Innocence & Experience
Naomi, Junichiro Tanizaki (1947)
The analysis of how the two main characters, Naomi and Joji, embody the theme of innocence and experience and how they transform from one to the other throughout the novel.
The analysis of how the two main characters, Naomi and Joji, embody the theme of innocence and experience and how they transform from one to the other throughout the novel.
In Junichiro Tanizaki’s novel, Naomi, 28-year-old Joji becomes fascinated and drawn to a 15-year-old café waitress, Naomi. The story follows them as their complicated relationship progresses from an almost parent child relationship to a romantic one. Joji believes that he can raise her to be a fine woman and to one day marry her if he sees fit.
The themes of innocence and experience are evident in both main characters throughout the novel. Both Naomi and Joji show an evolution from an innocent state of mind to a more experienced one. Joji is drawn in by Naomi’s apparent innocence at the beginning of their relationship.
Naomi is established as a somewhat misplaced and innocent figure; she strikes Joji as a “quiet, gloomy child”(4). She is described as being very impassive about her work and seemed to be emotionally vacant when he describes their outings to the theater and to dinner. However, throughout the novel she starts to exhibit more willfulness and begins to exhibit a power over Joji. She becomes manipulative, sultry and entitled. Part of the experience that she exhibits is how she plays up her innocence because she knows that’s how she can get what she wants. I think the turning point in the relationship is when they are separated for the first time and she realizes that she never wants to go back to how she used to live. I think Joji was intrigued with the idea of doing something out of the cultural norm by taking a young girl to live with him. His thinking that he could “mold” a girl to be a woman that he would want to marry was an almost innocent and naïve way of thinking. He seems to be delusional throughout the entire novel when it comes to Naomi. He tries to convince himself that he is control the whole time but in reality she has gained control over him.
As the novel progresses, we as readers watch the transformation of Naomi as a character. She definitely assumes the role of the more controlling one in the relationship as her and Joji's relationship becomes more romantic. She learns how to work him over to get what she wants and she knows that he is easily influenced by flirting and by her looks. I think she also learns that she is desired by other men so she sees herself almost as a commodity. It is discovered throughout that she has been with several other men while being with Joji and I think it gives her a sense of control to be able to influence and manipulate several men.
This novel also embodies the contradiction between traditional Japanese culture and the impending Western influence. The character of Naomi symbolizes everything that is wrong about Western culture. As the novel progresses, she adapts characteristics of hedonism, glamour and power. I think that the character of Joji symbolizes the breakdown of traditional Japanese culture. Naomi’s Western like characteristics is what fascinated him in the first place but he becomes too enamored with the power that she expels. I think overall the novel is illustrating the consequences of having a cultural obsession and what happens when you lose your individual identity.
The themes of innocence and experience are evident in both main characters throughout the novel. Both Naomi and Joji show an evolution from an innocent state of mind to a more experienced one. Joji is drawn in by Naomi’s apparent innocence at the beginning of their relationship.
Naomi is established as a somewhat misplaced and innocent figure; she strikes Joji as a “quiet, gloomy child”(4). She is described as being very impassive about her work and seemed to be emotionally vacant when he describes their outings to the theater and to dinner. However, throughout the novel she starts to exhibit more willfulness and begins to exhibit a power over Joji. She becomes manipulative, sultry and entitled. Part of the experience that she exhibits is how she plays up her innocence because she knows that’s how she can get what she wants. I think the turning point in the relationship is when they are separated for the first time and she realizes that she never wants to go back to how she used to live. I think Joji was intrigued with the idea of doing something out of the cultural norm by taking a young girl to live with him. His thinking that he could “mold” a girl to be a woman that he would want to marry was an almost innocent and naïve way of thinking. He seems to be delusional throughout the entire novel when it comes to Naomi. He tries to convince himself that he is control the whole time but in reality she has gained control over him.
As the novel progresses, we as readers watch the transformation of Naomi as a character. She definitely assumes the role of the more controlling one in the relationship as her and Joji's relationship becomes more romantic. She learns how to work him over to get what she wants and she knows that he is easily influenced by flirting and by her looks. I think she also learns that she is desired by other men so she sees herself almost as a commodity. It is discovered throughout that she has been with several other men while being with Joji and I think it gives her a sense of control to be able to influence and manipulate several men.
This novel also embodies the contradiction between traditional Japanese culture and the impending Western influence. The character of Naomi symbolizes everything that is wrong about Western culture. As the novel progresses, she adapts characteristics of hedonism, glamour and power. I think that the character of Joji symbolizes the breakdown of traditional Japanese culture. Naomi’s Western like characteristics is what fascinated him in the first place but he becomes too enamored with the power that she expels. I think overall the novel is illustrating the consequences of having a cultural obsession and what happens when you lose your individual identity.