LITERATURE: Patriotism by Yukio Mishima

Found that Adam has a weblog of his own, and hope that he will plant his ideas there and link the log (say it quick and kiddies, we’re back to playing Lincoln Logs!) via GLH so that we can read it. Adam is intelligent, polite, enthusiastic, and it seems that when it comes to literature, he is especially intense yet open-minded.

For many, Patriotism (Mishima, Yukio. The Story and Its Writer, Ed. Ann Charters. p. 1013) is a difficult story to read because of its graphic four-page description of a young Japanese lieutenant’s ritual disembowelment suicide. His young wife bears necessary witness as he is dying, and then follows him in death in a less horrible manner. This story is much more understandable by a reader of the eastern culture, I am sure, as the westerner (especially of more current times) views life and death in a much different way and most of us would not hold country nor honor up to the value of life.

However, unless I am misreading, I believe that while patriotism is the name in which the lieutenant decides his fate, it is in fact his decision that, as a member of the Imperial Forces, he would dishonor himself and the country by refusing to join an attack against the insurgent members of the Imperial Force which includes many of his friends. This is what he cannot face. He has three choices: He can obey orders and fight the rebellion army to which his friends belong; he can disobey orders and not fight; or he can avoid either by choosing to commit an honorable suicide.

I found the story to be masterfully written that led me through a horrifying situation in a most graceful and beautiful way. I was fully open to the tragedy (having been warned by the opening paragraph) and even though grisly, was still accepting of it as done with an incredible amount of dignity and fortitude despite the physical mess. The details of the young wife’s preparations prior to the lieutenant’s arrival, the sense of passion, openness and trust between them as they together prepared their fate, the bonding of bodies and unquestioning bonding of minds prepared me as well to accept their fate.

While we may view this as a needless tragedy, the author and his characters fully understood that this was the most proper, the most admirable, and the only way for their story to end.