Yozo’s disappointment when he learns that pillowcases aren’t purely ornamental symbolizes his disgust at the mundanity of everyday life. When he’s a young boy, he thinks that pillowcases are simply decorative, but he soon learns that they serve an actual purpose: namely, to provide a washable surface for people to put their heads on without dirtying the pillow itself. As soon as he learns this, he feels depressed and overwhelmed by what he thinks of as “human dullness.” Everyday life is full of customs that feel unspeakably boring and pointless to him. This, of course, is an early manifestation of his long struggle with depression, which often makes it hard for people to invest themselves in the things happening around them. For Yozo, the surrounding world is nothing but a bleak, unexciting place, and his disappointment regarding pillowcases is a good indication of just how easily small, seemingly unimportant details can upset him. And yet, at the same time, his desire for pillowcases to be aesthetically pleasing also hints at a certain desire for beauty and pleasure, thus implying that, though he finds everyday life dull and depressing, he’s still interested enough in life itself to yearn for decoration and artfulness.
Pillowcases Quotes in No Longer Human
How often as I lay there I used to think what uninspired decorations sheets and pillow cases make. It wasn’t until I was about twenty that I realized that they actually served a practical purpose, and this revelation of human dullness stirred dark depression in me.
Irrationality. I found the thought faintly pleasurable. Or rather, I felt at ease with it. What frightened me was the logic of the world; in it lay the foretaste of something incalculably powerful. Its mechanism was incomprehensible, and I could not possibly remain closeted in that windowless, bone-chilling room. Though outside lay the sea of irrationality, it was far more agreeable to swim in its waters until presently I drowned.
Pillowcases Symbol Timeline in No Longer Human
