Patriotism

Patriotism In the story “Patriotism,” by Yukio Mishima, thirty-one year old, Lieutenant Shinji Takeyma is a proud strong Japanese soldier who has great patriotism for his Imperial Majesties. Shinji is faced with the knowledge of going to battle against his close friends who are also his colleagues. This story presents an ethical statement about acting on you believe to be right. The lieutenant chooses to take his own his own life rather than battling his closest friends. Sadly his wife Rieko follows him, taking her own life out of loyalty and respect for her husband. Every morning before he leaves for duty, he and Reiko would stand before the God shelf and bow before the Imperial Majesties. This is a routine tradition that they did to show respect and their honor to the Imperial Majesties. Both Shinji and Rieko are round characters in the story. They both have great loyalty, their loyalty to one another, to the Imperial Majesties and to his colleagues/ close friends. Shinji shows great will, power and courage to take his own life: “tonight I shall cut my stomach” (699), he says to Reiko calmly. They both loyalty, shinji, reiko, own, death, wife, right, both, story, shinji’s, majesties, life, imperial, friends, take, out, husband, great, before, side, shows, patriotism, one’s, one, believe, together, tells, sword, strong, stomach, statement, soon, solution, soldier, rieko