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Part 2, Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Glory, Heroism, and Death
Japanese Nationalism and Identity
Masculinity, Love, and Family
Reality, Perception, and Identity
Summary
Analysis
Ryuji gives Fusako a pocketbook made of armadillo. Mr. Shibuya disapproves when she takes it to her store on December 31st. She spends all day at work, and Ryuji returns to the Rakuyo for his afternoon watch. Then, Ryuji, Noboru, and the housekeeper clean the house. In the evening, Fusako walks in on them with buckets and mops, and she complains that Noboru is sick and that cleaning might harm his health. But Ryuji thinks she’s worrying about nothing.
Noboru’s frustrations with Ryuji quickly vanish and he begins to take on a paternal role in the home. At the same time, in a comical inversion of traditional gender roles, Fusako goes to work while Ryuji and Noboru stay home to clean the house. Of course, this New Year’s Eve cleaning session also symbolizes getting rid of the old in order to make way for the new, which points to the life transition that all three characters are starting to experience due to Ryuji’s return.
Themes
Over dinner, the housekeeper tells a story about how the European family who used to employ her threw New Year’s Eve parties where everyone started kissing one another. Afterward, Ryuji and Fusako go to the bedroom. And at dawn, Ryuji proposes they go watch the sunrise from the park. Fusako bundles up in luxurious imported clothing, and then they run around the park in the cold morning twilight. They end up at the viewpoint, looking out over the harbor. Fusako prays that it will be a good year, and Ryuji kisses her and says, “It will be. It has to be.”
The housekeeper’s anecdote pokes fun at foreign customs that don’t fit into Japanese culture, while Fusako’s clothes symbolize how those customs are also slowly changing Japan. On their spontaneous morning adventure, Fusako and Ryuji return to the park where they had their first date. When they reminisced about that date in the book’s third and fourth chapters, both were fighting the oppressive summer heat, which represented the passion and excitement of their romance. Now, in the winter, they’re overwhelmed by the cold instead, which represents the way their relationship’s initial excitement has cooled off and given way to a more constant, stable kind of love. Meanwhile, their conversation about the coming year is really a proxy for discussing their future together.
Themes
A sliver of light reflects off the water, and Ryuji suddenly understands what is happening: he is building a life onshore, and he must give up on achieving glory. The ships start to move, and Ryuji keeps asking Fusako if she’s cold. But he’s really asking himself if he’s willing to give up sailing. On the one hand, the sea promises him glory, death, and “luminous freedom.” On the other, he’s tired and bored of sailing, and he’s not sure that glory is even possible anymore.
Ryuji reaches a critical turning point in the novel: he realizes that he must choose between two possible futures. He can keep pursuing his lifelong aspiration of becoming a glorious hero, or he can pursue his newfound love for Fusako. Glory is a dream and love is a certainty—but choosing glory would make him truly unique, and choosing love would make him nothing more than an ordinary man. This choice will test his faith in his principles, as well as the viability of the traditional worldview that they represent.
Themes
The park’s lights go out and the “pure red” sun begins to rise. Fusako predicts a good year and tells Ryuji that it’s her first New Year’s sunrise. Beside himself, Ryuji asks Fusako to marry him. She’s confused, but he firmly repeats his question. “I may be just a dumb sailor,” he says, “but I’ve never done anything I’m ashamed of.” He says that he has saved two million yen and will be giving it to Fusako no matter what. Fusako starts crying. In the cold under the rising, blindingly bright sun, Fusako says yes. But she explains that they have to deal with some obstacles: Noboru, her job at the store, and Ryuji’s job sailing the world. But Ryuji promises not to sail away anytime soon.
Ryuji chooses a path forward, but he decides based on instinct rather than careful deliberation. He immediately understands that marrying Fusako will mean throwing away the entire life that he has built for himself over more than a decade. The sunrise has always been Japan’s national symbol—the country’s Japanese name even means “Land of the Rising Sun.” Thus, Ryuji’s proposal during the sunrise on New Year’s day clearly carries political symbolism. It may represent the end of WWII, or the beginning of a new era in which Japan (represented by Ryuji) gave up on its traditions and overseas empire to make peace with its Western enemies (represented by Fusako). Arguably, the opposite case could also be made: perhaps Ryuji is giving up on the rest of the world to stay home in Japan.
Themes
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New Year’s Day is the only day of the year when Fusako puts aside her “thoroughly Western” lifestyle to follow Japanese customs. Their breakfast reminds Ryuji of all the times he spent New Year’s at Japanese consulates in Europe. Ryuji leads the first New Year’s toast, instead of Noboru. He tells the story of enduring a terrible hurricane on the Rakuyo, but Fusako asks him to stop. This annoys Noboru, who was enjoying the story. Noboru starts to wonder if Ryuji is telling the story for him or for his mother. He starts to feel like Ryuji is being dishonest, like a slick salesman.
Fusako’s traditional breakfast suggests that her engagement might not entirely represent a break from Japanese culture. Still, by associating this with his memories of the consulate, Ryuji suggests that her fidelity to Japanese culture is limited—at best, she can achieve a hybrid of East and West. Meanwhile, Ryuji’s story is a clear example of the kind of adventure that he will never be able to have again, now that he has given up sailing. Noboru’s reaction suggests that he will no longer have Ryuji as a heroic role model—instead, Fusako’s version of Ryuji has won out over Noboru’s. This is also why Noboru starts to see Ryuji as dishonest: he believes that Ryuji is abandoning his true essence by choosing love over glory.
Themes
