives of his characters and how they misinterpret each other. For example, in each chapter the reader gets to learn a great deal about the character from their actions and their thoughts. But when they talk to each other they hide their true personalities and put on their masks, so to speak. This way the reader has a sort of hindsight bias on the way the characters interact with each other. Noboru is fooled by Ryuji’s mask and so he sees Ryuji as a tough, emotionless, and a “true” man. Ryuji sees Noboru as a normal 13 year old boy that has an interest in mechanical things, likes to swim, and is just like any other normal 13 year old boy. But from their inner thoughts of the characters, the reader can truly understand the character. This is an interesting way to write the story because Mishima could possibly be suggesting the darkness in people. The more challenging aspects of this book are the metaphors, similes, and symbolism. Mishima describes love, nihilism, glory, and death in some of the figurative language he uses but it is very difficult to decipher the true message behind it. Knowing that Mishima came from a samurai family, I can somewhat assume he had a different approach on death than most people. To die honorably must have been a beautiful death to the samurai. Perhaps that is why Mishima describes death so beautifully. Such as on the scene where a kitten was mercilessly killed by Noboru to show how meaningless life is. I was confused as to why the author made Noboru compare a kittens death to watching Ryuji and Fusako have sex. There are a lot of parts where the characters describe their philosophical beliefs in-depth using figurative language that really confuses me. As for the rest of the book something negative must happen. Knowing a little about Mishima, I can assume the Ryuji will betray his search for glory and trade it for a simple life on land and start a family. Noboru has already started to develop hatred towards Ryuji for acting like such a typical human. So Noboru will probably do something extreme to quench his thirst for betrayal. And in the midst of this someone will get hurt but I am not exactly sure who will get hurt. Overall, this book is a good intellectual change from most of the non-fiction books I am used to reading. This book has made me think harder than most non-fiction books I have read. The way the message is delivered in this book is unique and so it makes deciphering the message a great challenge.