and he are the only virgin graduates from the English Academy. They even keep the moral sanctions of their friendship after becoming university students that
affects their innocence. When Kanai is seventeen years old, his father becomes an official in
Kosuge prison in Tokyo and decides to move to Kosuge. Kanai spends his weekends by visiting his parents at Kosuge. Kanai’s mother knows a girl who is
very skillful in playing koto. The girl occasionally visits Kanai’s mother so that sometimes Kanai meets her when he is on holidays. Being closer enough to
Kanai’s mother, it is discovered that the girl wants to be Kanai’s wife. She looks for a husband who is at least a university graduate, and that is the reason why she
approaches Kanai. But since Kanai does not consider marrying anyone at that age, he refuses it. He chooses to focus on his education.
I didn’t especially dislike this clever, active girl, but because I had no interest in marrying that early, nothing came of the entire episode, falling
through like water absorbed in sand 107.
The seriousness of Kanai in achieving a good education from his study also proven by the way he studies hard. Kanai says “Since the graduation exams
were drawing nearer, I thought of going to some quieter place to study for them” 108. He willingly goes to his house in Mukojima which is a perfect place for
preparing the exams. As a result, he graduates from the university at the age of nineteen. There is an opinion from someone that Kanai is so young to be
considered as a university graduate. He graduates without any experience in a special relationship with a woman. Yet, his hard work is ready to be paid off.
Kanai thinks that he has a big chance to study abroad, so he waits for the good PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
news. “There was talk I would finally go abroad to study next year. As usual I idled away my time in our house in Kosuge” 127.
Kanai is twenty one years old when finally the decision of going abroad is given. His achievement in getting a higher formal education is a real evidence of
how far his motivation can bring him. That same year on the seventh of June I received the government order
allowing me to study abroad. I was to head for Germany. I went to the home of a German to study conversation with him. My
studies during my early days at Ikizaka proved quite helpful. I boarded a ship at Yokohama on the twenty fourth of August. It so
happened that I left Japan without marrying anyone 146.
Kanais sacrifice to repress the desire of love, relationship, and even sensual pleasures certainly helps him to get what he pursues.
4.1.2 Getting More Friends
Kanai is an introvert person. He has only few friends in his school or neighborhood. So when he has a new friend who shares similar thoughts and
interests with him, he will keep the friendship to last. The esteem needs are the needs that Kanai tries to fulfill by making friends. If the needs are satisfied, a
person can be more confident, capable, and productive 303-304. When Kanai returns to Mukojima during summer vacation, he finds a friend named Eiichi Bito.
They have something in common, which is reading. It is what makes Kanai maintain his good relationship with Eiichi.
Eiichi, whose face was flat and yellowish, was morose and taciturn. He was quite good at Chinese literature. He was most enthusiastic about the
famous poet and Confucian scholar Sankei Kikuchi. I read his anthology, Seisetsuroshisho, after borrowing it from Eiichi. I read Kikuchi’s parody
of a Chinese classic, Honcho-gushoshinshi. When I heard that Sankei had PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
published some poems, I went to Asakusa and bought Kagetsushinshi, the magazine they appeared in, came home, and read them. The two of us
even attempted composing some poems ourselves. We tried writing short essays in the manner of the Chinese classic. These were the kinds of things
we enjoyed doing most 80.
They share the same hobby and enjoy some quality time together. Since Eiichi is a person who seems to avoid sensual pleasures at least until he has a degree, this
influences Kanai. As the friendship grows, Kanai’s interest in knowledge and studying also grows. Eiichi becomes a good friend to support Kanai and his
interest, “I competed with Eiichi in our exercises of composing essays in the Chinese manner. When we became more interested in it, we wanted to study
Chinese composition with a good teacher” 96. As time passes by, Kanai begins to get along well with Koga, his
dormitory roomate. Through Koga, finally he also has a friendship with Kojima. The three young man are about to become best friends. This alliance is another
factor that makes Kanai sustains his normal sexual life. Like Eiichi, Koga and Kojima also influence Kanai to remain safe from sensual pleasures, as “Kojima
was a most innocent child. His sexual life was a complete zero” 94. On the other hand, Koga is actually not that innocent. Sometimes after drinking some sake and
not feeling in a good mood, he will leave the dormitory, usually at night, to release his sexual desire, but then he will regret it 94.
Kanai does not think of sexual desire in such point of view as many other students in the school do partly due to the friendship he has with Koga and
Kojima. They have a big role in avoiding Kanai to associate with other students who can become stumbling blocks for him. The three of them often get together
and criticize other students’ behavior 95. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4.1.3 Having a Normal Life
Kanai’s thought about sexual life is basically always positive. He is attentive of the values and consequences related to sexuality. He prefers to stay
away from sexuality matters as well as he can. His self-actualization needs are completed by having a normal life. When Koga’s friend, Adachi, happens to have
an intimate relationship with a prostitute, Kanai reflects the issue as something deviating yet can be understood if it happens in the society.
Of course I felt no greater joy existed than obedience to one’s parents. And for the sake of this obedience it was a fine thing to restrain one’s sexual
desires as much as possible. It was not strange, however, to find that some human beings were unable to 100.
Kanai sustains his normal sexual life also for the sake of health. He does not want to get any disease from an abnormal sexuality may cause. He thinks that
“Concealed at the bottom of my heart was, afterwards, a kind of uneasiness. It concerned the question of whether or not I might pick up some awful disease”
139. His awareness of abnormal sexuality lets him not to distract his life focus with sexuality problems.
From the discussion above, the reasons of Kanai’s action for sustaining his normal sexual life are revealed. He is motivated by the will to get a higher
education, to get more friends, and to have a normal life. Therefore, he chooses to stay in the right direction of life, trying not to be involved in negative influences.
Then, after finding out the motivation, the analysis continues to the second problem.
4.2 The Effects of Shizuka Kanai’s Action on His Life Achievement
There are two major discussions in this part, sexuality and goals in life. As explained before in chapter 2, sexuality is divided into normal and abnormal.
There are thirteen types of abnormal sexual variants namely homosexuality, bisexuality, transvestism and transsexualism, prostitution, fetishism, assault
sexuality, voyeurism, exhibitionism, sadism, masochism, incest, pedophilia, and raping. The theory of sexuality is used to find out the sexual orientation of some
characters in the novel, while the theory of goals in life provides information about steps taken to achieve goals which relate to Kanai’s action.
4.2.1 On His Study
Kanai’s consideration of good and bad things has been started from the time when he is still young. When he is ten years old, he watches the Bon Festival
dancing which is quite popular in the province. At the time he enjoys the festival, he hears a conversation of two dancers talking about a prostitution area.
While I was watching the dance, I happened to overhear some masked dancers talking to one another. Apparently the two men knew each other.
“Last night you went to Atagoyama, didn’t you?” “What you making that up for?”
“Oh no? Someone said you did.” While they were arguing in this way, another man beside them cut in:
“If you go up there early in the morning, you can find a lot of stuff left behind.”
A burst of laughter followed. Feeling as if I had touched something dirty, I stopped watching the dance and returned home 46.
Kanai knows that the conversation is something he does not suppose to hear, so he decides to leave the festival even though he actually does not know exactly the
real essence of the conversation. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Kanai is eleven years old when he sees prostitutes for the first time. Kuriso, the steward who becomes Kanai’s friend when he is alone, asks him to go
for a walk together. They pass some places and eventually come to a street which has many women whose faces are covered with white paint. Kanai thinks that
their faces are not ordinary. They have strange face make-up and look similar one another. “Though I didn’t understand what I was witnessing at that time, I later
learned that these faces were for sale. These were the faces of prostitutes” 52. The women call and tease Kuriso, but he enters the shop where the woman he
already knows is. Kanai does not feel comfortable with the situation that he hesitates to go into the shop.
A remarkably high-pitched voice yelled these words. Kuriso entered the woman’s shop and sat down. Since I merely stood where I was, a look of
disgust on my face, Kuriso waved me in to take a seat 52.
Kuriso and the woman talk about an adult topic. Their conversation is something that Kanai cannot join. Kanai does not mind because he knows that the woman is
a type of person he avoids. They spoke in this way. Their words had two kinds of meaning. Kuriso
never considered I would be able to conceive the second meaning behind their words. The woman also treated me as if I were nonexistent. Not that I
was complaining however. I found her quite disagreeable. I didn’t want to have her talking to me 53.
It shows that Kanai has developed a mature sense of sexual life from young age. He already knows how to choose the kind of life that is best for him.
In the same year, Kanai studies German and lives at Professor Azuma’s house. He focuses so much on the study that he does not find it interesting to
explore the sexual life. One day, he discovers a conversation between the houseboy and the maid of Professor Azuma.
