“Patriotism by Yukio Mishima Essay

Many people consider suicide a moral wrong or cowardly in that it is taking the easy way bulge of a tough situation. And, by our modern standards, that is typic every(prenominal)y the case. But, in the case of the story, Patriotism, written by Yukio Mishima, the suicide Lieutenant Shinji and his wife Reiko committed was the noble and beneficial thing. The couple run d letd together in order to preserve their honor and loyalty, which were key in setting of this story.To truly judge the characters for their heroism, the setting of the story must be understood. Patriotism is set in Japan in 1936, which was the pre-World War II era. Patriotism and loyalty were at an all-time high, which created an atmosphere of duty and determination to serve. With that mindset, two characters were justified to have themselves for what they believed was the greater good. The story centers about the ideas of loyalty and the sacrifice required for that loyalty.Heroism is about sacrificing the self fo r the greater good. Sometimes that sacrifice is fate of a natural sequence of events, and sometimes it is a radical swerve from the path a person is on. Regardless, heroism requires a change to benefit others, frequently having the potential to harm the hero. A hero must decide that others are to be placed before themselves they acknowledge that their very being is meant to aid the millions around them. In addition, heroes have a cause to fight for. The cause can be world impacting, or as simple as affecting one(a) person. Whatever the cause is, a hero must dedicate themselves fully to what they believe.Heroes are in pursuit of perfection, but acknowledge their shortcomings as an obstacle to use around in order to help others. Heroes willingly accept their duty and put one acrosst dislike the sacrifices their decisions often require. Heroes are humble in their actions and dont expect anything in return for their attempts to improve the lives of others. As Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath, puts it, Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with. Reiko follows that path of heroism, which for her, ends with the greatest sacrifice a piece can give- their life.In Patriotism, Reiko and Shinji sacrifice their lives to preserve their honor for their beliefs, but again, Reiko makes the larger sacrifice. Reiko belongs to two causes she dedicates her life to her country, but more importantly, to her conserve. She has no influence ties to the government, and couldve gone on without her hubby. Reiko had the potential to create a new life for herself, but choses to give up her life for a man she is in sleep together with.Ever since her marriage her husbands existence had been her own existence and every breath of his had been a breath drawn by herself. But now, time her husbands existence in pain was a vivid reality, Reiko could find in this grief of hers no certain proof at all of her own existence (19). Reiko had so fully dedica ted herself to her husband that his pain became her pain and his death certainly had to become her death.Reiko is also a willing player in the sacrifice her husband finds truly necessary. Not merely that, she is willing to sacrifice herself even before understanding the whole situation. In the lieutenants face, as he hurried silently into the snowy morning, Reiko had read the determination to die. If her husband did not return her own decision was made she too would die (3).Both Reiko and Shinji sacrifice their lives for the greater good, Reiko makes the bigger sacrifice by dying for both her countrys honor and her loyalty to her true love, Shiniji. Reiko firmly believed that everything her husband was feeling or thinking now, his anguish and distress, was leading her- just as surely as the power in his flesh- to a welcome death. She felt as if her body could melt away with ease and be transformed to the merest fraction of her husbands thought (4).Even in her final hours, Reiko hum bles herself to a carriage below her husband and is content with the sudden change in her fate. Reiko doesnt boast of her confidence or willingness to die for her lover, but humbly follows her husbands pursuit of duty through death. Whereas most people in the same situation would fearfully and stressfully await their death, Reiko approaches it as the next step in her life.Reiko did not linger. When she though how the pain which had previously opened such a gulf between herself and her dying husband was now to become a part of her own experience, she saw before her only the joy of herself entering a realm her husband had already made his own (22). Reiko is content, even joyful, with her current situation. She doesnt resent her husband for asking her to die along with him, but sees it as the next step in her life and has embraced the path.Reiko sacrificed what could have potentially been a fulfilling life for the man of her dreams- a man that she loved so deeply that she was willing to die along with him to maintain a sense of dignity toward her country and her husband. Not only did she agree to die along with him, she accepted the fact that she would watch him die first, as a witness, and then followed through on her agreement to die herself. notwithstanding the pain that event caused, Reiko was willing to witness her husbands death, simply because he asked her to.She understood her duty as a lieutenants wife in a time of war and accepted Shinjis interpretation of loyalty. In Reikos mind, death wasnt thrust upon her it was a peaceful necessity. Reiko accepted the fate her husband asked upon her simply because of her love for her country, and even more than that, the love for her husband. That sense of loyalty, particularly loyalty without complaint, comes from a true hero who died for her passions.