Kenzaburo Oe Monster

What makes someone a monster? Is it a ghastly appearance, is it when a person inflicts seemingly impossible pain onto others, or is it just a title reserved for the select few that inspire such terror and fear in man that it is easier to mythologize them as a inhuman beast rather than a human? In the novel A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe only a handicapped child born with a brain hernia is ever referred to as a monster. The novel’s main story is about the journey of the father of this monster child referred to only as Bird, and his attempt to kill off his newborn son and flee to Africa. Bird is fearful that the child will hinder his dream of one day going to Africa and will do nearly anything to protect his fantasy. Throughout the novel Bird’s baby is represented as an inhuman, monstrous, confinement that plagues Bird’s life; the baby is constantly dehumanized, overcompensating for Bird’s fear of giving up on his dream to fly to Africa. …show more content…
This type of love can clearly be seen when Bird is on his way to take his baby back from the abortion clinic and thinks, "If I die in accident now before I save the baby, my whole twenty seven years of life will have meant exactly nothing" (163). No longer is Bird’s child just a sickening monster but is now something that makes his life worth living. His baptism into a life of parenthood is seen in this moment as he not only fully realizes the importance of the child but also realizes his duty to the child. His entire life is now must built around this newborn if it is what constitutes meaning and purpose in his life. A life of meaninglessness must mean that life with the child constitutes meaning. It is in this moment that Bird’s fear of missing out on his journey to Africa is replaced with the fear of missing out on his son’s life. He no longer fears his connection to the monster because Bird realizes there never was a monster, only his