Thursday, December 1, 2011

Why Does the Narrator Give Us the Heebie Jeebies?

           Why is the Narrator making everyone so uncomfortable? In a broad sense, we all go through puberty, we are all curious about death, and we all have had moments when we are positive that our sexual excitement is inappropriate. The idea that the author is writing from a child’s point of view with an adults intellect is important. If we were all able to express the ideas we formed, as well as images we desired as children we would all have made the adults surrounding us glance around and shuffle their feet. I do however, believe that it is important for us to remember the pure, unabashed, imaginative thoughts of our childhood. Too often are we stifled by what we believe others may think of us. This is not to say that I believe that everyone should act upon their base desires, that would be disastrous, there would be sex and murder all over the place. I am mostly just opening the door to the idea that we have turned our desires into what we think are solitary, disgusting, unnatural thoughts. In reality we all have the same base instincts, it is how we, as adults, react to these instincts that makes us connected individuals.

4 comments:

  1. Becca,

    I think you have brought up an interesting point. I do think that it is important to note that the narrator is thinking thoughts that normally a child wouldn’t, but an adult would. I can definitely understand why the adults around our narrator would feel uncomfortable. I mean who wants to discuss topics that have been on our minds that have only been brought up by a child. Not only is it disturbing to them that a child would think this, but it may make them think that he may not be the only child out there with these thoughts. I also agree with you when you say that we have been turning our natural desires into thoughts that should be frowned upon. Everybody thinks these thoughts, no matter what sex they are. I mean, even animals do! With this said, I think that it is only natural for our narrator to think this, it is just an uncomfortable feeling to read what is coming from a child’s point of view. I’m sure some children have thoughts like these more than we are lead to know. They probably just don’t announce it to the world like teenagers and some adults do. I think that pointing out the intellect of our narrator at such a young age is something to keep in mind throughout the rest of the novel.

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  2. I had a very similar thought as I got into the book. I found myself asking, "what about this narration seems so creepy?" What I realized is that it seemed like the way he was describing his thoughts and experiences were so well crafted, that it became uncomfortable to listen to. Hearing those thoughts from a child, with that much description is bizarre and unsettling. No one wants to hear a child describe his or her desires and passions in such a "beautiful" fluent commentary. Our ideal picture of innocent minded children with nothing but good thoughts is a great misconception. Children have a curiosity that many of us loose after much time, and we forget that curiosity uncovers itself on many levels. Honestly, I sometimes wish that I could have a better and clearer memory of my childhood so that I could, as an adult, verbalize what went through my head. There were many instances as a child where I wish that I could explain maturely what my thoughts meant to me, but much of my childhood thoughts left me in confusion. That all being said, is does create a very embarrassing and anxious platform in which we must follow the main character when he is writing from a child's perspective with an adults syntax.

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  3. Hmm . . . Grace's comment on this thread has me thinking about the extent to which this a fundamental issue of the bildungsroman (which describes almost all of the novels we've read). Perhaps what Mishima's getting at here is highlighting the tension between the child and the child as narrated by the adult? Something that kind of tugs at our awareness in other novels but is front and center here?

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  4. The aversion and uncomfortable reaction the narrative invokes in many might be due to the fact that we recognize now having matured beyond the initial curiosities of childhood that these are not thoughts one acts upon. Granted some of the thoughts, such as his attraction to the like gender, are arguably natural, hurt no one, and only draw a negative note in a society that doesn't accept them, but generally torture, murder, cannibalism, and mutilation are shunned with good reason; they are directly and openly destructive to an individual and a society. Because of this nature reading such descriptions may lead us to recall when we wondered about them ourselves, make us uncomfortable, and as such desire to withdraw from them.

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