Obsessive Love In Naomi By Junichiro Tanizaki

Naomi is a novel written by Junichiro Tanizaki taking a deeper look into the exploration of the relationship between Japan and the West through the quarreling of Joji and Naomi throughout the book. The first impression of this novel may have been assumed to be about the obsessive love that Joji had towards Naomi but it is rather an allegory regarding the changes that Japan was facing and their obsession with western cultural influence and customs.
The story is introduced by the narrator who is a middle-aged engineer, Joji, and his obsession over a waitress who is half his age, Naomi. He was captivated by her ‘Eurasian” looks (or western features) and even compared her to resembling Mary Pickford, an American actress. Overall, he described her as having a western face and body as well as her name, Naomi, sounding more western compared to that of Japanese. Joji adopts and eventually marries Naomi and was determined to transform her into the perfect “western” and “modern” girl to be able …show more content…
Nonetheless, it should be states that Joji did not exactly love Naomi for her inner qualities as he hardly spoke about it but was frankly obsessed with her Western beauty. He viewed Naomi as his treasure and he was completely blinded by her appearance. As Naomi sinks deeper and deeper into selfishness and greed, she becomes more and more “Western.” At first, she simply likes western clothes, food, and ideas but eventually she begins to not only act more western, but she also physically appears western. When she came by the house to pick up her stuff again, Joji could not recognize Naomi’s face. At first glance, he mistakes her for an unknown western woman until he realizes that is it her, he marvels at the “whiteness” of her skin and the magic behind the color of her