The novel concentrates on the diverse features of a man and a woman, Kanoko's prose and fiction were exceptional, her
novels present female characters, their life which is irreversibly twisted with the senses
of nature and the world of art, the beauty is perverse, its intensity leads it
to self-destruction, the pleasure had to be immense, almost perpetual as if it
was immortal. The author's life was a torrent of unhappiness, pain and grief, she
was not expecting goodness to happen, she stopped believing in a twist of fate, for
that reason, she started portraying suffering, destruction, sadness that features seemed to be the most natural,
something normal, not out of ordinary. According to the author the homosexual relationship is a normal
act between two people, it has always been, yet, no one spoke openly about it,
it still rarely occurs, people speak, it is not a talk. The taboos made her
novels so interesting, so fascinating, she understood that One had to shock to
achieve an applause and acclaim. ‘Kakoze’ provides the reader the controversial
topic of homosexuality, the relation between two men. The book describes two brothers; Tomonosuke and Umemaro; the
relationship is driven by a strong desire and impulse of possession and dominance,
everything matters, the most vibrant are smells and sounds, colors and words. Between
the brothers stands very young woman – Yukiko. The men flirt with Yukiko, visit
her, revealed the erotic and ‘artistic’ valor of relationship, the desire and
erotic drive peaks, the purpose to disgrace Tomonosuke is overwhelming, the
older brother knows it, yet, he allows Umemaro for dispersion of sadistic feelings
and emotions. The feeling and likeness to escape is evident, Tomonosuke doesn't want to be ‘oppressed’ by his younger brother, he doesn't want to be part of a
hetero-erotic game and homosexual game with no way out, he desires Yukiko and
want to be part of her world and have ‘sane’ partnership, proper relationship
that marks a man and a woman. Yukiko tempts, flirts, seduces, she is like Eve,
she is like a serpent, she drives to do something forbidden, to do something
new, therefore, unique of its kind, she also indicated the need of change, the
need to shake off the current situation and shows the means of escapism from hopeless position. Tomonosuke seeks pleasure, he believes she gives it to him, unlike
his brother, namely, Tomonosuke knows that the relationship with his brother is an incest, something forbidden nevertheless it goes on; they are related to
one another, their physical resemblance is unquestionable, their naked bodies
should not be hidden from one another’s look because they are brothers;
‘… a strange instinct
of shame …”
The plot is filled
with metaphors, it indicated the tragic end of two ‘sinful’ brothers, moreover,
their father – is a symbol of unification, of powers, unquestionable obedience,
a symbol of a family, when he dies, the brothers see the vacuum space which
will never be filled in by means of values such as responsibility, honor and
respect. The ‘lovers’ are lost and confused, they decided to commit a double
suicide, which in Japanese culture is only underpinned to lovers and their
fatal, often impossible and forbidden love. The suicide symbolizes the decline
of valor, aesthetic valor, the lost of fate and self-preservation. The author also indicated that the problem may lay not in the psycho, surely, the
characters were sane, but, the problems lay in cultural shock, in change of
cultural virtues, the domination of men in Japanese culture till nowadays is untouchable.
Sadly, the weakens comes shortly after. Yukiko role, as was mentioned, was to
seduce to tempt, she is not very important, therefore her character is
frustrated, she is angry, because she cannot play any important and significant
role in Tomonosuke’s life, she is ignored, omitted purposefully by the younger
brother Umemaro;
“… her kind offer
had been tactfully rejected …”
The woman is hurt,
she is full of rage and she plans her revenge. She feels her sexuality, she
knows her own body, she is a woman to be desired not to be rejected and marginalized.
Despite of all her efforts and attempts the seduction plan she had masterminded
never came true. Time passes by and she
accepts the reality of the relationship between her and two brothers, she
accepts their homosexual relationship as something unavoidable, stronger than
anything she had met before, she even
started being attracted by it, intrigued;
“… she was
attracted by the sweet desire; … their violent passion for each other; … nature
vowed together the sadism and masochism …”
She knows and
understands what she observes, her presence should be halted, she should be
banished from that world of perversion and escape to where she belongs to - the
world of self-respect, as a young woman, she shouldn't be a watcher. She has to
fight to catch attraction, unsuccessful, she accepts men domination and complex male cultural perception of culture.
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