Internal+vs+External

 In Yukio Mishima’s novel __The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea__, the appearances and thoughts of Ryuji and Fusako reflect their respective inner turmoil concerning their relationship. Mishima allows the reader to both visualize the appearance of the characters through detailed imagery and to understand their minds as they communicated directly to the reader. The growing contraction between Ryuji’s appearances and his thoughts reveals his struggle between an everlasting contemplation of glory at the sea and a desire for life with his lover Fusako on land, while Fusako’s unwillingness to expose emotions through her appearance reveals her fear of compromising her independence despite her desire for an end to her loneliness.
 * Inner Turmoil within Ryuji and Fusako **

As the relationship between Fusako and himself grew more intimate, Ryuji struggled with his love for the fleeting life at sea and his love for Fusako. Initially, Ryuji’s image emphasized his masculine, solid features. With flesh looking “like a suit of armor” and muscles “like twists of sisal hemp”, Ryuji’s image creates an allusion to the heroic figure of the Samurai in Japanese culture as the similes presented Ryuji as a free, powerful individual (11). The simile “like a fantastic beast that’s just come out of the sea dripping wet” underscores Ryuji’s suitability for the life of a wandering sailor in the sea (49). He traveled from one harbor to another without any burdens and connections related to land. Ryuji also had strong aspirations of glory, believing in the extraordinary destiny awaiting him, believing that he had “a glittering, special-order kind [of destiny]” (17). However, in love with Fusako, Ryuji returned from a sea voyage “hurtling into the car like a piece of bulky, rain-soaked baggage”, producing a striking contrast from his original powerful image (96). To fall in love, leave the ocean, and be domesticated by Fusako was, for Ryuji, a form of death. The baggage symbolizes the pressure of family that the sailor had been succumbed to after falling in love with Fusako. Nevertheless, Ryuji contradictorily “felt snugly in place in an anchored, amiable world (97-98). He discovered the preciousness of his love for Fusako when he returned after the lengthy separation. Yet, on New Year’s Day, Ryuji’s inner turmoil reached a climax as he grappled with his desire to leave the sea and succumb to Fusako’s charms. He questioned himself if he should “give up that luminous freedom”, “his heart in spasm because he was always in contact with the ocean’s dark swell and the lofty light from the edge of the clouds” (111). He was uncertain about what to do in life, drifting between the desire for life on the sea and life with the Kuroda family. Ryuji perhaps reflected a drifting post-WWII Japan, a splendid hero who once shone brightly but whose glory rapidly faded.

The internal conflict within Fusako and her unwillingness to expose her emotions through her appearance suggest her doubts in Ryuji’s ability to become the leading man in the Kuroda family. Fusako, as a widow, owned a clothing shop that mostly sold imported Western goods. The stylish clothing perhaps illustrates Fusako’s act of embroidering herself to hide her inner sentiments as a widower. On the next morning after she met Ryuji, Fusako’s “radiant face” expressed “resurrection... or an utter effacement from memory” (22). Fusako frantically wanted to believe in Ryuji’s ability to rejuvenate her life after a long period of loneliness and desperation, determined to prove that her relationship with the sailor was beneficial. However, at the same time, Fusako “was worried that Mr. Shibuya might have noticed what felt to her like a flush around her eyes” while at work (27). Her unwillingness to expose her emotions suggests her unwillingness to give up her image of independence. As a proprietress, a highly unconventional role for a woman in the male-dominated Japanese society, Fusako would compromise her freedom and independence if Ryuji became the man in the Kuroda family. Fusako’s appearances in a “kimono” (10), and then later in a “cotton yukata” (84), were signs of her transformation into a traditional, domesticated woman in the Japanese society. During her conversation with Yoriko, Fusako endured a climactic inner turmoil as the actor questioned Ryuji incisively, much to Fusako’s annoyance. As Yoriko recalled her relationship with a deceptive producer, Fusako took her “innuendo…as an attack on Ryuji” (125). Fusako, despite of her fear of losing her independence, refused to cast doubt in Ryuji’s capability because of her desire for an end to her loneliness as a widow.

Word Count: 747

Mishima, Yukio. __The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea__. Trans. John Nathan. New York: Vintage International, 1994.