28th Annual Student Research Conference
Freud Analysis of Yukio Mishima's Spring Snow
Stephanie R. Fortson
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
After the Meiji Restoration era, Japan strived to modernize itself with Western technology, dress, architecture, and even literature. Involuntarily, they experienced an emphasis in individualism and forfeited many traditional aspects. Yukio Mishima's Spring Snow described the tension of public and private self in the wealthy Kiyoaki Matsugae while he struggled to love in secret. A product of the generation of modern Japan, his repressed desires of love toward Ayakura Satoko becomes present in dreams. This paper will use Freud's psychoanalytic focus on the literary character, Kiyoake, his repression of desire in the unconscious mind, and his tragic result due to a narcissistic personality. In the novel, Kiyoake has an exaggerated sense of importance, love and beauty, and becomes exploitive of many characters in the story. Kiyoake's dichotomy is reflected in his id and superego moderated by his ego.
Keywords: Japan, Yukio Mishima, Id , Super ego, Ego
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 203-3
Location: VH 1224
Time: 11:30