A SILENT MOB: ANALYSING KEY IDEAS

IN “A FATHER AND HIS SON”

Naoya Makino

100106040

English 1121

Section 06

Mr. G. Pybus

Langara College

16 April 2007
 “A Father and His Son” is a biographical essay by David Remnick about

Kenzaburo Oe, a Japanese writer who writes both fiction about Hikari—his severely

brain-damaged son—and non fiction about changing the tradition in Japan. After

Hikari’s birth, Oe, a Nobel Prize winner in Literature, realized the value of individuals,

and he argues that the old emperor system creates too many conformists and too few

individual thinkers. The second significant message of this essay is that it is important

to speak out even if it is an unpopular opinion or if it goes against tradition because Oe

worries that conforming may lead a serious consequence if no one speaks out.

Oe appeals that the Japanese should examine the importance of individuals: he

claims, “the handicapped are stigmatized more than in many countries” (114). Hikari,

Oe’s disabled son, “saved” Oe’s life since Hikari helped Oe to realize the importance of

individuals (111). Before Hikari was born, Oe was a traditional person who had obeyed

the emperor: he had not had a strong “sense of identity” and he had been thinking about

committing suicide (112). Hence, when Hikari was born severely brain-damaged, Oe

“escaped from [his] baby” as Hikari was not typical (112). However, after seeing the

miraculous growth of his son, he realizes that individuals are more important than

conforming. Even though Hikari is not able to contribute to the country, now he grows

very slowly, but certainly. In his fiction story titled “Aghwee the Sky Monster,” in
which parents attempt to kill their children, Oe tries to shock readers into examining the

importance of individuals, especially handicapped children (114). As a result of Hikari’s

birth, Oe sees the value of individuals.

Besides the importance of individuals, it is also significant to appreciate

individual opinions. As a result of the emperor’s centrality, Oe claims, there are too

many conformists and not enough individual thinkers. After World War II, the emperor

lost power and the parliamentary government gained power, reducing the office of

emperor to a mere ceremonial function, but Oe asserts that the emperor’s “centrality in

Japanese culture did not fully recede” (117). This means that the Japanese still conform

like they did during the emperor’s reign. As an example of the emperor’s “centrality in

Japanese culture,” according to Oe, there is informal censorship in Japan (117). In 1960,

when he wrote about a teenage right wing fanatic who stabbed the leader of the socialist

party, Oe was forced not to publish “Seventeen,” his comment on the event, because Oe

and his publisher feared for the lives of their families and themselves (118). This

example shows that instead of being allowed to express their individual opinions, the

Japanese, like Oe, are forced to conform.

Oe points out the importance of speaking out even if it is an unpopular opinion

or goes against tradition. In fact, a discussion can be activated by many individual

opinions. This active discussion is especially important in politics. Oe goes on to say

that “it is in politics … that Oe hopes for a Japanese exceptionalism” (121). He wants

the Japanese to speak in their own way, without being influenced by other people, so the

Japanese are able to discuss important decisions. For instance, the Japanese government

has sent the Japanese Self-Defense Forces on foreign missions: Oe contends that the

discussion was not enough because of too many conformists. If everyone conforms, a

discussion would not be activated, so he is afraid that important topics, like sending

Japanese Self-Defense Forces on foreign missions, would pass without enough

arguments. Moreover, he claims that Japanese “empty” culture creates even more

serious consequence. According to Oe, Japan is a “happy wasteland” (120): the younger

generations are not interested in politics, and the mass-media-culture emphasizes “the

flashy emptiness of a video game” (120). Due to the lack of engagements in politics and

remaining within youth culture, the Japanese is less likely to speak and intellectualize

their own thoughts. Thus, it is important that people should speak out without minding

others.

In summary, it is important to recognize the significance of individuals and to

speak out instead of conforming. Oe comments on the debate about the principle of

eternal peace that “to obliterate from the constitution the principle of eternal peace will
be nothing but an act of detrayal against the people of Asia and the victims of the atom

bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki”(121). In order to preserve the principle of eternal

peace and not to repeat the same war, the people should speak their own thoughts.