Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea

This interactive oral discussion was about nihilism and its ability to foreshadow future circumstances in Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Before this oral discussion my knowledge of nihilism was very limited. The discussion was based upon Noboru’s nihilistic views on his lack of a masculine father figure. This discussion was able to connect the nihilistic perspective of Noboru to the nihilistic views of Mishima.The general gist was to discuss how the theme of Nihilism affected the book and why Mishima chose nihilism as such a major theme. The discussion began with some history about nihilism. The term nihilism was first coined in books by Martin Heidegger. These book began being published right after World War II, and the idea of nihilism

This novel emphasized the moral questions that come into effect after the trauma of losing childhood innocence and the loss of masculine influence and the search for brotherhood amongst friends. Despite the translation from Japanese to English; the meaning was conveyed excellently and no meaning was lost. Mishima was able to convey Noboru as a character that can be recognized and interpreted across an array of different culture. Mishima’s use of foreshadowing, masculine influence, and biographical context makes the novel flow seamlessly from page to page. The death of Ryuji Tsukazaki represented the death of masculine influence and the waves it caused in Japanese culture. The transition to nihilism greatly affected Japanese youth culture and caused some to strongly resist the thought of western ideas in Japanese society.This work is a cautionary tale to the effects of war on youth and it’s potential to ruin a generation. This is the story of stolen innocence, boyhood, and masculine