Dazai and No Longer Humanâs Yozo
Itâs no secret that BSDâs Dazai draws heavily from his real life counterpart, especially from his semi-autobiographical work: No Longer Human. To preface, No Longer Human is written from the perspective of the main character Yozo, with the book itself being a documentation of Yozoâs notebooks (essentially his journals) throughout his life.Â
As you progress through the novel, it becomes increasingly clear that Yozo lives an extremely two-sided life; his foolish personality acts as a facade to others in attempts to hide the darker nature within him.Â
Dazai shares that obvious similarity with Yozo, but Dazai is characterized in a somewhat vague and mysterious way that leaves a lot of his inner thoughts up to interpretation and inferences. Thus, Iâll be going through some of my favorite quotes from No Longer Human and analyzing Dazaiâs character through his similarities to Yozo.
(For the sake of readability, excerpts from No Longer Human will be in pictures, and quotes from the light novel will be in regular block quotes).
Dazai and Yozoâs Participation in Clownery
To start off, Dazai noticeably participates in the same âclowningâ as Yozo, which in particular stands out with PM Dazai.
ââHow did your leg get hurt?â I pointed to the bandages, thinking that it must be the result of some violent fight.
âI was reading a book titled âHow to Prevent Accidental Injuriesâ while walking when I accidentally fell into a ditch.â
I wasnât expecting such an abnormal response.â
â LN 2, Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era (Odaâs POV)
This is pretty standard Dazai behavior, but the interesting part is how Yozo specifically used the word âdeceiving.â If we were to assume Yozoâs true thoughts are Dazaiâs as well, then it would imply that Dazai feels as if heâs manipulating people with his absurd claims (such as the above). However, in actuality, his clownish behaviors sound more like a joke, or some type of self-deflection, rather than an attempt to manipulate people. (Yozo also states that he would often incriminate himself by overexaggerating certain things, but I donât think Dazai does that).
The second statement Yozo makes implies that he doesnât care about ethics, morality, or the supposed âright wayâ of living life thatâs described as ârighteousness.â
Yozoâs statement on ârighteousnessâ parallels Dazaiâs in Dark Era, but Dazaiâs statement carries a slightly different sentiment. Rather than being indifferent to the likes of morality, Dazai says that heâs âhatedâ by the concept of morality.Â
Iâll be speculating a bit here â Itâs heavily implied that Dazai had some sort of dark past that led him to joining the mafia, since he was already suicidal prior to doing so. This suggests that something affected his life so drastically to the point where he could no longer trust in such things as ârighteousness,â because righteousness has wronged him in the past.
