Define Mishima's Double vision/two perspectives/two-sided characteristic in the novel - Book Report/Review Example

Define Mishimas Double vision/two perspectives/two-sided characteristic in the novel Confessions of a Maskwritten by Yukio Mishima is a novel with Kochan as the main protagonist in the story. Kochan was raised during the era of right-wing imperialism and militarism of Japan (Saenki 128). Kochan is depicted in the novel struggling to fit in the society during the period. Kochan, just like Mishima Kochan was born physically challenged. The entire first half of the novel describes his physical robustness and fitness and how he struggles to fit into the Japanese society. Because of the challenge, Kochan is kept away from other children of his age, hence he grows up unexposed to the societal norms (Saenki 133). This is the reason why he grows up with a lot of fantasies and fascinations of sex, death and violence. This review will illustrate Mishima’s double vision or two sided characteristic as portrayed in the novel. The novel represents a Japanese gay literature in the male protagonist ‘I’ who confesses his homosexuality secret. However, the application of the word homosexual is not appropriate in the context because of the modern western concept imposed against the Japanese concept of male homosexuality which is referred to as male love (nanshoku) (Saenki 136). This aspect blocks the reader of the work from understanding the true nature of this man’s sexuality. The love of ‘I’ in the novel is different from homosexuality in the modern western sense (Saenki 136). This is the idea which brings about the two sided characteristic in the novel Confessions of a Mask. Omi’s fascination with ‘I’; Omi is the first person that the narrator fell in love with. Because of failure to be promoted three or four times, Omi becomes older than ‘I’ as well as his classmates. Omi has a body that is mature and attractive which attracts ‘I’. I enjoy watching Omi’s masculine body with strong muscles in the shoulders and chest. I admire him while performing horizontal bars in the gymnastic class (Saenki 139). Omi’s body demonstrates to the narrator ‘I’ the life force. ‘I’ is always unsatisfied with his feminine body which lacks masculine strength. Physical weakness was hated by not only ‘I’ but also the rest of the boys. ‘I’ suffered continuously from the frail constitution which made him long for a perfect masculine body like that of Omi (Saenki 139). Hence, the admiration that ‘I’ had for Omi was not sexually oriented but physical admiration. He wanted his body to get stronger and be like that of Omi. The fascination of the other; ‘I’ tried to attain a strong body like that of Omi but he could not. ‘I’ ends up admitting that getting a strong masculine body is perhaps the most challenging thing to attain especially by people like him who are physically plagued. Omi looks at his image in the mirror and wishes to have a chest and shoulders like those ones of Omi one day, but at the same time, he convinces himself that never on earth will he ever one day resemble Omi (Saenki 141). Omi finally become ‘I’s sacred idol that he worships and adores everyday. The creation of Omi as an illusory figure with no human imperfection and the daily worshipping of him by ‘I’ make ‘I to escape his own miserable reality. Omi is a sacred icon longed for by ‘I’ in eternity because there is no way ‘I’ can resemble Omi in the world. Omi is not interested at all in ‘I’ as a love object but ‘I’ is dieing for Omi in terms of love. Both characters are not depicted expressing their love for each other through dating and letters, hence the relationship between them is one sided, a fact well know to ‘I’ and he has learnt to be satisfied with it (Saenki 141). ‘I’ confesses that he never take away his eyes from Omi during the boring class lessons at school. He further confesses that he did not know that love is searching and be sought. This confession illustrates that ‘I’ does not expect any answer from Omi or love confessions. ‘I’ is satisfied that way and this implies that the lover and the loved are completely separated (Saenki 141). ‘I’ is conscious of this fact and fully aware of his feelings towards Omi. ‘I’ admits that this kind of relationship is not worth being called love and this is the case in true sense. The one side-ness which differentiates Omi relationship with the narrator ‘I’ from the modern ideal of love is mainly derived from the age differences between the two characters (Saenki 142). This is a typical aspect of a traditional nanshoku couples. The aspect emphasis the issue of hierarchy in a Japanese society which is influenced by Confucian notions of precedence based on age. Japanese nanshoku is age structured whereby the younger partner is assigned the passive role and the older partner who is the adult male takes the active role (Saenki 142). The differentiation between the active role of the adult man and the passive role by the younger man is a true case of a couple in the culture. Mishima has used the biblical concept ‘homosexuality’ to explain how the current western culture has confused it with nanshoku to suggest a shameful and sinful act or feeling. This has been portrayed through the love ‘I’ feels for Omi who is a fellow man. The sexual preference of the male protagonist ‘I’ in Confessions of a Mask has mixed the traditions of nanshoku tradition and that of the modern concept, homosexuality. The basic asymmetry of the erotic relationship has maintained characteristics of nanshoku whereas the sexual identity and the dichotomy of mind and flesh portray a western and modernized attitude which is homosexuality (Saenki 142). The confessions of ‘I’ represent the transformation of Japanese concept of male love from traditional nanshoku to westernized sexuality. The reader has to bear in mind that there is a difference between nanshoku and homosexuality when analyzing the novel Confessions of a Mask as well as when dealing with aspects of Japanese male to male relationships. Works Cited Saenki Junko. “From Nanshoku to homosexuality: a comparative study of Mishima Yukio’s Confessions of A mask”. Japan Review 8 (1997): 127-142. Read More