Theme of the work

The creation of Osamu Dazai’s works can be divided into three stages. Most of his early works are decadent and rebellious, his middle-term works show the spirit of regeneration, and his later works fully express the sense of destruction and the idea of ??never giving up. Although the themes expressed in the works of these three stages are different, the pursuit of love, trust, truth and freedom between people can be said to be the main thread running through all Dazai Osamu's works.

By describing the decadent national life, resisting the overall style of the social trend of thought at that time, and pursuing ideological emancipation, this is the most important tone of gangster literature. This tone has to be said to be the color projection of the writer's life. In his works, the writer describes a philosophy of life full of decadence and nihilism in a self-deprecating and joking manner, hoping that in this way he will reveal the dark side hidden under morality and family affection, thereby achieving the true liberation of human nature. This ideological structure of using self-mockery to describe decadence and seeking liberation through decadence is one of the connotations of Dazai's literature.

Most of the protagonists in Dazai Osamu's works have the consciousness of "awareness of their own sins". In his youth, Osamu Dazai participated in the left-wing movement. During this period, he realized that as a landlord class, he was different from revolutionaries and even ordinary people, as if he was a person born with a sense of guilt. In addition, several suicide incidents later involved women, which deepened his guilt. This sense of criminality was evident in his early work and significantly influenced his later creative direction.

Because of this strong sense of guilt, the words "I want to die, I must die, living is the seed of sin" can be read in the novel "Disqualification in the World". Therefore, readers can continue to read descriptions of death and suicide in later works. "Death" and "suicide" have become the cornerstones of Osamu Dazai's literature and have been throughout his literary creation. In Christianity, sin and punishment are relative. It is not enough to punish oneself with the pain of sin in a decadent and depraved way. When death becomes less terrifying in the face of reality, Osamu Dazai's protagonist eventually leads to self-destruction. From the fear of real life, to the sense of emptiness and guilt of being a human being, to the decadence of being unable to grasp the meaning of life, and finally to death, this is the overall context of Osamu Dazai's literature.

Artistic Features

Dazai Osamu grew up in a family with a large population and many women. She has had special feelings for women since she was a child, and there are a lot of descriptions of women in literary works. In addition, Osamu Dazai was separated from his mother when he was an infant, and left his wet nurse and aunt successively as he grew up. This gave Osamu Dazai an ambivalent emotion of longing for, fearing, and disgusting women. Therefore, in the process of literary creation, based on this special emotion and ambivalent psychology, Osamu Dazai created a large number of works on female themes. In many novels, she even used female monologue writing techniques to create works, such as "Weirong" "The Wife" and "The Setting Sun".

Marginal people refer to spiritual pioneers. They have their own unique thoughts and beliefs. Because of their unique thoughts and beliefs, it is difficult for ordinary people to understand their behaviors and activities. Through the traditional Japanese "private novel" form, Osamu Dazai created a large number of novels focusing on marginalized characters. It can also be said that these marginal characters are actually Dazai Osamu himself, and the words in the novel are actually Dazai Osamu's self-confession. Such as "Clown's Flower", "Disqualified in the World", etc. They are all down and out, unable to resist reality, which slowly leads to suicide and self-destruction. In particular, the place, time, and reason for suicide described in the novel are strikingly similar to Osamu Dazai’s suicide experience.