Komal Raza
Raymond Skrabut
English 102W – Section 09
12/10/15
Confessions of A Mask: An Analysis on Kochan’s Desires In Confessions of A Mask, author Yukio Mishima presents a bildungsroman allowing us to follow Kochan’s journey into adulthood. The main character in this novel, Kochan, is a young boy who is obsessed with homosexuality and violence. He is drawn to death and beauty that is violated by pain and death gives him pleasure. Kochan is constantly attempting to fit into his surrounding society and be accepted by his peers. However what is normal to him is seen as abnormal for members of his society. For example, Kochan acknowledging his homosexuality is normal to him, but homosexuality is considered shameful according to society. We…show more content… Kochan reinforces his obsession of violence and death by stating “If this prince had been destined to be a conqueror in his engagement with the dragon, how faint would have been his fascination for me. But fortunately the prince was destined to die” (Mishima 22). This scene shows us that if the prince were to be victorious, Kochan would’ve been extremely disappointed. We learn that Kochan is unsure of why he is fascinated by body-revealing tights worn by princes; however the visions of “princes slain” pursued him tenaciously (Mishima 21). Based on the excerpt presented in this fairytale, Kochan learns that he can alter the meaning of the fairytale simply by putting his hand over the words he does not wish to see. Therefore changing the ending of the fairytale so it is more suitable and cn contain death and violence to his liking. Prior to discovering this change, the prince in the story is able to come back to life seven times and eventually live happily ever after, but to Kochan this feels like betrayal. This betrayal leads him to change the story so that the prince dies a gruesome death, which makes Kochan very…show more content… The careful use of agency is present when Kochan speaks and varies depending on the situation he is in. Agency is seen when Kochan takes responsibility for his actions. For example, Kochan uses phrases such as “I chanced upon a discovery” (Mishima 23), therefore showing that he is aware and fully in control of his actions. However in other scenarios he does not take responsibility. When he is aware that the actions he takes are considered shameful, he simply puts off the blame onto a force that forces him to perform these actions. By blaming his actions on a force, he cannot be held responsible because the action has control over him; he does not have control over the action. For example, when referring to his relationship with Omi towards the beginning of the novel Kochan states “I was being tempted, not by the desire of possession, but simply by unadorned temptation itself” (Mishima 72). Kochan does not take responsibility for his feelings towards Omi; rather he feels he is being tempted by an outside force. Therefore we notice a pattern where Kochan only blames an outside force when the situation he is in is considered shameful. Kochan has no problem accepting responsibility for his actions when it involves normal interactions, however when it comes to his sexual desires and infatuation with Omi, he cannot accept responsibility because homosexuality is a