The year is 1946 and the island nation of Japan is still reeling from a devastating loss in the Pacific Theater. While the fighting and violence may have subsided in the wake of the West’s domination, a war still rages on in the psyches and souls...

Nihilism plays a dominant role in both Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time and Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea. Both novels target a particular character to be made an example, but the circumstances of this undertaking are notably...

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea aroused a lot of controversy in the world's literary society. As a classic example of Yukio Mishima's later works, it combined themes and motifs that were borderline acceptable and unusual for the...

Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea follows the struggles of a young band of boys who strive to restore a sailor, Ryuji, to his former glory by taking his life and subjecting his remains to dissection. They became...

The Sound of Waves develops one of its central themes through Mishima’s examination of the motif of strength of character. The novel portrays strength as a fundamental characteristic that dictates human behavior and the journey to self knowledge....

In The Sound of Waves, Yukio Mishima conveys the loss of traditional values in Japan due to Westernization in after the Second World War. Through powerful symbols and juxtaposition, Mishima effectively expresses his anger towards the devastating...

In Yukio Mishima’s classic twentieth century novel, The Sound of Waves, one might initially hold some misconceptions towards the message of the story. It’s simple enough easily spot certain seemingly-sexist elements and immediately make the...

For some, religion is just another part of their daily routine. For others, it’s a way of life. In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis Marjane finds herself able to express herself in the eyes of God. Within these conversations, Marjane sees the cracks...

Shintoism is an ancient Japanese religion that initially focused on praying for good harvest with the start of Japan coinciding with the start of rice growing. Shinto followers believe in spirits that live in living things such as animals and...

In the novel The Sound of Waves, author Yukio Mishima tells the story of Shinji, and his love for a girl by the name of Hatsue. The novel expounds upon a myriad of themes relevant to the lives of many across the world, adolescents especially....

In “The Sound of Waves”, the possibility that individuals must break social norms and stay true to themselves in order to reach true happiness is explored across two distinct classes. Shinji and Hatsue, who belong to different classes, fall in...