If a story was told without a specific setting, would it be as meaningful? Setting is a powerful tool that provides substance to a work of literature. It is as as interesting as the actual plot of the story and readers must closely examine setting to see what kind of impact it leaves the story with. Mishima uses setting in the novel The Sound of Waves to highlight the theme that love empowers people to overcome hardships and challenges through the use of tone, characterization, and diction.
Mishima’s tone throughout the novel is confident with the role nature plays in the island of Uta-jima. He is certain that nature is one with the people of Uta-jima because Shinji “felt a consummate accord between himself and this opulence of nature that …show more content…
Nature as a whole is the main source of survival for the islanders as it fulfills the role as a protectorate of the island. The island has enough natural resources, fish and octopus, for the economy of the little island to prosper. Through the dependance islanders have on nature, it implies that they live in harmony with nature and thus nature, in return, is able to encourage and support the love of Shinji and Hatsue by defeating the challenges and providing opportunities to aid reaching the happy ending of the young lovers through Mishima’s characterization of …show more content…
Most of the people, except Yasuo and Chiyoko, on the island kept the traditional views and values of Japanese culture while slow influence of western culture was introduced. Chiyoko embraces this aspect and she longs for Tokyo where “almost all nature had been put into uniform, and the little power of nature that remained was an enemy” (80). The main difference between the city and island is the absence of nature. The city views nature as a foe while the islanders cannot live without it. Shinji is one of the “youths of Uta-jima who had never before left the island” (55). The word never strongly asserts that most islanders have not experienced the outside world and confines them to the island. Therefore conceptions of Shinji’s future is limited to jobs on the island which are mostly working with
Mishima’s tone throughout the novel is confident with the role nature plays in the island of Uta-jima. He is certain that nature is one with the people of Uta-jima because Shinji “felt a consummate accord between himself and this opulence of nature that …show more content…
Nature as a whole is the main source of survival for the islanders as it fulfills the role as a protectorate of the island. The island has enough natural resources, fish and octopus, for the economy of the little island to prosper. Through the dependance islanders have on nature, it implies that they live in harmony with nature and thus nature, in return, is able to encourage and support the love of Shinji and Hatsue by defeating the challenges and providing opportunities to aid reaching the happy ending of the young lovers through Mishima’s characterization of …show more content…
Most of the people, except Yasuo and Chiyoko, on the island kept the traditional views and values of Japanese culture while slow influence of western culture was introduced. Chiyoko embraces this aspect and she longs for Tokyo where “almost all nature had been put into uniform, and the little power of nature that remained was an enemy” (80). The main difference between the city and island is the absence of nature. The city views nature as a foe while the islanders cannot live without it. Shinji is one of the “youths of Uta-jima who had never before left the island” (55). The word never strongly asserts that most islanders have not experienced the outside world and confines them to the island. Therefore conceptions of Shinji’s future is limited to jobs on the island which are mostly working with