The perspective of Japanese society toward homosexuality as seen in Yukio Mishima’s forbidden colors.

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xii ABSTRACT

LYDANTI, JULIAN TRI. The Perspective of Japanese Society Toward

Homosexuality As Seen in Yukio Mishima’s Forbidden Colors. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015.

This thesis discusses Yukio Mishima’s novel entitled Forbidden Colors. The novel tells about the life of homosexual who are facing the reality and the relation of his homosexual life with the society. This study discusses the main character’s characteristic as a homosexual and how he deals with the society with his sexual disorder and how the society is behaving toward homosexual.

The purpose of this research is to find the answer to the topic of Yukio Mishima’s Forbidden Colors about the perspective of Japanese Society toward homosexuality in Japan. The first objective is to find out how homosexuality in Japan is described in the novel through the characters and the setting. The second objective is revealing the society perspective on homosexuality in that era by relating how homosexual lives in the society and how society actually see them with the description of the characters and the setting.

The writer used library research in this study. The writer managed to find suitable sources containing necessary data and information by considering the factors of validity, accuracy, and also appropriateness that could finally decide which sources could be used. The primary source was the novel Forbidden Colors by Yukio Mishima.

The writer finds out that the society described in the novel is verbally rejecting homosexuality but technically in their daily life they tend to ignore the homosexual activities. They do not banish the homosexuals from the society because they do not want to be influenced or involve by anything related to homosexuality. The society thinks that homosexuality is a shameful behavior and do not want to acknowledge it and they only accepted heterosexuality as a straight sexuality.

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xiii ABSTRAK

LYDANTI, JULIAN TRI. The Perspective of Japanese Society Toward Homosexuality As Seen in Yukio Mishima’s Forbidden Colors. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2015.

Skripsi ini membahas novel Yukio Mishima berjudul Forbidden Colors. Novel tersebut bercerita tentang kehidupan dari homoseksual dalam menghadapi realita dan hubungan kehidupan homoseksual dengan masyarakat. Studi ini membahas karakteristik dari tokoh utama sebagai seorang homoseksual dan bagaimana tokoh utama tersebut menghadapi masyarakat dengan penyimpangan seksual yang dia alami dan bagaimana masyarakat bersikap terhadap homoseksual.

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mencari jawaban dari topik mengenai novel Forbidden Colors karangan Yukio Mishima tentang pandangan dari masyarakat Jepang terhadap homoseksualitas di Jepang. Sasaran pertama adalah mengetahui bagaimana homoseksualitas di Jepang digambarkan di dalam novel melalui karakter dan setting. Sasaran kedua adalah mengungkap bagaimana perspektif masyarakat pada homoseksualitas di jaman itu dengan menghubungkan cara hidup para kaum homoseksual di masyarakat dan bagaimana masyarakat sesungguhnya menanggapi mereka dengan penjelasan karakter dan setting.

Penulis menggunakan penelitian pustaka dalam studi ini. Penulis mendapatkan sumber yang sesuai yg berisi data dan informasi yang dibutuhkan dengan mempertimbangkan faktor keabsahan, ketepatan, dan kepantasan yang bisa ditentukan sumber mana yang dipakai. Sumber utama skripsi ini adalah novel Forbidden Colors karangan Yukio Mishima.

Penulis mengetahui bahwa masyarakat yang dideskripsikan di dalam novel secara lisan menolak homoseksualitas namun secara teknis di dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, mereka cenderung mengabaikan aktifitas para homoseksual. Masyarakat tidak menyingkirkan para homoseksual dari dalam bagian masyarakat karena mereka tidak ingin terpengaruh atau berurusan dalam hal apapun terhadap homoseksualitas. Masyarakat menganggap bahwa homoseksualitas adalah hal yang memalukan dan tidak mengakuinya dan mereka hanya menerima heteroseksualitas sebagai seksualitas yang lurus.

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THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAPANESE SOCIETY TOWARD

HOMOSEXUALITY

AS SEEN IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S

FORBIDDEN COLORS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

JULIAN TRI LYDANTI Student Number: 084214079

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

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THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAPANESE SOCIETY TOWARD

HOMOSEXUALITY AS SEEN IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S

FORBIDDEN COLORS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

JULIAN TRI LYDANTI Student Number: 084214079

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2015

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the undergraduate thesis

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma Nama : Julian Tri Lydanti

Nomor Mahasiswa : 084214079

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul

THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAPANESE SOCIETY TOWARD

HOMOSEXUALITY AS SEEN IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S

FORBIDDEN COLORS

Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau medialain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal 31 juli 2015

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vii

You don’t need to listen

everything

that people said about you. Simply

trust in yourself.

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viii



For My Beloved Parents,

My Beloved Brother and Sister,

My Beloved Friends,

And

My Sweetheart

In the Hope of a Better Future



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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I am most grateful to God, Allah SWT, who is always with me anytime and anywhere. I also thank my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum., for being patient to guide and help during my thesis writing process. I would like to thank him for his support and suggestions to improve and make my thesis better. I thank my co-advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. for her guidance and suggestions to fix any weaknesses in my thesis and improve my thesis to be better. I would also thank all of the lecturers and staff of English Letters Department, Sanata Dharma University. I thank them for their support during my study.

Then, I thank my beloved and wonderful parents, H. Supardam and Hj. Darti, for their everlasting love and support during my study and my great life in Yogyakarta. I would also thank my lovely brother and sister, Heryanto and May Handayani for their moral support and their advice about my studies and my big family for their love and support during my thesis writing process.

I would also thank my Dear Friends, Ika Fitri Purnamasari, Ephifania, Ellok Dyah Anggraeny, Chisa Isti and all of Atachi’s members. I thank them for their support, love and also for letting me be a part of their wonderful life. I thank my best friends in English Letters Department, Yunita Prabandari, Monica Immanuela Bendatu, Hanna Maria and Irina Virgiastuti Supolo for being best friends, best family and great supporter in my thesis writing process.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE………... ii

APPROVAL PAGE………. iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE………... iv

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY………... v

LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH……... vi

MOTTO PAGE……… vii

DEDICATION PAGE………. viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS………. x

ABSTRACT……….. xii

ABSTRAK………. xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……… 1

A. Background of the Study………. 1

B. Problem Formulation……… 6

C. Objectives of the Study……… 6

D. Definition of Terms……….. 7

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE……….. 8

A. Review of Related Studies……….. 8

B. Review of Related Theories……… 13

1. Theory ofCharacter and Characterization... 13

2. Theory of Setting... 15

3. The Relationship between Literature and Society…... 15

C. Review of Homosexuality in Japanese Society……… 17

D. Theoretical Framework……… 21

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY………... 23

A. Object of the Study………. 23

B. Approach of the Study……… 24

C. Method of the Study……….. 25

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS……… 27

A. The Description of Japanese Society through the Characters and Setting………..…. 27

1. The Description of the Society through the Characters………..………. 27

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2. The Description of the Society through the

Setting………. 32

B. The Perspectives of Japanese Society toward Homosexuality Seen in the Novel Forbidden Colors……… 36

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……… 48

BIBLIOGRAPHY………. 51

APPENDIX... 53

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xii ABSTRACT

LYDANTI, JULIAN TRI. The Perspective of Japanese Society Toward

Homosexuality As Seen in Yukio Mishima’s Forbidden Colors. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015.

character’s characteristic as a homosexual and how he deals with the society with his sexual disorder and how the society is behaving toward homosexual.

The purpose of this research is to find the answer to the topic of Yukio

Mishima’s Forbidden Colors about the perspective of Japanese Society toward homosexuality in Japan. The first objective is to find out how homosexuality in Japan is described in the novel through the characters and the setting. The second objective is revealing the society perspective on homosexuality in that era by relating how homosexual lives in the society and how society actually see them with the description of the characters and the setting.

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xiii ABSTRAK

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1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Literature somehow reflects humankind and also the life itself. Authors not only wrote fiction, but also they are framing the picture of life and everything about it within their works. Framing life means that authors also framing humanity too. The author has experienced many things and poured it into his writing that it is a proof that what is actually happened in the reality. As the author makes it as a basic in his fiction, it can depict what the society is looked like. Before the writers explains any further about the society and it relation with the society, this is a definition of society that written by Henry Pratt Fairchild in his book Dictionary of Sociology.

Society means a group of human beings co-operating in the pursuit of several of their major interest, invariably including self-maintenance and self-perpetuation. The concept of society includes continuity, complex associational relationship, and a composition including representativeness of fundamental human types, specifically men, women, and children. Ordinarily, also, there is the element of territorial establishment. Society is a functioning group. It has to be sharply differentiated from fortuitous temporary or non-representative groups or aggregations such as a mob, the passenger on a steamship, the spectators at ball games, or the inhabitants of army camp (Fairchild, 1970:300).

According to the quotation above, society is a bunch of people who are form into groups that living in specific place in a long term and co-operating to each other in order to make a harmonious life. It is not same with a crowd of people in a place like passenger in a bus or a spectators of any sport games because there are just hang out together in a specific time. As it is written above

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that “Society is a functioning group” that it is means that the society has a specific

function that in this case that society has the privilege to control people‟s behavior

and attitude.

According to Rene Wellek and Austin Warren in their book Theory of Literature, they wrote about the relation of society and literature. It can be seen in the quotation below.

Literature is a social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation. Such traditional literary devices as symbolism and metre are social in their very nature. They are conventions and norms which could

have arisen only in society. But, furthermore, literature „represents‟, „life‟; and „life‟ is, in a large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been

objects of literary „imitation‟(Wellek and Warren, 1956:94).

According to the quotation above, about „literature is a social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation.‟ means that literature is created by the society and the literature itself, according to the quotation above, means represented of life or imitation of life. The author is a member of society and the literary works he or she writes is imitate the life and represent the way people life in the society and there are the norms and rules that society has which is people have to obey and act accordingly to those rules and norms. In this thesis, the writer is discussing about the unusual topic that sound taboo for some people, generally by the society. It is about homosexuality.

Mostly people know about homosexual as a relationship between the same genders. It is not completely wrong but the word homosexual has broader meaning. According to Huffman, homosexual is a person who has sexual attraction tendency toward members of his or her own sex (Huffman, 1997:340).

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That means it is not only covering men but also women. In this thesis, the term homosexual focus in the meaning of relationship between men. The terms which are commonly used to refer homosexuals, such as gay for men and lesbian for women, are considered more refined than the word homosexual itself.

Homosexuality, being one of many different kinds of sexual deviations, has aroused many pros and cons. Many people think that it is unusual behavior but considers it as one of sexual orientation and they think it is normal, but some other considered it to be a sin or a crime. They cannot accept homosexual as normal people and they tend to avoid them or blaming them for their odd behavior. However people who consider homosexuality as a normal thing, thinks that to be a homosexual is part of human right. People can choose what they want and what they will be. No one can judge them wrong or not.

Homosexual tends to separate themselves from the society because they know that they are different from normal people. They are being judged as sinful people and mostly normal people will misjudge them, even though the homosexual never did anything wrong to the people whom talking bad about them.

The perspectives towards homosexuality are diversed, by religion and mental health professional. According to religion, the leader of some religion consider homosexual as a sinner and treating them like a criminal and as for the mental health professional, in this case a psychologist, homosexuality is a psychological disorder. “Although these perspectives differ and are at points mutually exclusive, the underlying message is clear. Homosexuality is bad and

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shameful, to be feared and suppressed” (Branon, 1996:293). Because of it, the homosexual feels suppressed and they face some difficulties to express their feeling to their beloved one in public and choose to isolate themselves in small group. From the history of Japan itself, the Japanese tends to be in a group and they do not like being differentiated or being treated differently so they prefer to follows what the dominant side is doing.

In Forbidden Colors by Yukio Mishima, the theme of this novel is homosexuality at post-war era in Japan. Through this novel, the writer wants to find out about homosexual attitude and how the society is seeing it at the time the story takes place. The reason why the writer does this study is to know how the Japanese society sees homosexuality. It is known that nowadays some people seem to not mind about homosexuality and start to accept is as a common thing, not as sexual disorder. Japan has a long history about homosexuality and based on this, the writer wants to give the reader a better understanding of Japanese society perspectives in seeing homosexuality and the cause of the changing history of homosexuality at that time. This is a quotation from Mark Mclelland from his

book related to the writer‟s reason for choosing the topic of this thesis.

In Japanese society the two paradigms of homosexuality as act (it is something that you do) and identity (it is something that you are) coexist. The traditional nature of personal identity (defined through social role) and the prioritisation of exterior (role) over interior (desire) in Japanese society make it easier for same sex desiring men to marry women and define themselves through social roles rather than sexual acts (Mclelland, 2000:239-240).

As stated in the quotation above that in Japanese society, homosexuality has two paradigms as act and identity which are coexist. What it means as an act

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is homosexual is regarded as an unusual act and it can happened to someone because of any influence from the surrounding of that people to be homosexual and it is not consider as someone‟s identity. The identity here means that the people who have an identity as homosexual usually feels that he is born as homosexual and it is not influenced by other people. It is written above that the people who have an identity as homosexual prioritized a social role that stated himself as a normal person and decides to marry a woman in order to hide his identity as a homosexual because of society‟s demand. This is a further explanation from the quotation above.

Homosexual men in Japan are aware of being trapped in someone else‟s discourse. Unlike America or Europe where there are a variety of discourses which seek to define the meaning of same-sex love, some of which are controlled by homosexual people themselves, in Japan these discourses are primarily the product of heterosexual fantasy. Although Japan does have extensive gay media, they reflect the general tendency in Japanese society to treat sexuality as a form of entertainment; this has resulted in homosexual men being largely caught up in other people‟s projections which either ridicule them or idealize them. Unlike some western countries, Japan has exceedingly few organisations or facilities where gay men can meet for purposes other than sex. If a gay man wants to meet other gay men, he has to go to bars or cruise spots: further emphasising the idea that homosexuality is simply about sex (Mclelland, 2000:240).

The quotation from Mclelland‟s book above is explaining how the homosexual men in Japan are trapped in other people‟s thought. In this case, homosexual men in Japan is being criticized by other people regarding to their identity. It is written in the quotation that in western countries, homosexual men is ruled by their own kind and normal people cannot disturb their identity or treat them poorly. The homosexual men in Japan are treated by the society as a form of entertainment. They make fun of them and ridicule them and they have the idea

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that homosexuality is just about sex and nothing else. The homosexual men in Japan do not have any rights to identified themselves in the society because the society do not want to acknowledge them as society‟s member.

B. Problem Formulation

Based on the idea described in the background of the study, the problem is formulated as follows:

1. How is the society described through the setting and the characters? 2. What is the Japanese society‟s perspective toward homosexuality seen in

the novel?

C. Objectives of the Study

From the statement above, the purpose of the study are to find out how homosexuality in Japan is described in this story through the characters and the setting and how the society perspective on homosexuality in that era. This thesis, furthermore, aims to understand and answer the question stated previously. The problem formulations contain the question that has relation with the topic that the writer wants to discuss.

The writer wants to know how the homosexuality is described from some

characters‟ point of view that is used to reveal the society in the novel in the terms of seeing homosexuality. It can be seen from the setting of time and place in the novel that indicates the homosexual life in that time. The writer then wants to know how the society perspective toward homosexuality is depicted in the novel.

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D. Definition of Terms

In this thesis, the writer is giving explanation about homosexuality. The definition of homosexuality can be seen from the explanation below.

Homosexuality

As the writer has mentioned in the introduction, most people think homosexuality as a sexual contact between individuals of the same sex. However, this definition is not quite complete. The term homosexual refers to: a definition of self, sexual behavior, and emotional affiliation. The following definition incorporates a broader spectrum of elements. A homosexual person is an

individual „whose primary erotic, psychological, emotional, and society interest is

in a member of the same sex, even though that interest may not be overtly expressed‟ (Crooks, 1983:291).

However in this thesis, the term homosexuality refers to a minority group membership. In this sense, the individuals, sharing a gay identity develop communities similar to ethnic, religious, and cultural minorities (Corsini, 1994:151-152).

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

Forbidden Colors depicts the life of a young homosexual in post-war Japan. It offers not only an insight into gay culture, but also an examination of the deeper implications of being attracted to members of one‟s own sex. More broadly, it is a novel about secret lives, and of finding the balance between the gratification of desires, and ones social responsibilities.

As far as the writer‟s knowledge, there is one research that already done by Yulita Widayati that discusses similar topic with this thesis. The topic is about the society‟s perspective toward homosexuality seen in British society. The thesis entitled “The Perception of British Society Toward Homosexuality in the Early Twentieth Century (A Study of Foster‟s Maurice)”. In her research, Widayati tells that society in British is influenced by religion teaching as it is written in the quotation below.

The social perspectives and judgement on homosexuality actually was based on the Christian teaching. Most British citizenz are all Christian. They based their lives on the bible. They regard the bible as a written norm and value that should be practiced in their society. Because of that, the Bible also influenced the governmental law, including that for homosexuality. The legal sanction given to homosexuals were that some of them were sent to the prison or exiled to the other country. Even in the past decades, some of them were sentenced to death (Widayati, 2000:57-58).

It is explained in the quotation above how the society in British sees homosexuality. Because of the influence of religiosity, the Christian teaching,

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homosexuality is seen as something sinful and forbidden. Meanwhile the thing that makes the research written by Yulita Widayati different from what the writer do is the writer discusses about the Japanese society in sees homosexuality and what makes it different from the other research is that the Japanese society have a long history about homosexuality and the Japanese society do not have any religion influence in seeing homosexuality. There are not any religions teaching that condemn homosexuality.

Being a homosexual is surely not an easy way to live that there are a lot of difficulties to face in the society and how the person who is a homosexual have to act towards other people. According to David W. Atkinson:

The theme of homosexuality as a socially alienating force also surfaces in Mishima's Kinjiki (1953; Forbidden Colors) and signals how human happiness is rooted in rejecting the causes of this alienation… Yuichi is plagued by guilt because he feels he is betraying both his wife and his mother; he must give them what society demands, including a child, but is in the process untrue to himself. That this veneer of respectability is a fiction is further revealed in a host of characters in the novel, who enjoy positions of immense social influence and wealth but who hide who they truly are as a consequence (Atkinson, 1989:60).

In his review, Atkinson states about the alienation that is felt by homosexual from the society. As in the quotation written above, the theme of homosexuality is often related to the alienation from to the society because the society cannot accept homosexual as a common thing that makes those homosexuals tend to separate themselves from the society. Atkinson wrote in his review about Yukio Mishima‟s major literary works that is themed about the dissatisfied of the author towards Japanese society as Atkinson wrote “Mishima sees a Japanese society that is stultifying to individual freedom”. In the quotation

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above, it explains about the alienation as the main character from the novel, Yuichi who is a homosexual, lead his dual life as a homosexual and as a husband. It is written in the quotation about how the main character in this novel feels betrayed by both his wife and mother because he thought to give them what society demands but is in the process untrue to himself. It shows about someone who wants to have a position in the society but in order to make it happen he has to hide his real self as a homosexual as a consequence. Atkinson also wrote that there are some issues of social bankruptcy in Forbidden Colors, that can be seen from the other characters. Shunsuke Hinoki is a famous writer who is a woman hater and sees Yuichi as a tool of revenge for women who are hurt him. The social bankruptcy seen in the character of Shunsuke Hinoki can be viewed from the quotation below.

Seeing himself as the victim in several unsuccessful marriages, Shunsuke is a committed woman-hater, who sees in Yuichi a way of gaining his revenge against womankind in general. Yet Shunsuke's actions are a visible signal of the very values that society has praised in his books. The "beauty" of Shunsuke's writing is praised by those "poisoned by intellectual hedonism" who have "replaced concern for humanity with individualism . . . [and] violently torn beauty from the arms of ethics." These "great intellects" represent a spiritually bankrupt culture and society for which truth is little more than immediate sensation devoid of understanding. Thus the promiscuity of the homosexual subculture signals the spiritual corruption of society generally (Atkinson, 1989:60).

Shunsuke is an old author that wrote mainly about his hatred toward women and heterosexual. As it is written above that his writing is praised by the society for its implicit content and its beauty. The „great intellects‟ here means the society that it is explained in the story that the truth they seen is not an actual meaning that Shunsuke tried to delivered in his writing. It is merely an immediate

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sensation without deep understanding. The other characters that get involved with Yuichi who share the same problem are Mr. Kaburagi and his wife.

The same kind of moral bankruptcy is evident in the lives of Count and Mrs. Kaburagi. Count Kaburagi presents himself as a philanthropist and supporter of good causes, yet his vast fortune is the result of "gentlemanly villainy". That Mrs. Kaburagi shares her husband's moral values is confirmed in how, despite her sexual loathing of him, she remains in the marriage because it expresses "the love of partners in crime". Her fascination with Yuichi indicates her inability to appreciate his complexities, and suggests how society's superficial demands mitigate true human understanding (Atkinson, 1989:60).

In the quotation above explain about how Mr. Kaburagi and his wife appearance as a person who is looked like as a good person that have done many good deeds in the society but the truth is they are desire for Yuichi. Mr. kaburagi is attracted to Yuichi‟s body and youth as Mrs. Kaburagi is desire for yuichi‟s beauty. Mr. Kaburagi offers money and job to Yuichi so Yuichi can be his. Mrs. Kaburagi is curious of Yuichi‟s beauty and the darkness in Yuichi allure her to fall in love with Yuichi They cannot see Yuichi as a human being but just treat him as someone who can please their own desire and lust. Below is the quotation about how Yuichi is described regarding his condition through the story:

While Yuichi is consumed with his own physical needs, he is not incapable of personal reflection on his life. Thus when his child is born, he insists on being with his wife as she goes through a Caesarian section. Yuichi, in experiencing his wife's suffering, comes to see how his pursuit of pleasure anesthetizes him from the corruption of his own life. Significant, however, is that Yuichi is still drawn back to the homosexual world he knows to be corrupt (Atkinson, 1989:61).

From the passage above, it is explaining about Yuichi‟s indecisive personality to become a homosexual or a normal husband for his family as he is still searching for such a fit and comfortable place for him to life and because he

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seek for a pleasure, he cannot really go far from his homosexual life. He also needs security of his status as a husband and also a father of an infant. Thus he is trapped in the dreamy reality for his pleasure in his homosexual lifestyle and a cruel reality which he is bearing a responsibility as a leader of Minami‟s household.

The other study that the writer uses to reveal some explanation about the history of homosexuality in japan is from the book written by Mark. J. Mclelland. The title of his book is Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan: Between Cultural Myths and Social Realities. It splits into nine chapters. It contains about homosexuality in Japanese history and the development of the homosexuality until present time. It explained in the book how homosexual is seen in japan and what the image of homosexual in Japanese society eyes is. In his book, he gives a brief guide of history of homosexuality in japan to the reader. He gives the explanation about the homosexuality from each era, including the era when the story of this novel takes place, the post-war era. As for Forbidden Colors, Mclelland stated:

Mishima‟s treatment of homosexuality is marked by and undercurrent of anxiety and self-doubt, even self-hatred. He conceives of homosexual men as a distinct subgroup who are forced to associated with each other in order to appease their sexual desire which is characterized as a misfortune. The alienation of homosexual men from mainstream society is emphasized in scenes contrasting the hidden, furtive activities of gay men which take place behind closed doors in bars or in „closed‟ public spaces (Mclelland, 2000:26).

In the quotation above, Mclelland also said similar thing with Atkinson about the alienation that homosexual felt from the society. It emphasizes of the

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setting of place as it mentions about public space. The writer used these statements above as fundamental information to relate the studies with the problems that are being analyzed.

Those are some of related studies that the writer used to conduct this research. For the related studies that the writer choose is mainly discussing about some important feature of the novel such as setting and the theme of the topic of this research, how the homosexuality grows in japan and the consequence of the homosexual bear as they are alienate from the society.

B. Reviews of Related Theories

To analyze the setting in Forbidden Colors, there are some theories needed. The purpose is to know about the characteristic from the characters that have a big influence to main character and setting, such as time and place the story sets. As the main topic is homosexual and how the society‟s perspective about it, the theory of character and setting is needed. The theories that being used are the theory of characterization from Abrams, theory of character from and theory of setting from Holman and Harmon.

1. Theory of Characterization

The writer is using this theory to analyze the characters in the story and how the other characters influence the main character and their behavior. This is an explanation about theory of characterization.

A broad distinction is frequently made between alternative methods for characterizing (i.e., establishing the distinctive characters of) the persons in a narrative: showing and telling. In showing (also called "the dramatic method"), the author simply presents the characters talking and acting and leaves the reader to infer the motives and dispositions that lie behind what

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they say and do. The author may show not only external speech and actions, but also a character's inner thoughts, feelings, and responsiveness to events; for a highly developed mode of such inner showing, see stream of consciousness. In telling, the author intervenes authoritatively in order to describe, and often to evaluate, the motives and dispositional qualities of the characters (Abrams, 1981: 33-34).

From the explanation above, Abrams explain that the characterization can be seen from the characters speech and action so the readers can understand the motives and dispositions that lie behind what they say and do. The reader also can see the detail of the story not only from external speech and action but also from a character‟s inner thought, feelings and responsiveness to events. By using this theory, the writer tries to find out how the society describe through the character‟s action and behavior, also it can be seen from what the character is feeling and response toward homosexuality. Another theory that the writer uses is theory of character from Barnet. In his book, he explains the way to understand the character and characterization in a wider view. The descriptions of theory of character by Barnet contain:

a. what the character says

How the character says will help the readers interpret his or her characteristic.

b. what the character does

The readers or audience can learn the attitudes or behaviors of a character and they may guess how actually the author creates the characters.

c. what the other characters says about the character

A character interacts with other characters. They share their opinion and gives comments about the character. Such opinion and comments may reflect the characteristic of the character drawn (Barnet, 1988:712).

According to Barnet, he explains how one character describes through what the character says, does and other characters say about the character. The way the author describes the character can be seen from the character or using the

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society or other character to show how the character is described. 2. Theory of Setting

The use of theory of setting is not seen just from the time and place, but also the environment and the society the story is takes a place. According to Harmon and Holman:

Setting is the Background against which action take a place. The elements making up a setting are:

(1) the geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room;

(2) the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters;

(3) the time or period in which the action takes place, for example, epoch in history or season of the year; and

(4) the general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions (Harmon and Holman, 1986:465).

As it said above that the general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions can influence the character development so the reader can understand the situation in both the environment and society around the time that is depicted from the story. The theory of setting is used by the writer to analyze the topic of this thesis because what the writer analyzes is about the society that represent by the other character beside the main character and it can be seen from the environment of the character is life or from the surrounding of the character‟s life.

3. The Relationship between Literature and Society

The relationship between literature and society is given to the reader to give the reader a further explanation regarding the topic that the writer chooses for this thesis. The writer uses the theory from Rene Wellek and Austin Warren for this thesis as it is written below.

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The relation between literature and society is that literature is an expression of society. The author conveys truth and, necessarily, also historical and social truth. The actual relation between literature and society is the sociology of the writer and the profession and institution of literature, the whole question of the economy basic of the literature production, the social provenance and the status of the writer, his social ideology, which may find expression in extra-literary pronouncements and activities. Then there is the problem of the social content, the implications, and social purpose of the works of literature themselves. Lastly, there are the problems of the audiences and the actual social influence of literature. The question how far literature is actually determined by or dependent on its social setting and social changes and development, is one which, in one way or another will enter into all the three divisions of our problem: the sociology of the writer, the social content of the works themselves, and the influence of literature on society (Wellek and Warren, 1956:95-96).

It is written above by Wellek and warren about the relation between literature and society. They wrote that the literature is a form of expression of the society. The author delivered the truth from the society and also from history of the society. They also wrote that literature is influenced by the society or depend on social development is can be seen from „the sociology of the writer, the social content of the works themselves, and the influence of literature on society.‟ Any further explanation is written in the quotation below.

Much the most common approach to the relation of literature and society is the study of works of literature as social documents, as assumed pictures of social reality. Nor can it be doubted that some kind of social picture can be abstracted from literature. Indeed, this has been one of the earliest uses to which literature has been put by systematic student. Used as a social document, literature can be made to yield the outlines of social history (Wellek and Warren, 1956:102-103).

It is explained in the quotation above that literature as a social document can be made to frame the outlines of social history and can be assumed as a picture of social reality. The literature is reflection of the society and the author

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has to convey the truth of society in his works as it is a picture of society in the literary forms.

D. Review of Homosexuality in Japanese Society

Japan has a long history about homosexuality. In this part the writer is explaining the beginning of history of homosexuality in Japan and limited the context until post-war Japan which is the story from the novel is takes a place. This part will give the reader better understanding to acknowledge the history of homosexuality in japan that related to the topic of this research. It is started since Tokugawa period (1600-1867), Mark McLelland stated in his book: There were four main contexts in which same-sex practices seem to have occurred. Firstly, within the Buddhist priesthood there is a long tradition of boy love which in popular imagination that went back to the eighth-century where monk Kūkai who was supposed to introduced the practice from China (Schalow 1992). The pattern is for a young boy serving as an acolyte (chigo) to be the beloved of a senior monk or abbot. A series of Tokugawa-period jokes and humorous stories collected by Levy (1973) also suggests that the sexual relationship between monks and acolytes was a general assumption. The second context, as pointed out by Leupp, sexual relations between masters and servants (young apprentices) were common and widely accepted (1992:98). Young salesmen who were sent out to peddle their master‟s wares seem to have also offered themselves; Statler (1961) suggests that peddlers of Chinese medicine would sell themselves as well as their merchandise and Leupp (1995) argues that aloeswood salesmen sometimes doubled as prostitutes.

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The third context in which homosexual love was practised is within the samurai strata of Tokugawa society where same-sex romantic relationships were represented in terms of an elite discourse which valorized the love of men over the love of women. The final arena in which same-sex sexual acts could be enacted was within the floating world (ukiyo) of theatres and brothels. Both actors and prostitutes occupied a similar social position in the eyes of the authorities and the theatre and brothel districts were situated close together on the outskirts of the cities (McLelland, 2000:20-21).

From the explanation that is given above that homosexuality develop from Buddhist monastery, the merchant, the samurai castle and kabuki theater. In that era, the position of men is higher than women, that have a relationship with a man is considered as an honor rather than having sex with a woman. Gary Leupp in his book says:

„One must acknowledged the likehood that throughout Japanese history some men have for whatever reason, excusively experienced and acted upon homosexual desire. The literary references to onna-girai provide evidences of such men within borgeois tradition, as do the example of men who wish to desire woman but simply cannot. But far more men would have engaged in nanshoku because it was pleasurable, convenient, not forbidden nor regarded as immoral, and suggested by the nature of power relationship of the time‟ (Leupp, 1995: 201).

Leupp stated that the condition of Tokugawa era, woman is non other than a trash, the same level as an animal. In that era, Leupp added, there is a Jianjin Yaufang writing that is written by Dinasty Ming Sun Simo version that have content a yin-yang concept of sex, that is rewritten in Japan. A philosopher, Ota Kinjo (1765-1825) using fire and water analogy, said that a sexual desire for a man is a “high desire” (jouin) whereas a sexual desire toward a woman is a “low

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desire” (kain). Because of this context, homosexual are spread wider and the Japanese society, in that time, does not have any negative opinion about homosexuality.

Entering Meiji restoration era (1868-1912), Japan‟s government tried to achieve a modern civilization to equalize Japan‟s status with the status of western country and the way to achieve it is by adjusting the Japanese culture with western moral standard. Gregory M. Pfflugfelder said in his book :

Much of the “civilized” legislation usually ascribed to the westernizing zeal of the late 1860s and early 1870s rested solidly on edo-period predecent, including prohibitions against public nudity and seminudity, the sale of erotic images (shunga) and phallic objects, and public urination (Pflugfelder, 1999: 147).

The biggest alteration from this civilization is the law of anti-sodomy had been made in 1873 and the severe punishment will be given for those who did homosexual act.

Those engaging in anal intercourse (keikan) shall each be sentenced to ninty days of penal servitude (choueki). In the case of the peerage (kazoku) and ex-samurai (shizoku), this shall be treated as Dishonorable offence. Violated youngster fifteen years and under shall not be held criminally liable. Those commiting (anal) rape (goukan) shall be sentenced to ten years of penal servitude. For attemted (rape), the penalty shall be reduced by one degree (Pflugfelder, 1999: 159).

As the regulation about homosexual acts is regarded as crime, the homosexual activities little by little have some changes in its value drastically. Homosexual acts become “something that cannot be talk about” and the homosexual have a new meaning as a “barbaric” or a “bad habit” or “immoral thing”.

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In Taisho era (1912-1925) a new terminology appeared that refer to homosexual act that is called douseiai. It is considered as a psychology disorder. A medical illness. The term douseiai actually has two meaning, it can be interpreted as „abnormal‟ and also it can be interpreted as an „illness‟. Homosexuality is regarded as a common thing that occurs since Tokugawa Era to Meiji Era but it is regarded as a crime after Japan‟s government tries to equalize Japan‟s status with western moral standard and it becomes something taboo or immoral. It changing again in the Taisho Era and homosexual act is regarded as an illness or abnormal. Because of these changing of homosexual meaning, the society also changes their point of view in sees homosexuality which they are feels ill toward homosexual people and tend to disregard them. The gay people tend to separate themselves from the society because of those reason and they make the place as they can lives freely in their own little world, together with another gay people.

At the post-war period, after the Second World-War, the time in the story is set, there are some gay bars. Gay bars are the place for gay people to socialize with other homosexuals. As the opinion of other people toward homosexual which sees it as a disgrace thing and immoral, the homosexuals cannot show their true self and choose to hide themselves from the society. Mark Mclelland stated about the gay bar and as he seen it in Yukio Mishima‟s work, Forbidden colors. He wrote in his book:

Mishima‟s treatment of homosexuality is marked by an undercurrent of anxiety and self-doubt,even self-hatred. He conceives of homosexual men as a distinct subgroup who are forced to associate with each other in order

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to appease their sexual desire which is characterised as a misfortune (Mclelland, 2000: 26).

As Mclelland states in the quotation from his book above, Mishima depicts homosexuality as it is „marked by an undercurrent of anxiety and self-doubt, even self-hatred‟. That he comprehend of homosexual men as „a distinct subgroup that are forced to associate with each other in order to appease their sexual desire which characterized as a misfortune‟. From this explanation, the homosexual here is described as a minor group that is constrained to mingle with each other to ease their sexual desire which is characterized as a misfortune or a bad thing by normal people. Because of this condition, the place that homosexual usually gather is in a hidden place because of the alienation homosexual is felt from the society.

The alienation of homosexual men from mainstream society is emphasized in scenes contrasting the hidden, furtive activities of gay men which take place behind closed doors in bars or in „closed‟ public spaces such as park bushes and toilets with the open manner in which heterosexual people, particularly families, go about their business. He speaks of Sunday, commonly known as family day in Japan, as „miserable for homosexuals

(danshokuka)’. Mishima makes homosexuality visible but as a separate

world; in doing so he only problematises it and offers few positive images (Mclelland, 2000: 27).

In the quotation above, Mclelland wrote how Mishima clarify the concept of alienation of homosexual men from the society which is emphasized in the hidden activities of gay men is done that take place closed doors in bars or in closed public spaces such as park bushes and toilet. Yukio Mishima clarified that homosexuality are visible but in a separate world from the normal society.

D. Theoretical Framework

In this section, the writer is going to give an explanation about the theories being used for this thesis. This thesis which entitled The Perspective of Japanese

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Society Towards Homosexuality as seen in Yukio Mishima’s Forbidden Colors analyze how the society seen homosexual and how they act towards it using theories of characterization and setting. Using the characterization, the writer wants to analyze how the characteristics of the society through the character of Yuichi minami and from the character of Yuichi‟s mother also through other characters. The writer is also using theory of setting to figure out how the condition of homosexual at that time in Japan from the environment and places where they do their activities as they hide from the society and also the writer try to figure out about what is society‟s perspective regarding to the place and environment of homosexual life. Then the conclusion will follow afterward.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

Forbidden Colors is first published in Japanese language with its original title Kinjiki in 1954 and in 1969. It is translated into English by Alfred H. Mark and has been printed several times by Turtle and Penguin Publishing House. The book used in this thesis is the reprint edition in 1972 which belongs to Penguin books. The novel consists of 429 pages which are divided into 32 chapters. Forbidden Colors is not Mishima’s first novel that have a theme of Homosexual. His previous novel that has similar theme with Forbidden Colors is Confession of a Mask (1948). Forbidden Colors explores the issue of sexual hedonism in post-war Japan.

Yukio Mishima is one of Japan's most-revered writers of the 20th century and he is nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director. He committed suicide in 1970 in a tragic and noble ritualistic way they have in Japan, and he is rumored to be gay, though he was definitely married to a woman.

The novel is about a man named Yuichi Minami who experiences conflicts with his sexual disorder. Yuichi Minami is the main character in this novel, but Mishima also creates another character that has influence in Yuichi’s life. An old author named Shunsuke Hinoki has big influence in Yuichi’s marriage life. He uses Yuichi to get revenge to woman because he is a misogynist.

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Yuichi trapped within a loveless marriage because of his plan. He pretty much hates women, is repulsed by the thought of his wife bearing his child, and so he frequents goes to gay bars and meets many men while engaging in sex with them. He is a young husband with a pregnant wife, an ailing mother and a promising future who is in the other hand, he is known as ‘Yuchan’ who is a homosexual. Yuichi struggles to maintain his dual worlds as he wants to be a good husband for his wife and good son for his mother. But he also can not abandon his homosexual life as he seeks for physical and emotional consolation in Japan’s vast homosexual underworld.

B. Approach of the Study

The approach that the researcher uses in analyzing the novel is sociocultural – historical approach. The writer uses the socio-historical approach to reveals the setting of place, time, and also the society at that time that the story takes a place in order to know the perspective of Japanese society toward homosexuality described in the novel. Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods stated:

Critics whose major interest is the socio cultural-historical approach insist that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produced it. They define civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and point out that literature take these attitudes and actions as its subject matter.

The traditional historical approach to literature usually takes as its basis some aspect of the socio cultural frame of reference, combining it with an interest in the biographical as well as knowledge of and interest in literary history (Rohrberger & Woods, 1971: 8-10).

The writer uses this approach to analyze the novel by relating the story of the novel with the era when the story is written. As it is stated above that

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socio-cultural historical approach is related with literary works as a reflection on

civilization, the condition of society, attitude and people’s action and the

historical background of the story and for using this approach the writer can identify homosexual life in the era takes a place in the novel.

C. Method of the Study

The writer uses library research as the method to do this study. The writer managed to find sources that contained necessary data and decided to use the suitable sources to write this thesis. The main source was the novel Forbidden Colors by Yukio Mishima. The writer also uses internet sources as the secondary data source. Therefore, some reviews and some works are used in the novel as its object of study would be used also as the data would be compared or conducted with the writer analysis.

There are some steps that the writer needs to answer the problem formulation. The first step the writer must find the characterization of the society through the character and the setting from the novel using the theory of characterization and setting. The theory that will help the writer to figure characterization are from Abram and from Barnet. And for the setting, the writer used theory from Holman and Harmon to help the writer figure out about the time and the environment in the story. Reading the novel once would not be enough for the writer, consequently, re-read it again was important in order to have a better understanding of the novel. The second steps, the writer tried to point out the condition of the society from the characters through the action and the dialogue or narration of each character that related to the topic and seen how society is

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described through the setting from the environment and how the homosexual felt about the treatment from the society through the narration or the setting and the last steps is connecting the society perspective toward homosexuality from both

the character’s and setting description in the novel Forbidden Colors by Yukio Mishima.

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

A. The Description of Japanese Society through the Characters and Setting To answer the problem formulation, the writer has to explain how the society is depicted in the story. The background knowledge about the society is required to know how the society is described in the story. It can be viewed through the characters and from the setting. The writer separates the explanation about the character and setting into two to make it easy to explain them thoroughly.

1. The Description of the Society through the Characters

In this first problem formulation, the writer explains about some characters that are involved in the story who is reflecting the society‘s condition in the novel. To know how is the perspective of society toward homosexual, the writer uses some characters that can describe the behavior or the attitude of the society. It can be seen from the conversation or the action from the characters as stated in the theory of characterization. There are some characters that are extracted from the story. Some of them are major and minor characters. The characters that are analyzed are Yuichi Minami, Yuichi‘s Mother, and also from other character that can represent homosexual and the society.

First, the writer tries to analyze Yuichi Minami, the main character of the story and an example of the homosexuals from the novel. Through Yuichi, the writer observes the treatment that Yuichi received from his surrounding and his

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behavior towards society.

Hand in hand, the two hurried out of the park. Yuichi‘s breast heaved. He drew the boy, with whom he had somehow locked arms, along with him. There on that quiet night path, where lovers often strolled, they ran.

‗Why are you hurrying so?‘ the boy gasped, gasping for breath. Yuichi flushed and stopped short.

‗There‘s nothing to be afraid of. You‘re just not used to it, big brother, are you?‘ the boy said (Mishima, 1971:64-65).

The quotation above mention Yuichi has some fear of other people‘s judgment if they see him running together, hand-in hand, with a boy in public. The park where Yuichi run with the boy is the place that is usually used by couples to go strolling and Yuichi feels uneasy and uncomfortable for being there. Another proof about other people reaction toward homosexual can be seen in the quotation below.

When they left the restaurant, Pope gently linked his arm in Yuichi‘s. Yuichi let him do it – out of disdain. The young lovers passing by were also walking arm-in-arm. He heard a youth who looked like a student murmur in a girl‘s ear:

‗Look, there; they must be homosexuals.‘ ‗Oh, how awful!‘ (Mishima, 1971:253)

The quotation above described when Yuichi left the restaurant with his lover and his lover linked his arm in Yuichi‘s arm and at the same time there are other couple who are also walking arm-in-arm. That other couple is whispering about Yuichi and the man who he is linking arm with that they are homosexual and the girl is reacting in disgusted tone.

The other character that the writer uses to show the perspective of Japanese society toward homosexual is Yuichi‘s mother. The writer choose Yuichi‘s mother as an example of society because her character represent society the most than other character like Yuichi‘s wife or any other character in the

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novel. Her action and her attitude shows how actually the society behave or think about homosexuality. It can be seen from the quotation below.

When she had seen the male lovers kissing, the widow had become violently ill and turned her eyes away.

‗If they had any upbringing, they wouldn‘t do such things!‘ As the word ―upbringing‖, not less funny than ―sexual perversion‖, floated through the widow mind, a pride that had long been dormant awoke in her (Mishima, 1971:368).

The quotation above describe when the mother sees the homosexual. She looks away from the male lovers who are kissing and she feels ill toward those men‘s action. She talks about the upbringing and refers to the act of those male lovers as disgraceful people who had poor upbringing. Yuichi‘s mother is a woman with a great pride and she cannot accept a lowly sexual perversion like homosexual.

Yuichi‘s mother, who has a high pride of herself and of her family, cannot understand why some people become homosexual. Her dislike of homosexual can be seen from her words and her action. Here is another proof of Yuichi‘s mother perspective of homosexuals.

Those men act as if they consider themselves proper, she reflected irritably. How ugly is an upside-down world! Whatever those perverts think or do, my way is the proper way. My eyes have not gone mad (Mishima, 1971:367).

The quotation above is depicts about Yuichi‘s mother who considers herself as a proper person and a well-bred woman, that she is perfectly a person who knows about proper behavior. She thought that any other way of behavior that against or different from her way is considered as a wrong way or not proper. The behaviors that she refers are the homosexuals. Yuichi‘s mother thought that

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those homosexuals consider themselves as a proper human being and they makes her feels irritated. She thought that the world has gone mad and still has an opinion that those perverts have not a proper way to live. Her eyes know what is bad and what is good.

The other proof that Yuichi‘s mother despise homosexual is when there is a letter that is sent to her address and the content of the letter is talking about the fact of Yuichi became homosexual. His mother is actually very surprises and confuses about the news she receives and she decides to find out the truth by coming to the place that is written in the letter. The place is a gay bar that Yuichi usually comes to. After she gets what she wants to see, she shows the letter on the next day to Yuichi.

‗What‘s this rubbish? This headless, tailless, vulgar letter? Somebody‘s jealous of me and is trying to cause me trouble.‘

‗No. I myself went to the low-class dive named in the letter, and I saw your picture there with my own eyes‘ (Mishima, 1971:370).

In the dialogue above Yuichi is intentionally averting the topic that is written in the letter. He says that the letter is rubbish and irresponsible because there is no information about the sender and the letter must not be trusted. He defends himself by saying that the letter is sent by someone who is jealous to Yuichi and wants to make him into trouble. On the contrary, his mother tells Yuichi that she has already checked the place and finds his picture from the waiter in that bar with her own eyes. The word that Yuichi‘s mother uses to refer to the bar is kind of insulting. Yuichi who is shocked of his mother anger is still trying to defend himself with any excuse to cool down his mother‘s anger. It can be seen in the quotation below.

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‗You don‘t understand, Mother. If you want to believe all of this letter, all right, but—‘

The widow Minami almost shouted: ‗What‘s going to happen to Yasuko?‘ ‗Yasuko? I love Yasuko.‘

‗But aren‘t you one who hates women? All you can love are ill-bred and rich old and middle-aged men!‘ (Mishima, 1971:371)

It can be seen in the quotation that the only thing that make his mother feel anxious is about her daughter-in-law feeling. Although Yuichi said that he loves his wife but his mother cannot believe his word. The mother insists that Yuichi hates women and can only love ill-bred and rich old and middle-aged men. She refers the homosexual as ill-bred and Yuichi just love the man who ill-bred or rich man and middle-aged man.

Another proof of Yuichi‘s mother that refers homosexual as disgusting people is when she explains to Yasuko, Yuichi‘s wife, about what she gets when she goes to the gay bar which is mentioned in the letter. ‗Yes, but I saw his picture. I still feel sick when I recall that filthy place and that ill-bred waiter with Yuichi‘s photograph‘ (Mishima, 1971:384). Yuichi‘s mother said that she feels sick of the thought about the gay bar, that she calls as filthy place and the waiter who has Yuichi‘s photograph that she refers as ill-bred waiter.

Besides those two major characters, the other perspective of Japanese society can be seen from the minor characters. One of them is taken from the character named Minoru. Minoru is a young man that used to be Yuichi‘s lover. He meets Yuichi when he goes to the zoo and sees Yuichi who is looking at the bird section. He is attracted to Yuichi‘s beauty and trying to get close to him. They become a lover not so long and likely he really loved Yuichi and will do anything to make Yuichi his. The dialogue of Minoru which mention about the

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society is written below.

‗Those guys‘ – the only term by which the boy referred to society – ‗are after us, aren‘t they? We‘ve got to watch out,‘ Minoru liked to say. ‗Those guys would like to see us dead!‘ (Mishima, 1971:350)

The dialogue of Minoru above is showing how the young boy depicted the society. He said that the society is after the homosexual and against them, and even the society would like to see the homosexual dead.

2. The Description of Society through the Setting

In this part, the writer is going to show how the life of homosexual and the environment through the setting. Even though this part is talking about homosexual life, the reader can get the idea about the society in certain time from the way homosexual deals with their life, as they were struggled to found the place to them in the middle of society. The setting here included the place, the environment in the place is mentioned and the time depicted in the novel. The real thing that happen in the time that refers to homosexuality, like some places that homosexuals are usually gathering at or the basic knowledge of homosexual that written in the narration or monologue in the story, that hide the truth about homosexuality history in Japan.

The writer is giving an explanation about the setting of place which is used in the novel. There are few places that are used by the homosexual to do their activities, like in the park, public toilet, and bar. First, the writer explains about the park mentioned before.

‗Men have been pretty scarce lately,‘ said the clerk. ‗I really need one. When such a time comes, I just walk around.‘

‗Are you going to H—Park today?‘

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‗Oh, excuse me. Do nice boys come around?‘

‗Once in a while. The best thing is right now. Later on there are only foreigners‘ (Mishima, 1971:59).

it is mentioned in the quotation above about the park from the conversation of two men. They are talking about their necessity of the man mentioning about the park. It can be seen that the park they were talking about is the place that homosexuals are usually going to and gather there. Here is another quotation refers to the park.

H— Park has been used as a gathering place for men of this sort since the time of the last emperor, when a part of its area was a military drill field (Mishima, 1971:62).

The narration above is explaining about the Park that is used as a gathering place for men since the time of the last emperor, when a part of its area was a military drill field. It implies that the Park that being used in a long time ago has a connection to the history of homosexuality in Japan. It is explained further in the second problem formulation.

The next place is the public toilet. This is the quotation regarding to the public toilet as a place that is used by homosexuals to meet.

The men went into the rest room. The rest room was dark under the trees. There was, however, a suggestion of a multitude walking softly, a stealthy bustling, a certain unseen assemblage. It was, for instance, as if at the public banquet --- this was how it seemed. Actually, it was a toilet, under a cloud of evil odours (Mishima, 1971:61).

As it is written above, the rest room is used as a gathering place for homosexuals besides the park. It is described as a public banquet, the environtment in the rest room is actually full of men who are flirting with each other through glances and small gestures as it is written in the quotation below.

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It was an office where tacit office procedure is based on winks instead of documents, tiny gestures instead of print, code communication in place of a telephone (Mishima, 1971:61).

In the quotation above indicating the life of homosexual and the way they gather with other homosexuals. The other place that indicates the way homosexual lives and finds the places that belong to them is the bar. It is not like a usual bar but it is gay bar. There are some quotations regarding the bar.

When Yuichi came in the door he was aware that these men had assembled here because they had no place to go on Sunday. A homosexual‘s Sunday is pitiful. On that day, all day, no territory is theirs. The daytime world, they feel, takes over completely. Yuichi thought: The only way I can be myself on a bright Sunday is to lock myself up in a smoked-glass jail like this (Mishima, 1971:184).

This quotation tells about the bar where Yuichi goes to the bar on Sunday. The bar in the quotation is a place where the homosexuals are usually gathers on Sunday. There are some people in the bar and the reason why they are come to the bar is because they are homosexual like Yuichi. They have nowhere to go on Sunday. It is said about the homosexual‘s Sunday is pitiful that on that day there are not any territory belongs to them. It is also mentioned about Yuichi‘s thought that the only way he can be himself is to lock up in a smoked-glass jail. Smoked-glass jail which is mentioned here is referring to the gay bar that only homosexual people can enter. That is why it is called as a gay bar. There is a quotation describing gay bar that is taken from the novel.

It was an ordinary tea shop named Rudon‘s. Sometime later it became a club for men of this persuasion. Men who didn‘t know what it was came in there in groups, drank coffee, and left none the wiser. The men who were in the know had the instinct of animals to smell out their own kind, so they did not miss a place that had the slightest sign that what they were after was brewing there (Mishima, 1971:92).

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From the quotation above, the description of gay bar is quite clear. It is said that a gay bar is originally an ordinary tea shop that later became a club for men. The men who are not a homosexual just see the shop as an ordinary tea shop. They just drank coffee and left after that, without knowing about the real face of that tea house. Usually those people who do not know about the place come at noon when the homosexual has a rule that they get together in the bar in the evening. It can be seen in the following quotation. What the writer means with the real face of Rudon is the real function of the tea shop which is described in the next sentence from the quotation above. That Rudon is aimed as a place for homosexual to gather, as if they have the instinct of animal to smell out their kind and they do not miss a place where had the slightest sign of what they are after. Here is the further explanation about the gay bar and the customer who go to there in the following quotation.

The crowd got together as a rule at sundown. Whenever a man entered, all the guest would look up. The man coming in would instantly be bathed in glances. Much of the time, however, the light in those glances suddenly faded and went out in disappointment. Appraisal ended in the first moment. When a young guest who knew nothing about the place entered he would be startled to hear, if the jukebox happened to be silent, appraisals of his person murmured at every table. ‗What‘s he? Not much.‘ or, His nose is small; probably his tool is too,‘ or, ‗His sex appeal, though, is in short, zero‘ (Mishima, 1971:92-93).

As it is explained in the previous quotation, Rudon, the gay bar, is a place for homosexual to meet with their kind. The quotation above shows that the homosexuals actually come to the bar in the evening. It is the busiest hour at the place. When a man enter the bar, he is bathed in glances. It is the same thing as in the public toilet that the writer has written before. But instead of eye-wink as a

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toward the society. In order to find out about the condition of homosexuality in the story, the writer uses the setting in the novel to describe the condition of the time or era in which the story takes a place. There are some places that indicate the existence of homosexual. It is already explained in chapter four that the homosexual tend to gather in some closed or private place in order to hide from the society. It can be happen because they feel uncomfortable that is why they cannot show their real self to the society. They choose to make themselves hide in some closed places. The writer also writes the history of the homosexual in Japan country to help the reader understand about the reason why homosexual cannot be accepted in its former country, Japan. That is fundamental information for the writer to work on this research. Meanwhile from the society’s point of view, the writer uses the character of Yuichi’s mother to show how the society sees homosexuality. It can be seen from her action or her behavior.

The second problem formulation is answering the topic of the research and giving explanation about Japanese society’s perspective toward homosexuality. From the explanation that is written above, in first problem formulation, it can be seen that there is alienation toward homosexual from the society. Based on the hierarchy that exists in the society, the society cannot accept homosexual as part of them. The society thinks about homosexuality as a disgraceful thing so they will not acknowledge the existence of homosexuals inside the member of the society. As the writer has mentioned previously that there is a long history of homosexuality in Japan, the culture of homosexuality has already existed since Tokugawa period. It grows until the next period but because Japan tries to achieve

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a modern civilization to equalize Japan’s status with western country’s status, which prohibit any homosexual practice and even considered it as a crime, it triggers the Japanese to see homosexuality as a taboo thing in its society. It is found that before Meiji restoration era, homosexual is spreading wide. Besides, the Japanese society in that time, does not have any negative opinion about homosexuality. As it is explained in the previous chapter, Yuichi’s mother gets very angry after find out that her son is being homosexual. She cannot accept it because she, who is well raised by good family, never thought that her son will turn into a disgraceful human being who has done homosexuality. By that, it can be conclude that Yuichi’s mother’s point of view is representing how the society in the novel is seeing homosexuality. Homosexuality can not be accepted in the society and it is regarded as something shameful and taboo.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, Forth Edition. New York: Holt, Richard and Winston Inc, 1981.

Atkinson, David W. “Alienation in the Novels of Yukio Mishima”. The International Fiction Review. Vol.16. No.1 (1989): p.56. Jurnal hil. (journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/IFR/article/viewFile/13965/15047)

Barnet, Sylvan. Literature for Compisition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry and Drama. New York: Longman Pearson, 1988.

Branon, Linda. Gender- Psychological Perspectives. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 1996.

Corsini, Raymond J. Encyclopedia of Psychology vol. 2. New York: John Willey & sons, 1994.

Crooks, Robert and Baur Karla. Our Sexuality. Menlo Park: the Benjamin/Cummings, 1983.

Fairchild, Henry Pratt. Dictionary of sociology. Totowa: Littlefield, Adams and Co, 1970.

Holman, Hugh and William Harmon. A Handbook of Literature, Fifth Edition. London: Prentice Hall, 1986.

Huffman, Karen. Psychology in Action. New York: John Willey & sons, 1997. Leupp, Gary P. Servants Shophands and Laborers in the Cities of Tokugawa

Japan. Priceton: Priceton University Press, 1992.

Leupp, Gary P. Male Colours: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press, Ltd, 1995.

McLelland, Mark. Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan: Between Cultural Myths and Social Realities. Richmond,surrey: Curzon Press, 2000.

Mishima, Yukio. Forbidden Colours. Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1972.

Pflugfelder, Gregory M. Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse. Los Angeles: University of California Press, Ltd, 1999.

Rohrberger, Mary and Samuel H. Woods. Reading and Writing about Literature. New York: Random House, 1971.

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Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. Theory of Literature. New York: Harcout, Brace & World, 1956.

Widayati, Yulia. “The Perception of British Society toward Homosexuality in the Early Twentieth Century (A Study of Foster’s Maurice).” Undergraduate Thesis. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University, 2000.

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APPENDIX

Summary of the Yukio Mishima’s Forbidden Colors

The story centers around an odd trio; Shunsuke` Hinoki, a famous author in his sixties, disgusted by the decay of age, attracted to the beauty of youth, and somehow, bitter that he, the brilliant one, should not have been spared the indignities of aging. The object of his twisted obsession is Yasuko Segawa, a nineteen year old girl he met when she asked for his autograph. He wondered if he could at his advanced age, still hate women with the same intensity as he had in his youth, through his three marriages. The instrument of this experiment is Yuichi Minami, an incredibly beautiful young man desired by both men and women. Yuichi has been told to marry Yasuko even though he cannot love woman by Shunsuke. Shunsuke did it to get revenge to the woman who mede him suffer using Yuichi and gave Yuichi a large sum of money to marry yasuko. Then Yuichi suffering is beginning. He has to struggle to maintain his dual worlds as he cannot gives up his desire for men and he has to be a good husband and son to his wife and his mother. The struggle he had is because his hatred to the society because his sexual disorder that made him different and decided to hide himself from the society. There are some characters that made his life more complicated. Mr. & Mrs. Kaburagi who has a good famous of their good deeds but actually they attracted to Yuichi because of Yuichi’s look and desire for him. They are also one of the reasons of Shunsuke’s revenge because Shunsuke had fallen in love with Mrs. Kaburagi and Mr. Kaburagi used this chance to blackmail

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Shunsuke and had extorted 300,000 yen so the case is not become big. The industrialist Kawada is also the same. He physically attracted to Yuichi and he studiously adheres to a code of politeness. If he wishes Yuichi’s body, he must ask Shunsuke for it. Then Yuichi becomes a chattel to be passed from one sexual partner to another, a source of physical gratification. The woman who is desire for Yuichi is Kyoko not because she lust for Yuichi’s body but because Yuichi’s look. The last person who was became Yuichi’s lover is Minoru. This young man is so fall in love with Yuichi and ready to run away with him and leave his foster father. When Minoru’s foster knows about this, he become jealous and tried to threaten Yuichi with the letter that tell everything about his homosexual’s life and send it to Yuichi’s mother and Yuichi’s wife. The story goes until his mother finally knows about her son sexual disorder. She became very angry and cannot believe her son who has lied to her and think that his marriage is fake. But everything can be handled by Yuichi in the end and he tried to return the money that Shunsuke gave to him in order to stop to be Shunsuke’s puppet because he feels regret for having deceived woman but unfortunately when he wants to return the money, he finds that Shunsuke is dead and inherits him large amount of money.

The perspective of Japanese society toward homosexuality as seen in Yukio Mishima’s forbidden colors.

THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAPANESE SOCIETY TOWARD

HOMOSEXUALITY

AS SEEN IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S

FORBIDDEN COLORS

THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAPANESE SOCIETY TOWARD

HOMOSEXUALITY AS SEEN IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S

FORBIDDEN COLORS

THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAPANESE SOCIETY TOWARD

HOMOSEXUALITY AS SEEN IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S

FORBIDDEN COLORS

You don’t need to listen

everything

that people said about you. Simply

trust in yourself.











For My Beloved Parents,

My Beloved Brother and Sister,

My Beloved Friends,

And

My Sweetheart

In the Hope of a Better Future











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Parts

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