Swaddling Clothes By Yukio Mishima Analysis

Fanuel Teclai

College Prep

Mr.Haberl

Per.9

“Swaddling Clothes” is a story about a Japanese woman who experienced some tough time about the newborn baby who was delivered in Toshiko’s house because of his poverty. This is showing how class structure has a big influence in Japanese culture. An analysis of “Swaddling Clothes” by Yukio Mishima through the Marxist and historical lenses suggests that the story is really about how the Japanese people were greatly influenced by the western people during the 1950s, which led the Japanese people to lose their identities.

Western people influenced Japanese people to follow the American culture. The western culture had a huge impact in the Japanese people because American’s were in Japan’s territory so they decided to follow the western culture. ‘’After Japan surrendered in 1945, ending World War II, Allied forces led by the United States occupied the nation, bringing drastic changes. Japan was disarmed, its empire dissolved, its form of government changed to a democracy, and its

economy and education system reorganized and rebuilt. Years of reconstruction were required to recover from thousands of air raids, including the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the 1950s, a former enemy became a Western ally, parts of American culture became part of the Japanese landscape and Japan began to find its economic footing as a manufacturer consumer devices and electronics.’’(Alen Taylor) This shows how the Japanese people were not in control of their country and it was hard for them to do whatever they want. It was a tough,they still had the power to of stick with their culture, but they decided to let the situation takeover. ”In 1945, when Mishima was twenty years old, he witnessed the surrender of Japan to the United States which was radio broadcast nationwide by Hirohito.Japan was to be occupied by United States military from 1945-1952 and forced to accept an American written constitution that dictated radical changes in the country’s political structure.” (Swaddling Clothes) This shows the negative impact World War II had on Japan and how this made some of the Japanese people act like the western people. Japanese people prefered western culture over their main culture, this built a lot of ignorance and the respect they had on their culture. No one brainwashed them but it looked better than their culture. The people that were acting western weren’t forced to act that way but they chose to do so. ”Earlier that evening, when she had joined her husband at a nightclub, she had been shocked to find him entertaining friends with an account of ‘the incident.’ sitting there in his American-style suit, puffing at a cigarette, he had seemed to her almost a stranger.” (137) Toshiko’s husband is careless because he picked western culture over his family. It’s fine to have some fun and associate with them but family should come first. Family means supporting each other and being there. But we don’t see that in Toshiko's husband .

The Marxist lens shows how the upper classes were influenced to just think about themselves and be selfish about everything. Toshiko is not happy with the way her husband is acting and she doesn't like the fact she is separated mentally and physically. ”Toshiko feels alienated from her husband not only for his inability to share her concern for the nurse’s apparent loss of moral values in modern society, but also for his own light-hearted, non-reflective participation in modern,”western” influenced life. Toshiko’s husband’s acceptance of and participation in modern western culture is also expressed through the American style clothing he wears and the ‘western’ style, parquet-floored house he chooses to live in” (Girard 2002).This shows how Toshiko’s husband chose the Western culture over his wife and son. His wife is in bad situation, but he didn’t care at all because he doesn’t want the western people to think he’s leaving them. The western people know that he likes being with them because he makes them laugh and have a couple drinks with them. ‘I didn’t waste any time. I rescued our good rug from the floor and spread a blanket for her to lie on.The whole time the girl was yelling like a stuck pig.’(138) This shows how they treated the poor lady’s new born baby so different. If it was a kid from a rich family they would of treat it so differently. But since the kid was from a poor family they immediately thought of their rug getting dirty. They didn’t show any sympathy or felt sorry about their actions. This shows how greedy and selfish they were because they didn’t realize that people matter more than things.

As I read the first paragraph of “Swaddling Clothes,’’ I thought that the story was going to be about a woman that doesn’t get attention or respect from her husband.However, after reading the story I realized that there was deep and emotional message.

My thoughts about the story was right Toshiko experienced a tough situation as a wife she didn’t get the love she wanted from her husband and had a miserable life. Toshiko always questions herself whether her husband likes her or not because he doesn’t spend enough time for her to think that he loves or care about her. The time period was not that great and that why her husband didn’t make any effort to show some sympathy and help her around with the situation she was in. She was pregnant at that time and that’s why she couldn’t do whatever she wanted to do and change the situation, she was looking for someone to help her but no one helped

her.