Rafael Emmanuel B. Mendoza Oct.

11, 2011 If Myna Birds Were Human In Shusaku Endos A Forty-Year-Old Man, the reader is introduced to Suguro, a man scheduled to have his third operation in a couple of weeks, as he recalls haunting events in his past and confides them to a myna bird which sympathizes with him, despite being incapable of understanding everything he says. The story builds its foundation on realism, influenced by character, plot, and theme. Suguro asks his wife for a myna bird as the days count down to his operation; the myna bird serves as Suguros confidante, whom he confesses his memories to. To quote Suguros wife, Now you wont be all alone when we go home. The myna bird is there for Suguro when everyone else is gone. This is connected to the fact that he cannot just confess his mistakes to anyone; because of the gravity of his actions, he can only tell them to someone or something which is incapable of understanding his plight. It is the myna bird which is not only always there for Suguro, but has listened to him despite not being able to comprehend everything he said. The story is laid out in a linear manner, with flashbacks of Suguros past told in reverse chronology. These flashbacks come back to Suguro as he makes seemingly trivial observations on the rain leaks on the ceiling and the crimson on an obi (the Japanese equivalent of a sash). The flashbacks are an effective method of telling Suguros flaws: he had not been a faithful husband, for he had slept with Yasuko, his wifes cousin, while his wife had been admitted in the maternity ward. When he found out Yasuko was pregnant, he had decided to terminate Yasukos pregnancy, as he believes it is the only way to hide his affair with Yasuko.

2 Securing the integrity of ones family in exchange for ones morality is a sensitive theme. The fact that Suguro terminated Yasukos pregnancy to preserve the happiness of his home makes a strong remark on his morals; he had no choice but to have his child with Yasuko aborted. At the core of his decision is a moral dilemma, for had he not considered terminating Yasukos pregnancy, his family would have broken apart. The story seems to ask what the readers would do if they were to decide given the circumstances. The story has subtly conveyed its message in one line: The actions of a human being are never self-contained. Ones actions are never justified by a single consequence. This is further explained metaphorically as a stone which causes increasingly bigger ripples as it goes farther out on the water. His actions have created rifts among his wife, Yasuko, and Yasukos husband; as Suguro contemplated in the beginning of the story, Everyone is concealing something. Keeping an unacceptable deed secret only builds a wall of deception: Suguro senses his wife knows of the affair he had with Yasuko, but only keeps a faade to show her insensitivity to the matter. This is a ripple created by Suguros infidelity; as a result, Suguros family lives on a foundation of secrets and lies. The death of the myna bird carries along a piece of Suguros life, and without the myna bird, Sugruo doesnt know how to move on: unlike a human being who judges other people on what they have done, the myna bird listened to him with eyes filled with a similar sorrow observing his own life. The myna bird extended its sympathy to Suguro, instead of passing judgment. At its death, Suguro feels alone once more: the myna bird seems like a more meaningful companion in the hospital than his family and Yasuko. What drives the realism in the

3 story is not Suguros acceptance of his own death, but his incapability to accept the death of the myna bird. In essence, the story is grounded in the realities of morality and human relationship: the moral decision Suguro has to make, Suguros longing for sympathy, the ripple effect created by ones actions, a body of lies underneath what seems to be a happy family, and Suguros unwillingness to accept the loss of the myna bird, which has served as his companion and confidante throughout his ordeal in the hospital. If the story takes on a romantic form, the story would have to sacrifice the essence of a few key elements in fiction; what would change are character, plot, and theme. The bounds of reality in the story are set by the verisimilitude of the characters and situations: having something as improbable as a myna bird capable of fluent human speech breaks the realistic boundary of the story. Suguro isnt able to confess the termination of Yasukos pregnancy to the priest who reeks of wine; he seeks solace in the myna bird incapable of understanding the concept of morality. If the myna bird possessed a humanlike consciousness and the ability to speak fluently, what would become of Suguros willingness to confess to the myna bird? Would the myna bird listen intently to its owner, or would it offer its own opinions? The plot would have to adapt if this happens. For Suguro, it is no longer a matter of confiding his secrets to something which is incapable of understanding; it becomes an internal test to build enough courage to be able to confess to someone who can understand. The haunting memory of Suguros decision to have their child with Yasuko aborted remains the reason for his

4 confession to the myna bird, for it would have made little sense if Suguro didnt have a grave confession to make. As the story progresses, the myna bird would not just become Suguros confidante; it would grow to become his understanding friend and companion until its death. The death of the myna bird would not strike Suguro as the death of a confidante, but that of a friend; Suguro would have been more devastated at the loss of his myna bird. The moment it was brought up that the myna bird took Suguros place would have been more emotional: here was a friend who died for him. The theme of the romantic version of the story is not just morality alone; it would have also been about friendship and loss. However, it would have been wiser to retain the realistic aspect of the story. The element of reaching out to the readers emotion is crucial in making this decision. Having the myna bird express human feelings dampens the readers sympathy for Suguro. His longing for someone to listen to him is upstaged by the myna birds personification; the myna bird is no longer a figure of sympathy in a romanticized version of the story. Suguro would have also been a less pathetic character, as he comes to find real friendship in a talking myna bird. If the story were to remain realistic, the reader gets to feel more sorrow and sympathy for Suguro as he imparts his memories to a clueless myna bird. Suguro knows he is all alone: the myna bird could not understand what he is saying, yet he insists on telling the myna bird everything. After all, he did not want someone who can understand him; he just wanted someone who could listen.