Previous
Similes
Part III, Chapter 7: Haruki #1’s Secret French Diary
Explanation and Analysis—Marquis de F—’s Abuse:
The irony of Marquis de F—’s punishing abuses is that they eventually lose their frightening edge. In Part III, Haruki #1 describes his change of feeling towards the sadistic squadron leader over the course of weeks and months:
And in fact, my feelings toward the Marquis have begun to transform. At first, when he beat me, I was afraid…Eventually the beating must have come to an end. Someone must have carried me back to the barracks and covered me with a blanket. When I woke, my body must have hurt, but I couldn’t feel the pain. Instead, I was enveloped in a warm sensation of peace, which comes from the knowledge of inner power.
Time at the military camp pulls off a strange situational irony upon Marquis de F—’s brutal tactics. Haruki is terrified of the punishments during his first months of training. But that changes as he cycles through fear, pity, and rage. As training progresses, the measures that had been intended to hurt Haruki end up helping him. Marquis de F—’s abuse strengthens Haruki #1, who uncovers his “inner power” and realizes the leader’s own pathetic weaknesses. Haruki #1 notices the “fever in his narrow-set eyes and the greasy sweat upon his brow,” picks up on a whiff of fear from the leader and “[outgrows] this childishness.” Far from deterring his trainee, Marquis de F—’s discipline merely betrays his own anxieties and gives Haruki #1 a redoubled inner resolve.
Related Themes:
Part III, Chapter 9: Nao
Explanation and Analysis—Hideous Babette:
Nao’s relationship with Babette takes a turn towards the troubling—and the ironic—during a tense exchange in Part III. Trapped into performing sex services on Babette’s behalf, Nao refuses when the pimp pairs her with a greasy otaku customer. She pays dearly for it, as Babette shows her true colors:
She took my cheeks in both hands and pinched so hard that my eyes filled with tears. She pulled me toward her until my forehead was almost touching hers, and her two eyes became one, a single hideous eye, dark and glittering, surrounded by ruffles and lace.
“You’re lucky I’m generous and sharing with you at all,” she said. “The trouble with you is that you’re too American. You’re lazy and selfish. You should learn to be loyal and work hard.”
The tense exchange lays bare the irony of their friendship. Earlier, Babette’s kindness had saved Nao from her crumbling life at school and home. “She knew just how to take care of me and make me feel better,” Nao writes in gratitude when the bar hostess takes her through Tokyo’s inner districts and distracts her with shopping quests. Babette offers Nao a reprieve from a world that seemed to have been falling apart. Here, though, her hidden intentions rear their ugly heads. The pimp flashes her greed more than any semblance of goodwill as she forces Nao to serve the customers. What saved Nao now hurts her, sexual exploitation shedding its costume of friendly sympathy. Nao notes how Babette’s “two eyes became one, a single hideous eye”—a description that does nothing so much as call back to Reiko’s cruelty and dark pupils that had occupied her earlier dream. She gets spared the horrific abuses of school life, only to find herself in the clutches of another bullying, oppressive system.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Preparing to Die:
Suicide brings situational irony to Nao, who resolves to kill herself as she nears the end of her diary. In Part III, she explains to the reader the unexpected psychological effects of her decision:
Making the decision to end my life really helped me lighten up, and suddenly all the stuff my old Jiko had told me about the time being really kicked into focus. There’s nothing like realizing that you don’t have much time left to stimulate your appreciation for the moments of your life. I mean it sounds corny, but I started to really experience stuff for the first time, like the beauty of the plum and cherry blossoms along the avenues in Ueno Park, when the trees are in bloom.
Committed to death, Nao ironically ends up experiencing life more fully than she had before. It is an effect that pulls the wisdom of “living only once” into clarity. For the first time, she pauses to savor the “plum and cherry blossoms” and their raining petals. Faced with the prospect of her own impermanence, Nao learns how to appreciate her life. Every moment comes with finality, a sense of fleetingness that imparts new meaning to her surroundings. Mortality, in her case, shapes vitality. “I had a project and a goal to focus on. I had to figure out everything I wanted to accomplish in my remaining time on earth,” Nao explains. Through death, ironically, she finds an unexpected source of life.
Related Themes:
