Sailor+Exam+Review


 * // Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea //****, Yukio Mishima (1963) **

** The story is set in post WWII Japan, after the occupation of the United States and is inspired by Samurai beliefs and legends. The content has references to Samurai culture and beliefs, and the Westernization taking place in Japan. The port life is portrayed. ** ||
 * ** Cultural Context/Genre **
 * ** Plot Summary in a Nutshell – include conflict development and resolution **

** The text is divided into two parts; Part 1 and Part 2 which represent Summer and Winter. Noticibly, both parts begin with the arrival of Ryuji the sailor. ** || ** The story is written in third person omnicient, with the narrator aware of all actions and thoughts of every character. ** ||
 * **The sailor, Ryuji, enters the lives of Fusako and Noboru**
 * **Romance blossoms between Fusako and Ryuji, creating conflict for Noboru**
 * **Noboru, a nihilistic adolescent, is affected by the beliefs of his gang and brings his concerns regarding his family to the gang**
 * **Ryuji leaves the family and returns a while later, to Noboru's disappointment**
 * **Noboru feels the image of the sailor falling and is disappointed by many of Ryuji's attributes, among which is power and authenticity.**
 * **Noboru's concerns grow as Ryuji becomes his father**
 * **Noboru and the gang plan to kill Ryuji and eventually to kill the sailor.** ||
 * ** Structural features of the text **
 * ** Narrative Perspective/Point of View **

** Color- Portraying purity, anger, serenity. ** ** Imagery surrounding the sea. ** ** Clothing. ** ** Body parts. ** ** Grotesque- kitten. ** || ** Woman as the sea ** ** Fusako as westernization ** ** Noburu and Ryuji as Samurai beliefes and culture. ** ** Clothing- Westernization. ** ||
 * ** Imagery **
 * ** Symbolism **

** Motifs ** // List significant objects, concepts, ideas, issues, statements that recur in the text. //

Motif Significance (quote from text, where relevant)
 * **Sea** || **The sea represents Ryuji. Ryuji is torn between the sea and the shore, due to his love for Fusako. Ultimately, he abandons the sea for Fusako, but the reader still associates Ryuji with the sea, as he shares such a strong connection with it.**

"He found himself in the strange predicament all sailors share: essentially he belonged neither to the land nor to the sea. Possibly a man who hates the land should dwell on shore forever. Alienation and the long voyages at sea will compel him once again to dream of it, torment him with the absurdity of longing for something that he loathes." (16)

"I could have been a man sailing away forever. he had been fed up with all of it, glutted, and yet now, slowly, he was awakenging again to the imensity of what he had abandoned." (179) || "The Moorish architecture of the small two-story building was distcintive; the Mosque window set into the thick white wall at the front of the shop always contained a tasteful display. Inside, an open mazzanine much like a veranda overlooked a patio of imported Spanish tile. A small fountain bubbled in the center of the patio. A bronze Bacchus, some Vivax neckties carelessly draped over its arms, was one of the many curios collected by Fusako's husband before his death; these were priced so as to discourage any would-be buyer." (24)
 * **Westernization** || **Fusako is the main character who represents westernization in the novel. Fusako is the owner of Rex, Ltd. and her daily routine is clearly influenced by westernization.**

"Being able to sit at her desk at the usual time was a great relief. It had to be this way. Today of all days, she couldn't imagine what might have happened if she had stayed home from work." (26) ||
 * **Authenticity** || **Authenticity is one of Noboru's main concerns with Ryuji - Noboru feels Ryuji lacks authenticity and can therefore not become a true hero for him. Certain objects, such as the crocodile that Ryuji buys for Noboru, also lack authenticity and lead Noboru to doubt Ryuji's originality and creates a growing doubt of the possibility of Ryuji ever becoming a hero.**

"Overbright and artificial, an unnecessarty, outrageous blunder of a smile!" (63)

"Gorgeous entities all and absolutely authentic: then Ryuji too was an authentic hero... all incidents on the sea, in the sea, under the sea - Noboru felt himself drowning in sleep" (69-70) || "She would never forget his eyes as he confronted her in the corridor. Deep-set in the disgruntled, swarthy face, they sought her out as though she were a tiny spot on the horizon, the first sign of a distant ship." (29) ||
 * **Power** || **The role of the man in this society is to exert power. This is especially important to Noboru, as Noboru feels that Ryuji does not exert enough power and therefore does not see him as a true man.** ||
 * **Love** || **Ryuji and Fusako's love serves for much of the conflict for Noboru in the novel.**

** Main Characters **

Name/Role Motivation/Tension/Development Identifying Quote(s)
 * Noburu || Noburu plays a very large role in the evnts of the story. He is a teenage boy with Nihilistic beliefs. He values authenticity and glory greatly. There is tension with Ryuji because of mixed feelings and the gradual loss of Ryuji's heroism in his eyes. Great influence by the gang and the chief especially. || "At thirteen, Noburu was convinced of his own genius [...] death took root at the moment of birth and man's only recourse thereafter was to water and tend it. " ||
 * Fusako || Noburu's mother and lover ( soon to be wife) of Ryuji. She is a widow, an independant woman who is moving on from her husband's death. She is a busness woman, runs a shop, and is very westernized. || "There wasn't a single japanese room in Fusako's house: Her mode of living was thoroughly western." ||
 * Ryuji || A sailor looking to find glory and his destiny. Inner conflict between choosing the sea as his life or choosing love of Fusako. His choice is love, leaves the sailor's life and seems to lose a part of himself; turns into a new man (becomes westernized). || "There's just one thing i'm destined for and thats glory; that's right, glory!" ||

** Minor Characters **

Name/Role Significant Relationship to Main Character(s) Identifying Quote (if relevant)
 * Yoriko || A show of what high rank people Fosaku works with. ||  ||
 * Chief || A influential person in Noburu's life. ||  ||
 * Mr. Shibuya || Business with Rex ltd. ||  ||

Shibuya => Fusako : Business relationship, having to do with Rex ltd. Noburu => Fusako : Mother & Son Chief/Gang => Noburu : Has an influential relationship, a sort of "I do and say, then you do the same". Fusako => Ryuji : Love Interest -- How does each of them see the relationship? Find key passages. ** Themes ** // __In the form of questions or statements__, formal unities (paradox, tension, ambiguity, irony), and/or dichotomies (i.e. this vs. that), identify some of the main themes of the text. //
 * ** Types of relationships ** ||

Theme How manifested in plot/characterization (quote from text, where relevant)
 * Life lacks meaning and order || The chief and boys ||
 * Role of Women || Fusako and Ryuji's relationship ||
 * Westernization/Modernization || Fusako's Western shop, the influences on the boys ||
 * Love/Death || Ryuji's long internal monologues ||