Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in No Longer Human, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Isolation and Alienation
Compassion and Mutual Suffering
Depression, Mental Health, and Stigmatization
Self-Expression, Privacy, and Art
Summary
Analysis
Yozo is expelled from college because of his involvement in Tsuneko’s suicide. He spends his days at Flatfish’s house, and though his family doesn’t contact him, it becomes clear to him that his brothers periodically send small amounts of money to Flatfish. Flatfish also forbids Yozo from leaving the house—he’s afraid, Yozo can tell, that he’ll try to kill himself again. Yozo, however, feels far too exhausted to do such a thing. Still, he yearns for alcohol and cigarettes, which are more or less the only things in life that he misses.
After trying to die by suicide, Yozo ends up leading a life of isolation—something he’s actually rather used to, considering that he has always felt isolated and alienated from society. The only difference now, though, is that he’s literally kept from most aspects of life, whereas his previous isolation was more self-imposed.
Themes
One night, Flatfish invites Yozo downstairs to have dinner with him and his son. It’s a nice meal, which surprises Yozo. But then Flatfish starts asking him about his future—what does he want out of life? What is his plan? Flatfish says he’s more than willing to help Yozo get started on a productive path, if only Yozo will tell him what he wants to do. Yozo, however, feels unable to answer. He has no idea what he wants to do, nor can he discern what Flatfish wants for him. He wishes Flatfish would simply tell him to do something like enter school in the spring term (he notes, in retrospect, that this is exactly what Flatfish wanted). As it stands, he’s unable to say anything, which only angers Flatfish.
It’s somewhat ironic that Yozo can’t think of what to say when Flatfish asks him what he wants to do with his life—after all, Yozo wants to please Flatfish by saying whatever would please him, and this (pleasing people) is normally something he’s quite good at. And yet, he can’t fathom what Flatfish could possibly want for him, perhaps because he himself has no idea what would make sense for him to do with his life. He is, in other words, at loose ends and doesn’t know where to look for guidance.
Themes
Eventually, Yozo says that he’d like to work as a painter. Flatfish can’t believe his ears. He laughs and looks at Yozo scornfully, and his look tells Yozo everything he needs to know about the worst, lowest aspects of adult life. The next day, Yozo runs away from Flatfish’s house—not because he’s embarrassed by his conversation with Flatfish, but because he doesn’t want to burden him any longer. He leaves a note saying that he’s simply going to Horiki’s house and that Flatfish doesn’t need to worry.
When Yozo finally opens up and honestly tells Flatfish what he’d like to do with his life, Flatfish responds quite unkindly. The one time Yozo manages to speak truthfully about himself, then, he’s met with mockery that unfortunately reinforces his sense that it’s unwise to open up to other people.
Themes
Yozo doesn’t actually intend to go to Horiki’s house. And yet, once he’s wandering through the city, he can think of nowhere else to go. He therefore ends up going to Horiki’s house, where Horiki greets him with apathy and disdain. While he’s there, a woman comes to visit Horiki. She works for a magazine that commissioned an illustration from Horiki, who wants to get rid of Yozo so he can focus on his conversation with her. At one point, a telegram arrives from Flatfish, causing Horiki to angrily ask what Yozo has dragged him into. He orders him to return to Flatfish immediately, not wanting to be associated with any kind of scandal.
Horiki’s unkindness is a good illustration of the stigma attached to suicide in Japanese society during this time period (the 1930s). Because everyone has read about how Yozo tried to die by suicide alongside Tsuneko, nobody wants to associate with him—including Horiki. In turn, the extent to which Yozo is now truly on his own becomes quite clear, as even Horiki—who isn’t even a very respectable person to begin with—has become hesitant to spend time with him.
Themes
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The woman from the magazine offers to take Yozo home. Her name is Shizuko, and she lives alone with her five-year-old daughter, Shigeko. Her husband died a few years ago. She likes the sadness coming from Yozo, praising him for being sensitive. From that day on, he lives with Shizuko and her daughter, leading the life of a “kept man.” At first, he doesn’t do much, other than spend time with Shigeko and gaze out the window at a ripped kite that has gotten tangled in some telephone wires. The kite makes him smile as he watches it blow in the wind without actually going anywhere.
It's clear that Yozo sees himself in the ripped kite, which symbolizes his apparent inability to move through life as easily as everyone else—in the same way that the kite has been torn and is caught on the telephone wires, Yozo has been trapped by his own feelings of depression and alienation. He can’t, like some people, simply breeze through life, so the sight of the torn and tangled kite resonates with him. This mentality seems to appeal to Shizuko, suggesting that she likes the idea that she might be able to help Yozo in some way. Of course, it seems unlikely that her kindness will do much to make him happy, but at least he has somewhere to stay and somebody to support him.
Themes
Yozo starts drawing cartoons for Shizuko’s magazine. It’s not a good magazine, but they pay him for the cartoons. Meanwhile, Shizuko loves living with Yozo, saying that the sadder he seems, the more women gravitate toward him. He accepts these compliments, but he’s depressed about his current situation. He decides he wants to run away from her, but he realizes that he depends on her too much to do so.
There’s a strange irony at play in Yozo’s life: the more miserable and reclusive he feels, the more people seem to gravitate toward him. And yet, being around people is something that clearly puts him on edge, since he literally fears human beings and doesn’t want to get close to anyone. This, in turn, isolates him, which makes him even more depressed, but his depression only intensifies Shizuko’s feelings for him. He is, then, caught in a vicious cycle of simultaneous affection and alienation.
Themes
Yozo becomes so depressed that Shizuko organizes a meeting with him, Flatfish, and Horiki. They all decide that Yozo should no longer be in touch with his family and that he should marry Shizuko. In the meantime, his cartoons become very popular, giving him enough money to buy alcohol and cigarettes. He develops what he thinks is a relatively close relationship with little Shigeko, but one day she emotionally eviscerates him by casually saying that what she wants more than anything is to have her “real” father back. Yozo realizes that he once again let his guard down only to be wounded by an unexpected comment.
Throughout the novel, it’s not always all that clear why Yozo fears other human beings. Of course, his discomfort around other people might be related to the fact that his family’s waitstaff sexually abused him as a child, but his feelings ultimately predated this incident, so it’s not solely to blame. In this moment, though, it's possible to recognize a source of his uneasiness: namely, the fact that getting close to others sometimes means making oneself vulnerable. Because he feels connected to Shigeko, she’s all the more capable of emotionally wounding him, thus justifying his fears about getting close to people.
Themes
These days, Horiki has started speaking to Yozo in an incredibly condescending manner. This is because he participated in the meeting about Yozo’s future, so now he sees himself as something of an authority figure in his relationship to Yozo. He tells him how to behave, talking about what’s acceptable in society. This comment makes Yozo think about the general idea of society—what, exactly, is society? He figures that it must be the “plural of human beings.” He has spent his entire life thinking about what society does and does not approve of, and now he begins to see society as more than the “plural of human beings.” Society, he thinks, is an individual.
It's unsurprising that Yozo has a strange conception of society. Most people, of course, don’t think quite so hard about the exact meaning of the word “society,” instead seeing it as a simple term that refers to a broader cultural collective. Yozo, on the other hand, feels uncomfortable around other humans, so any idea that pertains directly to a large group of people is automatically threatening and off-putting. With this in mind, his decision to start thinking of society as an individual is a possible attempt to feel less threatened by the idea of a vast collective—in other words, viewing society as an individual makes it seem less powerful and imposing, at least in Yozo’s mind.
Themes
As soon as Yozo starts thinking of society as an individual, he feels less shy and apprehensive than normal. He’s more capable of doing what he wants. But that doesn’t mean he finds happiness. To the contrary, he spends his days in a state of deep depression, drawing cartoons for the many magazines that now pay for his silly, pointless drawings. In the evenings, he goes out and gets as drunk as possible, coming home late and speaking rudely to Shizuko, though she never takes the bait. She remains calm and levelheaded, refusing to let his antics upset her. Realizing that Shizuko and Shigeko will be better off without him, Yozo leaves for good.
Yozo’s mistreatment of Shizuko suggests that he feels uncomfortable in their relationship. He seems to want to push her away, but he’s unable to do so. This makes sense, considering that she has always been attracted to him because of his sadness and general misfortune. The more he descends into drinking and disrespectful behavior, then, the stronger she feels for him, since he’s just sliding into an increasingly troubled lifestyle. Unable to push her away, then, he decides to leave.
Themes
After leaving Shizuko, Yozo goes to a bar in the Kyobashi neighborhood, where he tells the bartender who manages the bar that he left Shizuko for her. This is all he needs to say for her to let him drink at the bar and sleep in the upstairs apartment. A year goes by. Yozo is still frightened of human beings and drinks heavily, all the while drawing cartoons for a number of magazines, some of which are pornographic. At one point, though, a young woman tries to get him to stop drinking. Her name is Yoshiko, and she’s 17. She works in a tobacco store across the street from the bar.
Not much has changed for Yozo in the last year. He still leads a lonely, alienated life and is supported by a woman who pities him—the only difference, it seems, is that this woman is now the bartender from Kyobashi instead of Shizuko. Yozo has thus drifted from one person to the next, and though he manages to gain the affection of seemingly any woman he associates with, no amount of attention makes him happy or helps him feel at ease around others.
Themes
When Yoshiko tells Yozo to stop drinking, he doesn’t understand why he should do such a thing. But he also declares that he wants to kiss her, and she doesn’t object. Shortly thereafter, he falls into a manhole while walking home drunk one night. Yoshiko helps pull him out and mends his wounds, again saying that he drinks too much. He then declares that, starting tomorrow, he won’t drink any alcohol—if, that is, Yoshiko agrees to marry him. He means it as a joke, but she agrees, so they plan to marry (as long as Yozo stops drinking).
Based on Yozo’s past romantic relationships, it’s very unlikely that things will end well between him and Yoshiko. What’s interesting, though, is that he gravitates toward this relationship in the first place. For somebody who claims to fear others, Yozo actually finds his way into relationship after relationship—evidence, perhaps, of his self-destructive behavior, as well as of how hard it is for him to avoid the attention of others.
Themes
The next day, Yozo gets drunk. He tries to tell Yoshiko that their arrangement has to be called off, since he’s drunk, but she doesn’t believe him. She knows, she says, that he wouldn’t break his promise like that. He insists that he’s drunk and that he doesn’t deserve to kiss her, but she refuses to believe him. Suddenly, the fact that Yoshiko is a virgin overpowers Yozo, and he decides then and there that he really will marry her, since he has never slept with a virgin before and wants to know what it’s like. That night, they have sex. They get married shortly thereafter. Yozo doesn’t end up experiencing much joy from having sex with Yoshiko, but he notes that the decision to marry eventually brings him great suffering. He realizes that sorrow doesn’t just go away after a spur-of-the-moment decision.
By freely admitting that he broke his promise, Yozo intentionally tries to get out of marrying Yoshiko. To a certain extent, it’s arguable that he does this because he recognizes, on some level, that marrying Yoshiko won’t fix his problems and will instead lead to grave consequences. But Yoshiko apparently thinks he’s more trustworthy than he actually is, so he finds himself unable to back out of their agreement—yet another sign that, no matter what he does, people naturally gravitate toward him even though this is the exact opposite of what he wants (though he does, of course, convince himself in this moment that he wants to marry Yoshiko, but that’s only because he’s lustfully curious about the idea of sleeping with a virgin).
Themes
