Notion of Existentialism in A Personal Matter - Essay Example

The issue of existentialism in Eastern culture is not properly studied. More often researchers and philosophers were focused on the issues of spirituality and religion in Japanese literature, but not on the existential issues. He confesses that he was greatly influenced by the works of French philosopher Sartre. Therefore, it is interesting to find out the existential basis of the main character of the novel by Oe. At first, Bird is represented as an escaper, the man who wants to escape from his family, his problems, and his country and rush into African jungles. His existential wanderings in his inner world should be separated from his adventurous spirit. Still, it is interesting to trace existential and realistic aspects of Bird’s life.

Thus, Bird starts his inner self-exploration once he gets informed about the illness of his child. He should choose whether to bring up a child vegetable or to make this child die. Bird chooses life. Nevertheless, he founds not enough inner power and feels weak-willed before himself, and starts dreaming about the death of the child. Interesting considerations of Bird about his child’s death coincide with the interpretation of death by existentialists (Schneider and Gabriel, 1999). Bird justifies the child’s death in the following way: “Forget all about the baby, a life that appeared out of infinite darkness, hovered for nine months in a fetal state, tasted a few hours of cruel discomfort, and descended once again into darkness, final and infinite..." (Oe, p. 28). Let us consider Sartre’s interpretation of death: “By death, the for-itself is changed forever into an in-itself in that it has slipped entirely into the past” (Schneider and Gabriel, 1999). These “falls” into the past for Sartre coincide with “descend into the darkness” for Bird. Thus, one of the basic concepts for existentialists, such as death is interpreted by Bird in the best traditions of existentialism.

Another concept “freedom” means "openness, readiness to grow, flexibility, and changing in pursuit of greater human values" for existentialists (Yoshida, 1995). The ability to choose is the crucial issue of this concept. Freedom is accompanied by responsibility. This principle is reflected by Bird. At first, he is tortured by his inability to make the right choice. Firstly, he prefers the life of his child, then he escapes from this monstrous child-vegetable and finally, he changes his mind claiming that a child has a right to live. Thus, in terms of existentialism, Bird goes through a thorny path from freedom of choice to his responsibility (Havel, 2002).

The fundamental principle for existentialists is the absence of God. A bird does not believe in God himself as well. The existence in the absurd world is the largest existentialist problem. Bird is not referred to by his name throughout the novel; he has only a nickname. It looks as if this man is thrown into an absurd world and is subjected to eternal suffering. Throughout the novel Bird wants to escape from reality (Schneider and Gabriel, 1999). Moreover, it looks as if Bird goes around in circles: at first, he wants to escape from his family and nation, but lastly, he finally returns to these two basic pillars of his life (Schneider and Gabriel, 1999).

Still, it may be argued that the existential nature of Bird can be questioned. The readers are fascinated while observing the life struggle of Bird. Moreover, opponents of the existential nature of Bird may claim that his disgust toward his child is natural to everyone. In other words, Bird may be considered a realist and not an existentialist. This claim can be supported by the following representation of Bird’s ideas by Oe: “The bud of existence appeared on a plain of nothingness that stretched for zillions of years and there it grew for nine months. Of course, there was no consciousness in a fetus, it simply curled in a ball and existed, filling utterly a warm, dark mucous world” (Oe, p. 43). Bird feels a split nature of him; an ugly, monstrous child is a part separated from him. Bird makes a choice relevant to common individuals; the majority of realists would abandon a monstrous child. Therefore, Bird is gradually finding his maturity in life conception, though the process of maturity is rather complicated and occurs between reality and existentialism.

Therefore, even though the existential nature of Bird can be questioned and opposed to his characteristics of a realist, his existential nature is dominant. He follows his path from freedom of choice to the realization of personal responsibility. He finally comes up to the final stage of the real existentialist: the realization of his responsibility. A rejection of God and his admittance of living on the existential level are accompanied by his spiritual searching, which is an integrative part of the spiritual life of any Easterner. Read More