The Setting Sun

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1947

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 Summary: “Moonflowers”

Kazuko describes her “sensation of helplessness, as if it were utterly impossible to go on living” (53). She knits a scarf as rain falls incessantly. She reflects on her mother’s eye for color and mood, then she is taken aback by her mother’s assessment of her thoughtfulness. Kazuko surprises herself by saying that her thoughtfulness is because she does not have “any children” at the age of 29. Her mother is wearing gauze over her face, a recommendation from Naoji which has surprised Kazuko.

Naoji returned to the family a week before. He immediately complained about the Chinese-style house. Their mother was sick, prompting Naoji to wonder whether “it’d be best for her if she died soon” (58). Shortly after returning, he sent Kazuko to fetch him sake from the local inn. When Kazuko returned empty-handed, Naoji went out himself and got very drunk on gin. He has little to say about his time away or anything in particular, other than recommending that his mother wear a gauze mask to combat her sickness. Kazuko, who knows her mother does not like to cover her face, was surprised that her mother “meekly” followed Naoji’s suggestion.

Naoji begins to visit Tokyo and spends many days away from the family home. Kazuko believes that he is “amusing himself with that novelist Uehara” (61). His room remains disorganized, filled with the still-packed possessions from the old house.

Kazuko looks through these books and finds Naoji’s journals. In the journal, he writes about “a sensation of burning to death” (62). He rails against intellectualism, vanity, and philosophy. He insists that he is a talented writer, though he cannot bring himself to demonstrate this to an undeserving world. The journal is dated to the time of Naoji’s opium dependency, when he ran up a huge bill with the pharmacist and found himself with nothing of any worth to sell. He was disillusioned with himself, his country, social class, and the war, wondering whether he had “no choice but suicide” (67).

Kazuko puts the journal down at the point where her brother is writing to her, begging her for money. Six years have passed since then. Her brother’s substance misuse disorder eventually caused her divorce. Shortly after her marriage, her brother asked her for money. Unable to speak to her new husband but unable to deny her brother, she covertly sold what possessions she could and gave the money to Naoji’s novelist friend, Uehara Jirō. One day, Kazuko met Uehara face-to-face. They went out together, at his suggestion, and drank in dark, quiet bars. As they left, he kissed her on a staircase. Kazuko felt no “special attraction” to the older, unremarkable novelist, but her love for him began at this time.

A short time later, Kazuko’s husband accused her of having an affair with the artist Hosoda. He accused her of being pregnant with Hosoda’s child. The baby was stillborn, Kazuko returned to her mother’s house, and her husband quietly divorced her. Back at home, Kazuko praised Uehara to Naoji and read Uehara’s novels. During this time, as per Uehara’s plan, Naoji was weaned off opium and onto alcohol. The family settled his outstanding opium bill, bit by bit. In the six years that have passed, Naoji continues to have an alcohol misuse disorder, and Kazuko is still captured by the dream of fully surrendering to depravity in some fashion.

Chapter 4 Summary: “Letters”

Striking up a “sudden burst of courage” (79), Kazuko writes to Uehara. She implores him to remember her and writes of her “unendurable” life. Her situation is untenable, she claims, and says that she is in love with a married man, whom she refers to as M.C. Kazuko wishes that she were this man’s mistress. Throughout her letters, Kazuko addresses Uehara as “My Chekhov,” suggesting that he is the married man with whom she is in love.

Kazuko does not receive a response from Uehara. She writes again, refusing to entertain his silence. She knows that he will not support her with money, but this is not important to her, as she makes clear by describing how an elderly artist recently offered to marry her. He had hoped that she would inspire his work. Kazuko responded by comparing the old artist to Lopakhin, a character from The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov. This only angered the artist, who left Kazuko alone. Kazuko assures Uehara that she has no interest in him becoming her Lopakhin. Instead, she is content to be his mistress and to have his child.

Again, Kazuko receives no response. Again, she writes to Uehara. She wants to assure him that the old artist’s offer meant nothing to her. Kazuko invites Uehara to her family house, declaring that her love for him is only intensified by his conduct. She does not like supposedly good people, as they are all “liars and fakes” (97). Kazuko ends the letter by announcing her willingness to wait for Uehara. She spends most of her life waiting, she says. She returns to the initials M.C., claiming now that they represent her love for “my child.”

Chapters 3-4 Analysis

The house in Izu is described as “a Chinese-style villa, built with some taste” (21). This description hints at the nationalistic mindset that lingers in post-war Japan during The Decline of the Old Order. For a family of aristocrats, a house designed in a Chinese style is considered a downgrade from the Japanese-style house they owned in Tokyo. That the house is not traditionally Japanese is a subtle marker of their decline, as they can no longer home themselves in the manner they deem befitting of their status. Kazuko and her mother assure one another that the house is tasteful enough and large enough for their purposes.

The return of Naoji, however, obliterates any attempts at delusion. Upon his arrival, he gives voice to their discontent, decrying the “atrocious” place in which the family must live. Naoji’s loud criticisms are infused with cultural chauvinism. He embodies the Japanese nationalist tendency to elevate Japanese culture over everything else. In the post-war years, this sentiment is on the wane. It cannot withstand the massive rebuke delivered to Japanese sentiment in the form of the cataclysmic loss in World War II. Nevertheless, Naoji still clings to his prejudiced beliefs, just as the family tries to cling to their former social status. Kazuko and her mother try to adjust to their new environment, but the return of Naoji is a loud reminder of how the world they once knew is fading from view.

In Chapter 4, Kazuko changes the mode of narration. Whereas she has delivered everything to this point in the form of first-person narration, the form now switches to that of an epistolary novel. Rather than narration, Kazuko presents her letters to the audience. These are private letters, addressed to a man later revealed to be Naoji’s literary mentor, Mr. Uehara.

The change in narrative mode provides fresh insight into Kazuko’s mind. The letters are frank about her emotions, in which she appeals directly to an individual rather than an audience. She receives no answer from Uehara, so her letters become increasingly direct and emotional. The silence makes Kazuko desperate, as she is forced to reckon with her newfound reality. Her status no longer entitles her to a response or even an acknowledgment from a person of a lower social status. The shift in narrative mode speaks to how Kazuko is exploring her new status.

The presentation of Kazuko’s letters also alludes to her growing desire for agency. Amid the collapsing social order of post-war Japan, Kazuko has felt powerless to change her family’s fortune. She has lost a father, a husband, and a child, and she is on the brink of losing her mother, while at the same time being forced to adjust to a society that does not privilege her as it once did. This sense of hopelessness and powerlessness is evident in the changing tone of the letters, as Kazuko gradually denudes herself of any pretense or tact.

Kazuko’s reckoning with the reality of her situation also hints at The Persistence of Optimism. By writing the letters, she is taking action and trying to improve her situation in some way. This action is dependent on another person, Uehara, but it is still evidence of Kazuko attempting to employ agency in her life. The letters are direct action, even if they are ineffective, and embody a newfound honesty and directness. She no longer needs to mask her feelings; instead, she begins attempting to retake control of her life.