Bright Summaries - Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

This is not a novel that panders to the reader. From the opening sentence, we are made acutely aware that although Kochan, the protagonist, is a sickly young boy, he has the mature mind of an adult: For many years I claimed I could remember things seen at the time of my own birth (p. 1).

Kochan is separated from his parents at a very young age, as his grandmother believes that she should be the one to raise him. She keeps the sickly but inquisitive young boy locked up in a small room, where he is left to play with dolls with his female cousins. Left with no other options, he spends his time reading and observing the world around him. While he is absorbed in this observation, one image makes a particularly strong impression on him, although he is not sure why: a muscular young man striding down the street carrying buckets of excrement on a yoke over his shoulders. He is particularly fascinated by the image of his stained blue jeans, and wishes he could take the mans place and work as a night-soil man.

This is not the only experience which captures Kochans imagination: he is also fascinated by an illustration of a medieval knight which turns out to be of Joan of Arc and by the smell of sweat that lingers around a military troop, and he often dreams of killing or being killed, which gives him a burgeoning desire to experience the moment of death in reality. These experiences prove formative for the young protagonist.

Did you know?

Mishima tried to enlist to serve in the military when the Second World War broke out. However, his frail constitution (which was similar to Kochans) and the cold he was suffering from during his medical examination meant that his application was rejected.

As Kochan grows older, death becomes the central obsession of his life. However, as we will examine in greater detail later in this guide, he does not only associate death with violence and decay, but also with eroticism and sexuality. Most notably, in one of the novels most memorable scenes (which takes place after he has turned 12, left his grandmothers care and enrolled in school), Kochan looks through one of his fathers books, which contains photographs of Italian sculptures and art, and discovers one image which utterly enthrals him: St Sebastian by Guido Reni.

• St Sebastian by Guido Reni, c. 1615.

Kochan is deeply affected by this image, and for the first time in the novel his homosexuality is made apparent instead of simply being alluded to as a latent undercurrent running through his childhood thoughts: That day, the instant I looked upon the picture, my entire being trembled with some pagan joy. My blood soared up; my loins swelled as though in wrath (p. 40). On the previous occasions when a specific image or scent had captured Kochans imagination, the resulting impulse or desire that he felt had always remained nameless and seemed almost irrational to him. However, when he sees the image of St Sebastian , he is able to identify the desire it rouses in him for the first time. In fact, this desire is so strong that the voice behind the mask writes a prose poem describing the image and his desire for it, and the painting inspires him to masturbate and ejaculate for the first time.

As a teenager, Kochan falls in love with a boy called Omi from his school. Kochan finds it utterly impossible to suppress his thoughts, feelings and passion; on the contrary, they become all-consuming, and he soon becomes obsessed with various parts of Omis body. However, these obsessions are not necessarily sexual in nature: for example, he is fascinated by Omis armpit.