Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

363 Words2 Pages
Reflective Statement: Structures of Emptiness/Decay of Mishima’s Japan My group presented the oral presentation on structures of emptiness and the decay of Japan, and many of my group members interestingly pointed out the open nature of Mishima himself. In the article given to us, it pointed out that Mishima was quite critical of modernism and western society. The members of my group interestingly pointed out that The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea could be a societal commentary, especially with the killing of the cat and in a strange way, the implied killing of Riuji could symbolize the suicide of Mishima. All of these aspects were investigated in our oral presentation. The topic mostly focused on in my presentation was the decay of Japan from the perspective of the author – Mishima, being an anti modernist, supported the traditional Japanese culture and in the text, Noboru and his gang resemble the new modernism developing amongst the generations to come, and this is shown through their attitude towards their elders. In traditional Japanese culture, the young respect their elders, no matter the situation or intelligence, and this unusual hatred toward Riuji and their fathers in general, suggest an abnormal attitude. Noboru’s mother and Riuji symbolize a more traditional modern aspect of Japanese culture, and this is where we see the clash between Riuji and Noboru and his gang – led by the chief. Mishima comments on this new modernism through the age of the gang members. For example, Noboru is only 13, which is a significant age in every culture, symbolizing the maturation of a child into an adult, physically. However, mentally, these children are still very naive and through this Mishima hints that these modernist ideas present among the younger generations are very immature. With the closing scene of the novel, we see the children outright
Open Document