Detailed Notes on 'Spring Snow' by Yukio Mishima - Book Report/Review Example

Haru no Yuki (1968) is the first novel in Yukio Mishima's tetralogy called "Sea of Fertility" written during 1968-1970. It was translated from the Japanese by Michael Gallagher into the English Spring Snow. Set in the early decades of the 20th century, the novel is the story of Kiyoaki Matsugae and Satoko Ayakura. Kiyoaki is the son of a rising samurai family originating in Kagoshima where his grandfather was a marquis but now dead. Off late, he lives with his family a life of luxury near Tokyo. Satoko belongs to an upper class family. The novel depicts how their relationship goes through rough patches and dies under the adverse circumstances instead of rising above them. Set against the background of the period of transition in Japan, known as the Taisho period, the main action of the novel starts on 27 October 1912 and ends in March 1914. Satoko visits the Matsugaes with her aunt and has a crush on Kiyoaki. Kiyoaki, aware of this, tries to remain indifferent although he feels attracted towards her as well. It is so because he makes it a point to live a "correct" life, one that is characterized by morality and steadfast principles. Such a way of life does not allow falling in love as it amounts to being weak, immoral and vulnerable to the opposite sex. One of the major themes of the novel is the cultural decadence prevalent in the Japanese society due to westernization. It can be found in the scene in which the Marquis Matsugae throws a party for his friend Prince Toin, in which the guests are preposterously half-Westernized in their attire: "Marquis Matsugae, watched his son's part in the festivities, absorbing the boy's brilliant appearance in his beautiful ceremonial costume, and savoring the complacency of a man who sees a lifelong dream fulfilled" (10). Marquis is, thus, an anglophile in spite of his view that the western society takes advantage of the Japanese community. Cultural depravity is also evident from the scene in which he invites Kiyoaki to accompany him to a brothel to the utter disgust of his son who, pertaining to his knowledge that his father is a womanizer, finds it highly embarrassing and disturbing. The marquis, however, does not accept the fact that his son can fall in love with anyone and beats him up when his relationship with Satoko is discovered. Destiny is another major theme in the novel almost as significant as that in the novels of Thomas Hardy. Here in this book, snow is the instrument that destiny chooses in order to exercise its free will. It is as if everything had been preordained. Kiyoaki's dream sequence is highly symbolic of the shape of things to come in his life. He, in a way, sees into the future. The other themes of the novel include isolation, love, friendship, destiny, and an individual's responsibility towards family and society. Love is depicted as an unnecessary evil in a society which is artificial and snobbish. A major character in the novel is Shigekuni Honda, one of Kiyoaki's school friends and is literally a mute witness to what the two main characters suffer. In fact, the novel opens with events related to Kiyoaki and Honda's childhood. Throughout the novel Honda plays the role of a non-interfering confidant, a friend, philosopher and guide to Kiyoaki. Whenever Kiyoaki finds life difficult, he goes to Honda and pours himself out. Honda listens silently with patience but never reacts to anything. Honda's reading of philosophy makes him think of human beings as "a single vital current," and believe in the "theory of the unity of life and self-awareness" in which "the whole sea of life . . . the vast process of transmigration called Samsara in Sanskrit would be possessed by a single consciousness." He tells Kiyoaki, "The age of glorious wars ended with the Meiji era . . . this is the era for the war of emotion . . . and just as in the old wars there will be casualties." This taciturn man ultimately runs to his friend's help when Kiyoaki is in the verge of death. Kiyoaki too lets him know how special a friend he is by announcing that only he can read his dream-diary. Honda is symbolic of the Japanese way of life with its traditions and humble moderation set against the extravagant and Western-aping lifestyle of Kiyoaki and his family members. There is a description of Honda's house which is as down-to-earth as he himself. In Honda and Kiyoaki we see two different pictures of Japan where as in Satoko we see an intersection of Japanese and western characteristics. She is one who would frankly express her passion for a man, one who will not mind having sexual relationship before marriage and at the same time one who will obediently accept others' advice to hide her pregnancy from her partner and will not dare to elope with him. When Satoko and Kiyoaki see the dead dog, she goes with him to pick flowers for the dog. This gives an opportunity to Satoko to spend some time together with Kiyoaki. She asks him a strange question, "Kiyo, what would you do if all of a sudden I weren't here any more" (27). He is ill at ease to hear such a thing, but tries to conceal the fact that he is troubled with the question, but she can see through his pretence and knows that he wants her. However, when the two princes ask Kiyoaki about his love life he says that his beloved's name is Satoko where as a little before only he has sent her a letter full of insulting remarks. This reveals that Kiyoaki has a strong masculine ego which stops him from acknowledging his feelings for Satoko although he is really passionate about her. It also suggests that he is unable to understand his own desires and priorities and the clues of his heart which many a times misleads him away from his destination. He is a victim of his false conservatism. About him he himself says, "I'll never shed real blood. I'll never wound anything but hearts." Satoko, on the other hand, knows what she wants from life and makes attempts to get what she wants. It is she who takes the initiative in their affairs. She creates situations to be alone with Kiyoaki on a number of occasions. When her parents are away she persuades Kiyoaki to come with her on a rickshaw ride amidst the snow. That turns out to be the day they kiss for the first time. She is the first to write a love letter compelling enough to get a response. Only when his mother informs him that Prince Harunori is going to marry Satoko, Kiyoaki realizes the depth of his feelings for her, and manages to arrange a meeting with Satoko. He meets with Satoko in a boarding-house where they make love. Satoko soon realizes that she is pregnant, but she hides this fact from Kiyoaki. Tadeshina attempts suicide, leaving a confidential note to the Marquis revealing the affair to him. The Marquis Matsugae and Count Ayakura get Satoko aborted. On her way back home, Satoko disappears from Gesshu Temple, cuts off her hair and joins a nunnery. Her wedding is cancelled when everyone fails to get her out of the nunnery. She is declared insane. Honda encourages Kiyoaki to meet Satoko in the convent and gives him money. He is not allowed into the convent. Feeling guilty, he punishes himself by exposing himself to the Snow. He sends a telegram to Honda who tries his best to arrange a meeting but in vain. Finally, they decide to return to Tokyo. Two days later Kiyoaki dies. The symbolism has been very powerful in this novel. The animal imagery is as vivid as that of Shakespeare and Yeats. A few moments from the time when the two central characters meet, there is an ill omen of a dead black dog at the top of a waterfall. The Abbess prays for it. Similarly Kiyoaki and Honda come across another inauspicious sign: a dead mole on their way which Kiyoaki picks up and throws into a pond. When Kiyoaki and Satoko are on the rickshaw ride he has a vision of thousands of ghostly soldiers which is just like a replica of the photograph described in Chapter 1. Almost around the same time, as if it is telepathy, Honda feels very awkward to see Kiyoaki's empty desk in the schoolroom. Throughout the book Kiyoaki continues to be perplexed with nightmarish visions which ultimately prove to be premonitions. Kiyoaki's tragic end also reveals how licentious and intrigue-ridden a society was that of Japan during those times. Kiyoaki is a victim of conspiracy in a way as much as he is that of his fate. Iinuma misleads him the way Iago had done with Othello. Kiyoaki is credulous enough to believe that Satoko did not burn the letter he had asked her to. He also foolishly confides in Iinuma whatever happens between him and Satoko during their intimate moments and concludes that she is trying to dominate him. He even burns her letter in front of Iinuma. Mishima writes, "Kiyoaki was incapable of hiding his true nature and he was defenseless against society's power to inflict pain" (13). Thus, the theme of society as another manifestation of the capricious fate is underlined. The book succeeds in serving an allegory of the national history of Japan around the beginning of the twentieth century. Bibliography > Read More