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THE INFLUENCE OF SETTING OF PLACE TOWARD SHINJI
KUBO IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S
THE SOUND OF WAVES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ARI WIDYANTORO
Student Number: 004214143
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I realize that this thesis can be finished well only with the support of others. Therefore, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those who have supported me in finish ing this thesis.
First of all I would thank to GOD for the blessing in my life. He is my encouragement in doing this thesis. I do believe that without His li ghts I would be nothing.
My deepest gratitude for Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A., as my major sponsor who is patient and has kindly spent her busy time in correcting my work and giving me valuable suggestions to finish this thesis soon . I would also thank to all the lecturing staff of the Department of English Letters for assisting me in going through the years of my study at Sanata Dharma University.
I would like to express my momentous appreciation both to my beloved father
Mr. Pardi (Jambul) and my mother Mrs. Sutijah (Ica) who has always supported with unconditional prayers and also fund during my study at this university. I also thank to my cool brother Mr. Ardiyantho (Gotot) and my behave Sister Ms. Diyah (Dyol) for pushing me in finishing this thesis .
I also thank to my campus mates who support me until the end, especially,
Andri, Galih, Debby, Wulan, Amanda and the other who was graduate first. Special thanks to Mr. Budi Riyanto for the lovely novel, I love you dude. I sincerely say big thanks only for Riyanto’s Family; the kind Tante, the cute Nining, the hot
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Shinta, and also Rama the Dodols. Thanks for the care, smile, coffee, meal, and supporting me.
I give special thank for the great TiENS Company and Unicore Support System for my real vision in my life. Thanks for my unforgettable sponsor Mr. Ari Triswanto, unbelievable *8 Up_Line Mr. Indra Friadi BL, Leonard, Eddo SL, and also for the great F!S Team, Mr. Victor, Jahid, Rahmat, Frieda, Richard, Febry, Efand, Ipung, Berno, Oland, and others amazing people who I can’t say one by one. Go Freedom<<!!!
My special thanks are given to the Miss Hitler, thanks for everything. You have kindled my Burning Desire. See you soon at the top.
At last, there must be more people whose names cannot be mentioned here but have helped me to finish my study and this thesis. I will never forget their supports. I thank all of them. God bless u all!
Ari-UciL-Widyantoro
TABLE OF CONTENTS
C. The Influence of Setting toward the Main Character……… 38
1. The Influence of Uta-jima Geographical Condition toward Shi nji’s Character ………. 38
2. The Influence of the Fishing Village Activities toward Shinji’s Character ……….. 41
3. The Influence of the Society toward Shinji’s Character ………... 45
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 50
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 53
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ABSTRACT
Widyantoro, Ari. (2007). The Influence of Setting of Place toward Shinji Kubo in Yukio Mishima’s The Sound of Waves. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This study discusses a novel entitled The Sound of Waves. This is one of Yukio Mishima’s g reatest stories of first love. The scene is a Japanese fishing village, where the modern world is far away. There is a main character named Shinji Kubo, a young poor boy who falls in love with a girl named Hatsue, the daughter of the richest man in the village. The objective of writing this thesis is derived from the writer’s curiosity to find out the influence of the setting on the main character.
There are three problems related to the topic of this thesis. The first problem is how the main character is described in the story. Since the setting also becomes the applied in this s tudy. The sources for this analysis are the novel The Sound of Waves, books on literature, and internet.
In this novel, Shinji Kubo is characterized as a n eighteen years old young boy who has a dark skin and well-built body . He is poor and not too clever boy, but such as a hard worker. Shinji is also a silen t boy who has great bravery as a tough fisherman. The story takes place in a small remote island that called Uta -jima Island. The island is surrounded by an endless sea. The society there is quiet simple and they are living as fisherman. The setting of the novel has a g reat influence on Shinji as the main character. The geographical condition of Uta-jima island that is surrounded by an endless sea has made Shinji becomes a fisherman for living. The activity of the society there shapes Shinji becomes a hard worker and tou gh fisherman. The fishing activity at sea makes his body well-built and his skin dark. His job as a fisherman does not give him much money so he lives in poverty. The Young Men’s Association in the village directs Shinji to care and help other people.
ABSTRAK
Widyantoro, Ari. (2007). The Influence of Setting of Place toward Shinji Kubo in Yukio Mishima’s The Sound of Waves. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Studi ini membahas sebuah novel yang be rjudul The Sound of Waves. Novel ini merupakan salah satu novel kisah cinta pertama terbaik karangan Yukio Mishima. Cerita ini bertempat di sebuah perkampungan nelayan di Jepang yang jauh dari modernitas kehidupan. Tokoh utamanya adalah Shinji Kubo, seoran g pemuda miskin yang jatuh cinta kepada seorang wanita bernama Hatsue, putri dari orang terkaya di desa tersebut. Tujuan penulisan skripsi ini diawali dari keinginan penulis untuk mengetahui apa saja pengaru h dari latar terhadap tokoh utamanya.
Ada tiga rumusan masalah yang berhubungan dengan topik dari skripsi ini. Rumusan masalah yang pertama adalah membahas bagaimana penggambaran tokoh utama di dalam novel tersebut. Latar juga menjadi fokus di dalam analisis ini, maka perumusan masalah yang kedua berhu bungan dengan penggambaran latar di dalam novel ini. Kemudian rumusan masalah yang ketiga adalah apa saja pengaruh latar terhadap tokoh utama dalam cerita novel tersebut.
Untuk menjawab perumusan masalah di atas, penulis menggunakan pendekatan formalisti k karena penelitian ini manganalisa bagaimana latar mempengaruhi seorang tokoh. Metode studi pustaka juga digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Sumber acuan untuk studi ini diambil dari Novel The Sound of Waves, buku-buku sastra, dan juga internet.
Di dalam novel ini, Shinji Kubo digambarkan sebagai pemuda berusia delapan belas tahun yang berkulit gelap dan bertubuh kekar. Dia miskin dan tidak terlalu cerdas, tetapi dia adalah seorang pekerja keras. Shinji juga seorang pendiam yang memiliki keberanian luar bia sa sebagai seorang nelayan tangguh. Cerita ini berlatar sebuah pulau terpencil yang bernama pulau Uta -jima. Pulau tersebut dikelilingi oleh lautan luas. Masyarakat di tempat tersebut sangat sederhana dan mereka hidup sebagai nelayan. Latar di novel ini mem iliki p engaruh yang kuat terhadap Shinji sebagai tokoh utama. Kondisi geografis pulau Uta -jima yang dikelilingi oleh lautan, mempengaruhi Shinji untuk menjadi nelayan sebagai mata pencahariannya. Aktivitas masyarakat di tempat tersebut membentuk Shinji men jadi seorang pekerja keras dan nelayan yang tangguh. Kegiatan sebagai nelayan di laut membuat tubuhnya kekar dan kulitnya menjadi gelap. Pekerjaannya sebagai seorang nelayan tida k memberikannya uang yang cukup , sehingga ia hidup dalam kemiskinan. Organisasi pemuda di desa tersebut juga mempengaruhi Shinji untuk mau peduli dan membantu orang lain.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
One of the interesting ways in analyzing a literary work, especially a novel, is relating one element o f that novel to another. Each of the elements never stands on its own, it works together to make a good story. It is in the working together of these elements lies the failure or success of a story. As stated clearly in Reading and Writing about Literature :
Successful prose fiction combines all the elements in such a way that there is a complex interaction among them. For this reason, it is difficult to separate single elements – to talk, for example about character without at the same time about plot or setting or conflict, because characters often determine plot, setting helps to define the characters, and conflict results from the placing of characters in situations. (Rohberger, 1971: 20)
story occurs or in other word it is the background of the story itself. In the relation with other intrinsic elements, this element of setting can influence the other elements in the novel such as plot, theme or character. Relating two different elements, in this case setting and character, will be interesting for the readers. It will give more experience in understanding a story since those intrinsic elements are related to each other.
This thesis explores how setting can influence characters, especially the main character. A character in a novel must live in a certain environment and the environment as a setting must contain human life problems. Characters can be not a human. They c an be animal or plant, for example in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Here in this novel, the character’s behavior can be shape by the place where he lives. This is supported by Murphy who says in his book Understanding Unseens.
The setting can be concerned w ith the place in which the characters live and also the time in which they live. These have a great effect upon the personalities, actions and way of thinking of the characters.” (Murphy, 1972: 141)
People’s relation to place, time, and weather, like their relationship to clothes and other objects, is charged with emotion more or less subtle, more or less profound. This relation alters according to what happens to them, some landscapes may lift their spirits, some others may depress them.
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English in 1956 after won the Shinchosha Literary Prize (Mishima, 1998: Back cover). The novel strongly figures out the setting inside the story. Mishima, the author, describes the situation, condition and the story’s background clearly. That is why this topic is chosen because the strong description of setting in the story would be analyzed to see what its influence toward the character in the story, especially the main character.
The Sound of Waves is one of Mishima’s greatest stories of first love. The scene is a Japanese fishing villa ge, where the air is rich with the salty tang of the sea, the fragrance of hemp cordage, and the invisible smoke of charcoal fires. The modern world is far away. Shinji Kubo, the main character of the novel, is a young poor boy who falls in love with a gir l named Hatsue, daughter of the richest man in village. The whole significant action takes place in an isolated island of Uta -jima, the Japanese fishing village. The life of a Japanese fishing village is still very strict. The men work from dawn to dusk. While the women, dive naked for precious abalone. There is little time for love. Yet Shinji did meet Hatsue shyly, tenderly, not quite accidentally. He did not meet her often, but their meetings were memorable. One took place during a storm in an old, ruined observation tower on the highest crag on the island.
other member inside their community. The life style of a Japanese fishing village only gives little time for love, because they spend their all day in fishing and diving activity. This makes the activity, together with the isolated island of Uta -jima, the most important element of setting of the novel.
This thesis will analyze that the setting, with the background of Japanese fishing village activity and the isolated island of uta-jima, can influence Shinji as the main character in the story in his personality, facing his life, making his own decision, and also in his relation with others. This novel shows Yukio Mishima’s ability in his writing skills , especially on his way combining in combining the setting and the character which create a great story of love.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the explanation above, the problems that occur in this thesis can be formulated into three questions. They are:
1. How is the main character in the story described? 2. How is the setting in the story described?
3. What is the influence of the setting toward the main character in the story?
C. Objectives of the Study
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explanation about how the main character in this novel is described by the aut hor. Second, it will give the explanation about how the setting in this novel is described by the author. Finally, this thesis aims to find the influence of the setting on the main character in this novel.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misconception and to clarify the point, firstly the writer would like to explain the terms used in the title of this research. There are some terms in this thesis that that should be understood first. The terms presented here are:
1. Setting
According to Abrams (1981: 175) in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms, setting in a novel refers to the general locale, historical time and society
circumstances in which its action occurs. To support this analysis, the writer will also use another term of setting. As Guth said in his book The literary Heritage:
Setting is the time and place of events of a story. Often the setting helps shape the characters and events. Village or city, north or south, poor or wealthy neighborhood, mountain country or coast ---all these help decide h ow people live. They help decide what the people will be like and what is most important in their lives. (Guth, 1981: 729)
2. Character
3. Influence
The term of “influence”, according to Simon and Schu ster in Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary of The English Language , is “The power of persons or things to affect others, seen only in its effect” (1983: 940). So the power here produces effects on someone’s condition. In this study the writer would like to show the power of the setting in the novel in influencing its main character, especially in affecting the character’s physic and psychology.
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part is review of related studies. This part discusses the criticism of Yukio Mishima and the novel analyzed. The second part there is theoretical ground. This part presents the theories used by the writer to analyze the novel. These theories are the basic guidance in answering the problems. Then, the result of the study will be applied to the variables which are discussed in the fourth chapter.
A. Review of Related Studies
When a piece of literary work is published and read by the public, it might invite different kinds of comment from critics or its readers. Yukio Mishima’s The Sound of Waves is one of those literary works that invites people to give comments or criticism on it.
happily. According to him, The Sound of Waves is a simple, lyrical love stor y, set on the island of Uta-Jima, which has "about fourteen hundred inhabitants and a coastline of something under three miles". The protagonists and a few other characters are nicely rendered, but Mishima devotes just as much attention to the island, givi ng such detailed descriptions of locations that one could almost paint or map them. The various scenes depict the daily life of the islanders: fishermen catching octopus, a peddler selling wares to women diving for abalone, fetching water from a spring, me n relaxing in a bath -house, meetings of the Young Men's Association, and so forth. This is romanticized -- the women are attractive and the men strong and virile, while the perils of diving and the deprivations of poverty are passed over quickly -- but fascinating just the same. With its classical simplicity and unpretentious charm, The Sound of Waves is an entrancing tale. (http://dannyreviews.com/ ) (16 September 2005)
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B. Review of Related Theories
Before analyzing the main character and the setting of the novel, the writer would like to explain some theories which will help the writer in the analyzing problems. The first part is the theory of character. The theory is meant to get the knowledge to study the main character and its traits in the story. The second part is the theory of setting which functions to lead the writer in finding the setting of the novel.
1. Theories on Character
a. Character and Characterization
According to Abrams (1981: 20), character is an imagined person who inhabits a story and it shows a distinctive type of person. In order that he is a feature that inhabits a story and shows a distinctive type of pers on, a character must be a very important feature of the fiction. Moreover to interpret the characters that are presented in a dramatic or narrative work, the reader can interpret character’s moral and dispositional qualities through what they say and what they do. This method is called characterization.
1. Personal description.
The author can describe a person’s physical appearance and clothes. Here the readers are given the telling details, for example about the face, skin, eyes, and clothing.
2. Character as seen by another.
Instead of describing a character directly the author can describe him through the eyes and opinions of another. The reader gets, as it were, a reflected image.
3. Speech.
The author can give the reader an insight into the character of one of the person in the book through what that person says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he is in conversation with another, whenever he puts forward an opinion, he is giving the reader some clue to his character.
4. Past life.
By letting the reader learn about a person’s past life the author can give the reader a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thoughts, through his conversation or through the medium of another person.
5. Conversation of others.
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other people and the things they say often give a clue to the character of the person spoken about.
6. Reaction.
The author can also give the reader a clue to a person’s character by letting the reader know how that person reacts to various situations and events.
7. Direct comment.
The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly. 8. Thoughts.
The author can give the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this respect he is able to do what the reader cannot do in real life. He can tell the reader what different people are thinking. In the novel the reader accepts this. The reader then is in a privileged position; he has, as it were, a secret listening device plugged into the inmost thoughts of a person in a novel.
9. Mannerism.
The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies which may also tell the reader something about his character. (Murphy, 1972: 161 -173)
b. Types of Characters
According to E.M. Forster, as quoted in Koesnobroto’s The Anatomy of Prose Fiction (1988: 67), on the basis importance, the characters in fiction can be differentiated into main or major character and minor character. Main character is the most important character in a story. A main character appears continuously, so it seems that he dominates the whole story but he cannot stand on his own; he needs other characters to make the story more convincing and lifelike. On the other hand, a minor character is the character of less important than those of the main.
Character also can be divided into the protagonist and the antagonist. They are clearly described on the following quotation.
The chief character in fiction or in a play is called protagonist. In many stories, an important element opponent pitted against him, and he is called the antagonist, who provides opposition. In traditional fiction the protagonist is also the hero or heroin, an admirable character that embodies widely accepted strengths and virtues, who is morally good. The antagonist in such fiction represent contracting weakness and vices, and if the antagonist in unsavory enough the word villain or villains is used. (Koesnobroto, 1988: 67 -68)
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Forster as quoted by Abrams (1981:20) also states that there are two kinds of characters. They are flat and round characters. He says that a flat character is described in a single phrase or sentence and is presented without much individualizing detail. It is compelled by a set in their creator. A round character is complex in temperament and motivation and is presented with subtle particular ity. A round character embodies all the variations and the complexities of human nature.
2. Theories on Setting
a. Setting and Types of Setting
The characters in the novel need social circumstances, place, and time as people do in the real life. Abrams (1 981: 157) describes setting as general locale and the historical time in which the action occurs in a narrative or dramatic work, while the setting of an episode or scene within a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place.
1987. In a general setting, the author only states that the story takes place somewhere in the United States nearing the end of this century, for example.
b. The Relationship between Setting and Characters
There is a clear relationship between setting and characters. The setting of the story is important in affecting action and characters as Murphy says “setting of the novel has a great effect upon the personalities, actions and way of thinking of the characters” (1972: 41). It can even be said that the characteristic pattern of a person will be formed by the condition of his environment. The setting of place and time may influence the character’s style of life, the way he speaks, the way he acts and the way he thinks. Therefore, the setting never exists by itself. It has participation in influencing the action of the character.
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that can be described, not in terms of time and place, but as a quality---sinister, humorous, formal, solemn, wry, and so on.
Whether there is a conflict between character and setting or the conflict takes place entirely I the foreground, within, between, or among the characters, the setting is impor tant to the writer’s understanding of type and of what to expect as well as to the emotional value that arises from conflict. The writer need to know in what atmosphere a character operates to understand the significance of the action.
People’s relation to place, time, and weather is very important for their emotion. This relation changes according to what happens to them, some landscapes may lift their spirits, and some others may depress them. Such emotion can be used to dramatic effect in fiction. In other words what the characters do is related the condition of the environment at that time that happens in the story. They will do something as a result of the condition.
C. Theoretical Framework
The setting of place and time influences the attitudes of the characters. Theories of character and characterization are used to answer the second question in the problem formulation.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of Study
This research uses a literary work as the object of the study. This thesis deals with one of literary works, namely a novel as the object of the study. The novel that is going to be analyzed in this thesis is The Sound of Waves, a novel written by a Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. The novel was published by Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc. The first was published in Japan under the title of Shiosai in 1954. After won the Shinchosha Literary Prize, it translated in English in 1956. In Japan this story is already regarded as one of the world’s great love stories. The Sound of Waves (1954) has been filmed several times. The first film version from 1954, directed by Senkichi Taniguchi, was shot on location in the Shima Peninsula in Mie Prefecture, home of Japan's famous women pearl divers.
B. Approach of Study
In analyzing the works of literature, some researchers have their own ways and approaches. They may be different from each other even though they may work on the same work of literature. They may have different views in learning and understanding the literary works. In this thesis, the formalistic approach is applied and used. The formalistic approach is considered to be the most appropriate approach to perform this analysis since the analysis is based on the interpretation of the work itself in terms of its content and form. The intrinsic element is the base of this approach. Therefore, the external element is unimportant for the formalistic criticism. The writer only needs to concentrate to the character, theme, point of view, plot, and setting. In this thesis the writer concentrates in the character and setting. As Guerin says in his bo ok A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature that:
The heart of the matter for the formalistic critic is quite simple: what is the literary work, what are its shape and effect, and how are these achieved? All relevant answers to these questions ought to come from the text itself. (Guerin, 1970: 70)
The quotation above means that in formalistic approach, all answers about a literary work is laid in the text itself.
Rohberger and Woods add in their book Reading and Writing about Literature that the formalistic approach only examines the novel, play, or short story without giving the external factors, such as the biography, sociology, or the literary history.
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in the development of the genre or in literary history, and without reference to its social milieu. (Rohberger, 1971: 27)
This quotation explains that the extreme formalistic critics r eject the involvement of external factor such as the author’s life, place, history, and social condition in examining a literary work.
C. Method of Study
This thesis applied a library research as the method of the study so that the materials were taken from library. The sources were used for evidence to support this thesis; they are the primary source and the secondary source. The primary source of the study was the novel itself, which is The Sound of Waves written by Yukio Mishima, meaning that all data for supporting the analysis were collected from the novel itself. The secondary sources were including books and selected criticism on the novel. In other words, those secondary sources were the observations of authorities in the literary fields. The secon dary sources were used to help strengthen this thesis.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
There are three questions that are going to be analyzed in this chapter based on what have been formulated in the problem formulation. The firs t problem is how the main character is described in the story. The second problem is how the setting is described in the story. And the third part is the influence of the setting on the main character.
A. The Description of Shinji Kubo
According to E.M. Forster, as quoted in Koesnobroto’s The Anatomy of Prose Fiction (1988: 67), on the basis of importance, the characters in fiction can be differentiated into main or major character and minor character. In Mishima’s The Sound of Waves, Shinji Kubo is the ma in character. He functions as the center of the story. He becomes the most important character because he appears continuously. So it seems that he dominates the whole story. Shinji also can be called a protagonist character because he embodies widely acce pted strengths and virtues, who is morally good.
some aspects of his character, personality, or outlook. Here, Shinji is a dynamic character. He undergoes some changes in his personality and appearance. His changes happened while he was struggling to be a good fisherman. In the beginning of the story, he is describes as a silent boy, have no spirit of life but after he meets Hatsue, he becomes a cheerful boy, full of spirit and energy so that he can save his boat from the storm.
Forster as quoted by Abrams (1981:20) also states that there are two kinds of characters. They are flat and round characters. Shinji can be said as a round character because his complexities cannot be explained in a single sentence. He also has complex problems about his life. His life as a poor boy is co ntradictory with his expectation of marrying Hatsue, the richest man’s daughter. His circle of life, his activity, his thought, and his struggle to get Hatsue is the proof that he is a round character.
To find out how the author characterizes his character, some methods of characterization are needed. Murphy (1972: 161-173) proposes nine ways, namely personal description, character seen by others, the speech, past life, conversation by others, reaction, direct comment, thought, and mannerism. However, in analyzing Shinji’s characterization, only five of those nine elements are used. They are personal description, speech, reactions, thought, and mannerism that stated in this novel.
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wearing show that he comes from the poor family. He is not smart enough because in fact he has bad grades in school. The quotation also figures out the youth’s general appearance of the Japanese fishing village. He inherits all characteristics of Uta-jima people.
The boy was only eighteen, having finished high school just last year. He was tall and well built beyond his years, and only his face revealed his youthfulness. Skin c an be burned no darker by the sun than his was burned. He had the well-shaped nose characteristic of the people of his island, and his lips were cracked and chapped. His dark eyes were exceedingly clear, but their clarity was not that of intellectuality---it was a gift that the sea bestows up on those who make their livelihood upon it; as a matter of fact, he had made notably bad grades in school. He was still wearing the same clothes he fished in each day —a pair of trousers inherited from his dead father and a cheap jumper. (Mishima, 1998: 6)
Shinji lives with only his mother and his brother. His simple dream is to be the great fisherman and go into the coastal-shipping business with his brother, Hiroshi. Shinji’s fisherman conception of the sea is close t o that of the farmer for his land. For him, sea is just like his own garden. It can be seen on the quotation below.
And this boy’s simple daydream was only to own his own engine -powered boat some day and go into the coastal shipping business with his young er brother. (Mishima, 1998: 19)
brother’s school excursion cost. In other side his mother also supports him to be a fisherman after he finished high school.
Shinji is also such as silent person. He is more in thought than states his mind in words. He never talks too much while facing othe r person. For example in attending the Young Men’s Association meeting, he only comes and listens to what discuss there, as seen in this quotation:
When Shinji entered the hut one boy was kneeling on all fours under the lamp, having his hair cut by a frien d with a pair of slightly rusty hair clippers. Shinji smiled and sat down on the floor against the wall, clasping his knees. He remained silent as usual, listening to what the others were saying.
(Mishima, 1998: 21)
Everyday Shinji goes fishing on Taihei-maru ship all day long. He works together with his friend named Ryuji and also the owner of the ship, Jukichi Oyama. Shinji is such quiet person. While he works, he looks so seriously and only has little words to say. The proof is in the quotation below.
Again the Taihei-maru spent the day octopus fishing.
During the eleven hours they were out in the boat Shinji threw his whole soul into the fishing and scarcely once opened his mouth. But as he usually had very little to say, his silence was not particul arly noticeable. (Mishima, 1998: 37-38)
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Often at night they would sit up late arguing ridiculous points. Such subjects as love and marriage, or whether the human body can take as large an injection of salt as of dextrose, were sufficient to keep them talking for hours. The person who maintained his point with the most stubbornness usually won in the end, but the reasoning of Yasuo, who had been president of the Young men’s Association on the island, was so logical that it even won the respect of his elders. As for Shinji, he always sat silent, hugging his knees and smiling as he listened to the other’s opinions. (Mishima, 1998: 154)
Basically Shinji is a kind person who is honest. His heart is full of goodness. It may figure out in the scene while he is in the ship of Utajima-maru together with Yasuo as the rival of getting Hatsue’s love. In that time they are talking about having the picture of Hatsue. It can be seen on this quotation below.
Shinji knew without a doubt that this was a lie and his heart was filled with a glee.
A few moments later Yasuo spoke very nonchalantly. “Do you have one too?” he asked.
“Have one what?” “A picture of Hatsue.” “No, I don’t have one.”
This was probably the first deliberate lie Shinji had ever told in his life. (Mishima, 1998: 156)
Actually at that time Shinji did not want to discuss Hatsue’s picture. One day Yasuo is bragging about being adopted by uncle Terukichi as Hatsue’s husband, and Shinji feels that for him it is a most unusually devious means of revenge. So he asks Yasuo if he had a photograph of Hatsue.
Talk of this girl and the image of the girl he had seen on the beach yesterday immediately took fast hold of each other in Shinji’s mind. At the same instant he recalled, with a sinking heart, his own poor condition in life. The recollection made the girl whom he had stared at closely only the day before seem very, very far away from him now. Because know he knew that her father was Terukichi Miyata, the wealthy owner of the two coasting freighters chartered to Yamagawa transport---the hundred-and-eighty-five-ton Utajima-maru and the ninety-five-ton Harukaze -Utajima-maru---and a noted crosspatch, whose white hair would wave like lion whiskers in anger. (Mishima, 1998: 18)
Shinji realizes his condition that he only comes from poor family. In other side Terukichi Miyata, Hatsue’s father, is known as the richest man in the village. He cannot imagine how uncle Terukichi will be angry if he knows that Shinji loves his daughter. He feels his confidence is falling after knows the fac t of Hatsue’s background. Even in that time, when he goes to Yashiro shrine he prays to God if someday he will deserves to get someone likes Terukichi’s daughter.
“….Then there’s a different sort of request I’d like to make… Some day let even such a person as me be granted a good-natured, beautiful bride…. Say someone like Terukichi Miyata’s returned daughter….”
(Mishima, 1998: 25)
Like people in several villages, Shinji also likes to help other people. He is a caring person, especially to the people who had also helped him. It is shown while Shinji often brings some of his catch to the lighthouse keeper’s house. Mrs. Light House keeper had helped Shinji for his graduation from the high school.
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couldn’t support her family any longer if her son’s graduation were postponed. (Mishima, 1998: 9)
As a person who likes to help other people, Shinji is easy to give his hand for someone who needs it. One afternoon when he comes back from fishing and walks home through the beach, he helps the last boat that is being pulled up to sand. The boat only has few men and sever al women to make it. And without thinks too much Shinji helps to push up the boat straightly.
The last boat was just being pulled up onto the sand. There were only a few men to turn the winch and to help it along by pulling on the rope, so the women, who usually only placed the “abacus” frames under the keel, were pushing from behind. It was obvious that no headway was being made. The beach was growing dark and no trace was to be seen of the grammar-school boys who usually came out to help. Shinji decided to lend a hand.
Shinji’s arms were powerful. In an instant the boat was sliding up over the mother and his younger brother. He asks God to protect his mother while she works at sea and his little brother who is still a child.
Shinji prayed in h is heart: ….Please protect my gentle mother and my brother, who is still a child. When my mother enters the sea in the diving season, please protect her body somehow from all the many dangers…..
(Mishima, 1998: 25)
owner of the ship, and his partner Ryuji. Everyday he goes fishing from dawn to dusk.
Shinji stood with his legs spread wide, one foot stretche d to the prow, and continued his endless tug -of-war against whatever there was in the sea. One hand -pull by one hand -pull, the rope came up. Shinji was winning. But the sea was not surrendering: one after the other, mockingly, it kept sending the pots up—all empty. (Mishima, 1998: 16)
His quality as a hard worker also can be seen while he joins the Utajima-maru ship, the huge ship of the island. He takes an order to tie up the lifeline by
swimming across the stormy sea twenty-five yards far away. In that time he fights the cold water and moves his body inch by inch to reach the buoy across.
A terrible force was upon the boy’s arms; something like an invisible bludgeon belabored them as they tried to cut a way through the waves. In spite of himself, his body was tossed on the waves, and when he tried to bring his strength onto opposition to the waves and grapple with them, his movements were as useless as though he were trying to run through grease. The boy swam with all his might. And, inch by inch, step by step, the huge mass of the enemy fell back, opening the way for him. It was as though a drill were boring its way through the hardest of solid rock.
(Mishima, 1998:163)
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night at sea while the ship needs th e lifeline to be tied in the buoy. Shinji takes the order and swims through the stormy sea bravely. It is shown by the quotation below.
Shinji and the sailor looked up at them inquiringly. The captain stooped over them and shouted to the three youths in a loud voice:
“Which one of you fellows is going to take this lifeline over there and tie it to that buoy?”
The roaring of the wind covered the youth’s silence.
“Don’t any of you have any guts?” the captain shouted again. Yasuo’s lips quivered. He pulled h is neck down into his shoulders.
Then Shinji shouted out in a cheerful voice, and as he did so the white flash of his teeth shone through the blackness to prove that he was smiling.
“I’ll do it,” he shouted clearly. “Good! Go ahead!”
(Mishima, 1998: 161)
Most of all what the characteristics that appears in Shinji’s personality is his strong believe in God. He is a religious person. In the island there is a place that is called Yashiro shrine. People usually visit it to pray to Watasumi-no-Mikoto, God of the sea. Shinji often goes to the shrine to ask for the safety of himself, his mother, his brother, and even the people in the island. One night, after attending the Young Men’s Association meeting, Shinji makes a pray in Yashiro shrine. It can be seen below.
(Mishima, 1998: 25)
Then also when Shinji is invited to join the apprenticeship in Utajima-maru ship that will goes abroad, he and his mother do not forget to visit the Yashiro
shrine before. They pray for Shinji’s safety in order he can back to the island without any trouble.
When Shinji heard this, his heart was filled with anxiety, pain and then, at the same time, hope.
Together with his mother, Shinji went to Yashiro shrine to pray for a safe voyage and to obtain a charm.
(Mishima, 1998: 149)
Generally Shinji Kubo as the main character in the story can be described as a kind or good person. He is an eighteen year old young man who works as a fisherman. He has simple future thought about having his own coastal shipping business. He is a hard worker in doing his job. on other side, he such as a silent person and has no confidence too much. But what is inter esting that he is a caring person and likes to help other people. Besides that he is also honest and has an amazing bravery while doing his work at sea. Mostly his good characteristic appears from his high level of religiosity basically.
B. The Description of Setting
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that has known activity as a Japanese fishing village. And the third is the description of Utajima Island society.
First is the description of Uta-jima Island. Utajima Island has beautiful view of sea and mountains. Geographically, it consists of coast , forest, and mountain range. The coastline exists in the west. It lays between the ports of Uji-Yamada and Yokkaichi in Tsu. In the northwest there stands a shrine called Yashiro shrine. While in the north there is the Chita peninsula, then the Atsumi pen insula is in the northeast.
The island has two spots with surpassingly beautiful views. One is Yashiro Shrine, which faces northwest and stands near the crest of the island. The shrine commands an interrupted view of the wide expanse of the Gulf of Ise, and the island lies directly in the straits connecting the gulf with the Pacific Ocean. The Chita Peninsula approaches away to the northeast. To the west you can catch for the youths of Uta-jima the school excursion is the only access to see the outside world.
Uta-Jima—Song Island—has only about fourteen hundred inhabitants and a coastline of something under three miles. (Mishima, 1998: 3)
remember the existence of such things as streetcars clanging back and forth along the streets of a city. (Mishima, 1998: 56)
The number of the inhabitants in this isolated island enables the community to know each other. They can easily recognize the outsider who comes to the island. It also happened to Shinji when he saw Hatsue for first time. He straightly knows that she is a new comer in the island.
The boy could not remember ever having seen this girl before. There should not have been a single fa ce on Uta-jima that he could not recognize. At first glance he took her for an outsider. But still, the girl’s dress was not that of outsiders. Only in the way she stood apart, gazing at the sea, did she differ from the vivacious island girls. (Mishima, 19 98: 8)
Second is the description of the activities in Uta -jima. Uta-jima is a Japanese fishing village. Therefore, most of their life activities are at the sea. The life of a Japanese fishing village is still very strict. The men work from dawn to dusk, while the women dive naked for precious abalone. This condition shapes the community to focus on their work everyday.
Today, as everyday, the boy had gone out fishing on the Taihei-maru, a small, engine -powered boat, together with its owner and one other boy. Returning to port, they transferred their catch to the Co-operative’s boat and then pulled their own up onto the beach. Then the boy started for home, carrying the halibut he was going to take shortly to the light house. As he came along the beach the twilight was still noisy with the shouts of fisherman pulling their boats up onto the sand. (Mishima, 1998: 7)
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operations centered about Garden Beach, on the eastern side of Benten Promontory. This quotation shows it.
The young girls of the island faced the arrival of the diving season with precisely the same heart -strangling feeling city youths have when confronted by final school -term examination. Their games of scrambling for pebbles on the bottom of the sea close to the beach, begun during the early years of grade school, first introduced them to the art of diving, and they naturally became more skillfu l as their spirit of rivalry increased.
(Mishima, 1998: 135)
The divers of Uta-jima were at their busiest during June and july. Their operation centered about garden Beach, on the eastern side of Benten Promontory. (Mishima, 1998: 136)
Like the ancient v illage construction, Uta-jima has one place that is used to take a bath for the inhabitants. This public bath is usually crowded by people in the morning and after noon, even until evening. There is no one who has their own baths in this island. The public bath is divided in two parts, one for men and the other part for women. This quotation describes it.
Even the richest houses in the village did not have their own baths, and this night Terukichi Miyata went to the public bath as usual. He brushed through the curtain at the entrance with a haughty toss of the head, ripped off his clothes as though plucking a fowl, and flung them toward a wicker basket. His singlet and sash missed the basket and scattered themselves across the floor. Clicking his tongue loud ly, he picked the garments up with his toes and threw them in the basket. It was an awesome sight to those who were watching, but this was one of the few opportunities left for Hatsue’s father to give public proof that, old though he was, his vigor was undiminished.
(Mishima, 1998: 105)
The stream was fed by a spring. Perhaps it was because the rains that fell on the peaks of the island all filtered down to this spring, but whatever the cause, this was the only such spring on the isla nd. Hence the village government had long since been given the power of determining the order in which the villagers should draw their water, the order being rotated each week.
Only the lighthouse filtered rainwater and stored it in a tank; all the other
Society is also part of setting. The writer will present the description of Uta-jima society as the last setting description. The life of people in Uta-jima is quiet simple. They still practice the conservative life style. Both men and women do their daily activities as usual as the other fishing village generally. The men go fishing, while the women do the housework and go diving in the summer for abalone.
Men go out fishing. They board their coasting ships and carry cargo to all sorts of ports. Women, not destined for that wide world, cook rice, draw water, gather seaweed, and when summer comes dive into the water, down to the sea’s deep bottom. Even for a mother who was a veteran among diving women this twilight world of the sea’s bottom was the world of women….
(Mishima, 1998: 68)
Most people in Utajima live in average mid -low economic level. Generally they depend on the work at sea as a fisherman or diver. Their income is more or less enough for living in an isolated island like Utajima.
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People of Uta-jima have a bad habit that is gossiping. They are gossiping on almost anything, for example in the Ape -god Society. They were gossiping about Shinji when Shinji’s mother came to the meeting. When they see Shi nji mother came, they stop talking.
But the situation did not take a turn for the better. The following evening Shinji’s mother went to a meeting of the Ape-god Society, the women’s one and only club, and, the moment she appeared, everyone stop talking, lo oking as though they had just had a wet blanket thrown over them. Obviously they had been gossiping. (Mishima, 1998: 104)
The youths of Uta-jima also like gossiping others. They usually do their gossiping activities in their “sleeping house”. They are al so gossiping about Shinji’s relation with Hatsue.
The next evening, when Shinji went to the Young men’s Association, flinging the door open as casually as always, he found a group of youths gathered around the desk, eagerly discussing something beneath th e glare of the unshaded electric bulb. When they caught sight of Shinji they fell silent for a moment. There was nothing but the sound of the sea floating in to fill the bleak room, seemingly empty of all human life. (Mishima, 1998: 104)
Even in the publi c bathroom, they still gossip about Shinji’s relation. This time Hatsue’s father hears it. The gossip about his daughter and a poor boy has made him mad. He is angry with the gossipers and kicked them in the back.
over their heads without warning, and kicked them in the back. (Mishima, 1998: 107-108)
Another bad habits relating to their gossiping habit is that once they heard the rumor and make it into a gossip, it will not disappear for months.
Thus the rumor which Chiyoko had originated and Yasuo ha d broadcast came to be whispered persistently at every crossroads in the village. And yet it still had not reached the ears of Hatsue’s father. Then one night there occurred the incident that the village would not tire of talking about for months to come. (Mishima, 1998: 105)
Another bad habits that Uta-jima people do is that the woman always exhibiting and comparing their breast to each other. This habit usually happens during diving season. Uta -jima women always dive naked. After they emerge from the sea after taking the abalone, they always sit around the drying-fire. While they are warming their body at the fire, they are comparing their chests.
[...] The water was no longer of that freezing temperature that made the diver rush to put on their padded garments and huddle around the fire the minute they emerged from the sea
Laughing boisterously, all the divers were thrusting out their chests, boastfully exhibiting their breasts. One of them started to lift her breast in both hands. “No, no, it’s no fair using your hands. There is no telling how much you might cheat if you used your hands.”
“Listen to who’s talking! Why, with those breasts of yours you couldn’t cheat even if you did use your hands.”
Everybody laughed. They were arguing as to who had the best-shaped breasts. (Mishima, 1998: 137)
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friends. They also discusses about health and education. It is shown in the quotation below.
That night Shinji attended the regular meeting of the Young Men’s Association. This was the name now applied to what in ancient times was called the “sleeping house”, then a dormitory system for the young, unmarried men of the island. Even now many young men preferred to sleep in the called The Ape -God Society. This association is only followed by women only, no men and youths.
The following evening Shinji’s mother went to a meeting of the Ape -god society, the women’s one and only club, and, the moment she appeared, everyone stopped talking, ... (Mishima, 1998: 104)
story is divided in to three; geographical condition, activities of fishing village, and Uta-jima society.
C. The Influence of Setting toward the Main Character
The analysis of setting influence on Shinji’s ch aracter will be divided into three parts. The first part is an analysis on the influence of Uta-jima geographical condition toward Shinji’s character. The second analysis deals with the influence of the Japanese fishing village activities toward Shinji’s c haracter. The last analysis deals with the influence of the society of the island toward Shinji’s character.
1. The Influence of Uta-jima Geographical Condition toward Shinji’s Character
Shinji lives in Uta -jima Island, a remote small island which has be autiful views of sea and mountains. The sea is separated from the land by a beautiful coastline. The mountains are also green with trees. Since Shinji lives in this island, whether accepted or not, the island’s geographical condition influences Shinji’s character. This small island is surrounded by an endless sea. This condition makes its inhabitants depend their life on the sea, so does Shinji. Because Shinji depends his life on the sea, the sea shapes Shinji to be a good fisherman. Everyday, he goes fishing on the Taihei-maru, a small, engine -powered boat, together with the owner and Ryuji, his friend.
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by this condition, Shinji is also worshipping this god. Shinji and all the inhabitants are worshipping Watatsumi-no-Mikoto. Shinji and all inhabitants always pray to this god. They pray for calm sea and also for being saved from the perils of the sea. They also build shrines for this god of sea. The shrine called Yashiro Shrine.
Yashiro Shrine is dedicated to Watatsumi -no-Mikoto, god of the sea. This is an island of fishermen and it is natural that the inhabitants should be devout worshipper of this god. They are forever praying for clam seas, and the very first thing they do upon being rescued from some peril of the sea is to make a votive offering at the sea-god’s shrine. (Mishima, 1998: 4)
Shinji, sometimes, also prays alone in this Shrine . As a devoutly believer, he always prays for anything. He prays for everyone that he knew. He also asks the god to give him a beautiful wife like Hatsue. Before he prays, he made an offering to the god and asked for his attention.
He tossed a ten-yen coin into the offertory chest. Thinking a moment, he tossed in ten yen more. The sound of his clapped hands, calling the god’s attention, sounded through the Shrine garden, and Shinji prayed in his heart: “God, let the seas be calm, the fish plentiful, and ou r village more and more prosperous. I am still young, but in time let me become a fisherman among fishermen. Let me have much knowledge in the ways of the sea. In the ways of the sea, in the ways of fish, in the ways of boats, in the ways of the weather ....in everything. Let me be a man with surpassing skill in everything...Please protect my gentle mother and my brother, who is still a child. When my mother enters the sea in the diving season, please protect her body somehow from all the many dangers...Then there’s a different sort of request I’d like to make....Someday let even such a person as me be granted a good-natured, beautiful bridge.... say someone like Terukichi Miyata’s returned daughter....” (Mishima, 1998: 24)
condition also makes Shinji easily recognize an outsider who comes to the island. This happens when he saw Hatsue for the first time. He thinks that Hatsue is an outsider because he has never seen her but then he realizes that the dress of the girl is typically of Uta-jima’s people.
The boy could not remember ever having seen this girl before. There should not have been a single face on Uta -jima that he could not recognize. At first glance he took her for an outsider. But still, the girl’s dress was not that of outsider. people or children see out side world only through school’s holiday trip. The trip may take a week long. The students are very excited to see outside world. They can see car, tall building and movie. Because they see it for the first time, they often have misperception about those n ew things. They see a horse and call it a big dog.
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as streetcar, tall building, movies, subways. But then, once they had seen reality, once the novelty of astonishment was gone, they perceived clearly how useless it had been for t hem to try imagine such things, so much so that at the end of long lives spent on the island they would no longer even so much as remember the existence of such things as streetcars clanging back and forth along the streets of a city. (Mishima, 1998: 55-56)
Never leaving the island, Shinji only knows one kind of food, which is fish. When he brings fish for the lighthouse keeper, the lighthouse keeper asks him to come in and eat with them. They eat cocoa but Shinji describes it to his mother as a sort of foreign bean soup because he never saw something like that before. Shinji only eats fish, either in raw slices or with vinegar and sometimes grilled or boiled.
“ Was the lighthouse -keeper pleased?”
“ Yes. He said: ‘come in, come in, ‘ and then asked me to have something they called cocoa.”
“ What was it, this cocoa?”
“ Some sort of foreign bean soup is what it seemed like.”
The mother knew nothing about cooking. She served their fish either in raw slices —sometimes vinegared —or else simply grilled or bo iled —head, tail, bones, and all. And as she never washed the fish properly, they often found their teeth chewing on sand and grit as well as fish. (Mishima, 1998: 12)
The writer can conclude that the geographical condition of Uta -Jima Island has affected Shinji in the matter of his simple life style. His island is surrounded by sea, therefore, he lives from sea, worships the god of the sea, meets few people and knows everybody, never see outside world and only eat fish.
2. The Influence of the Fishing Village Activities toward Shinji’s Character
abalone. This habit in the fishing village is also affect ing to Shinji. As a fisherman, Shinji has to work hard from dawn to dusk. Everyday, he goes fishing on the Taihei -maru, a small, engine powered boat, together with its owner and Ryuji, his friend. They are doing octopus fishing. They use pots to catch the octopus. The octopus pots are tied with a rope and then sink it below the surface. The octopus will enter the pots and use it as protection against its enemy. The fishermen get the octopus by pull the rope and get the pots out of water and take out the octopus. Shinji pull the heavy rope with his bare hands.
The wind was bitterly cold, but while he pulled the first rope toward the pulley Shinji stared out over the dark-indigo sea and felt boiling up within him energy for the toil that would soon have him sweating. The pulley began to turn and heavy, wet rope came rising from the sea.
Soon the octopus pots themselves were rising to the surface, showing a red-clay color. Ryuji stood waiting at the pulley. If a pot was empty, he would quickly pour the water out of it and, not letting it strike the pulley, again commit it to the care of the rope, now sinking back into the sea.
Shinji stood with his legs spread wide, one foot stretched to the prow, and continued his endless tug -of-war against whatever there was in the sea. One hand -pull by one hand pull, the rope came up. Shinji was winning. But the sea was not surrendering: one after the other, mockingly, it kept sending the pots up—all empty
More than twenty pots had already been pulled up at intervals of from seven to ten yards along the rope. Shinji was pulling the rope. Ryuji was emptying water from the pots. Jukichi, keeping a hand on the sculling oar and never once changing his expression, silently watched the boys at their work.
Sweat gradually spread across Shinji’s back and began to glisten on his forehand, exposed to the morning wind. His cheeks became flushed. Finally the sun broke through the clouds, casting pale shadows at the feet of the quickly moving boys. (Mishima, 1998: 16)
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they have to tie a number of large hooks and lines on a cross bar, tie it to a stout hawser and put the boat in motion, drags the hooks across the floor of the sea like a rake. He also takes them off by his bare hands.
[...] the Taihei-maru sailed back into the gulf of Ise to do some “drag fishing” on the sly in the prohibited waters there.
To make their drag they tied a number of large hooks and lines on a crossbar, tied it to a stout hawser, and then, putting the boat in motion, dragged this across the floor of the gulf like a rake. After a time they pulled the drag in; with it four flatheads and three soles came flapping up from the water.
Shinji took them off the hooks with his bare hands. The flatheads fell to the blood-smeared deck, their white bellies gleaming. The black, wet bodies of the soles, their little eyes sunk deep in folds of wrinkles, reflected the blue of the sky. (Mishima, 1998: 17)
Doing such heavy works, Shinji got the advantages from that. His body becomes very strong and he has a well-built body. This well -built body and good stamina is the effect of his fishing activity. Since he works from dawn to dusk, the sun burns his skin. He is characterized to have dark skin. The sun has burned his skin into its darkest color.
He was tall and well-built beyond his ye ars, and only his face revealed his youthfulness. Skin can be burned no darker by the sun than his was burned. (Mishima, 1998: 6)
His fishing activity does not earn much money. He only earns four thousands yen as his share from fishing activity. This hap pens because he should share the money with Ryuji and the captain.
percent savings deposit, and maintenance costs. Shinji received four thousand yen from the master as his share. It had been a good take considering that the height of the fishing season was already past. (Mishima, 1998: 38)
His earning is barely enough to live his family. This money shortage brings his family and most of families on the island into poverty. Shinji’s poverty is clearly seen by looking at his clothes. “He always uses the same clothes for fishing, a pair of trouser inherited from his dead father and a cheap jumper” (Mishima, 1998:6). This poverty has led Shinji into stupidity. Because he is poor, he never eats nutritious food and never receives proper education. Therefore, Shinji is rather stupid, his grades in school were bad and he has failed his final examination. The school planned to postpone his graduation, but with the help of the lighthouse keeper, he passes the graduation. As a poor boy, Shinji has a great dream to lift his family from the poverty. He dreams to be a great fisherman and own his own boat. This dream gives spirit to Shinji to work even harder.
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never make him receive enough money. Therefore, he lives in poverty. The Young Men’s Association directs Shinji to socialize, work together, and help each other.
3. The Influence of the Society toward Shinji’s Character
The life of people in Uta-jima is very simple. They only practice the conservative life style. The men go fishing while the women do the house work and go diving for precious abalone. This conservat ive way of life has influenced Shinji. Shinji also thinks in a simple and conservative way. He has simple future thought. He only wants to be a fisherman among the fishermen. He only wants to have his own boat to raise the family’s economy.
The society of the island is only consisted of fourteen hundred inhabitants. The society has a bad habit, which is gossiping. This habit of gossiping makes Shinji to be more careful with what he said. Once they have rumors, the gossip will not disappear for months.
Thus the rumor which Chiyoko had originated and Yasuo had broadcast came to be whispered persistently at every crossroads in the village. And yet it still had not reached the ears of Hatsue’s father. Then one night there occured the incident that the village would not tire of talking about for months to come. It took place at the public bathhouse. (Mishima, 1998: 105)
Therefore, Shinji prefers to be silent and only listening to what other says, especially about Hatsue.
be brave and never give up. When he is in apprentic e seamen or maritime training, his
The roaring of the wind covered the youth’s silence.
“Don’t any of you have any guts?” the captain shouted again. Yasuo’s lips quivered. He pulled his neck down into his shoulders.
Then Shinji shouted out in a cheerful voice, and as he did so the white flash of his teeth shone through the blackness to prove that he was smiling.
“ I’ll do it,” he shouted clearly.
“Good! Go ahead!”(Mishima, 1998: 161)
Shinji has learned from his senior that bravery is needed to conquest the storm. He is very ashamed because he is only cowering against the storm. He decides that he has to beat the storm if he really wants to be a great fisherman.
Shinji rose to his feet. He was ashamed of himself for the way he had been squatting on the deck until now, practically cowering. The wind came attacking out of the black reaches of the night, striking him full in the body, but to Shinji, accustomed to rough weather in a small fishing -boat, the heaving deck on which his feet were firmly planted was nothing but a stretch of earth that was frankly a bit out of sorts.(Mishima,1998: 161)
The captain helped him to tie the rope. At the first time he feels unsure with the task. He feels afraid of the storm after seeing the waves beneath him.
[...] “ Tie this around your waist and swim for it! When you reach the buoy, haul the lifeline over and make it fast!”
