instant to the point where the original chaos is restored, and taking strength from the uncertainty and the fear that chaos brings to re-create existence instant by instant" (Mishima 51). The "existence" the boys seek to dismantle is the everyday existence of Japanese culture, familial and social. Their parents adherence to that culture is seen as a sign of delusion and weakness. Thus, their parents--fathers in particular as representing what they could become--and all other representatives of that culture are seen as the enemy standing as an obstacle to their achieving a level of knowledge higher than that previously achieved.
Noboru and the other boys first view Ryuji as a hero because he has spent the greater part of his life removed from the immediate clutches of the culture the boys despise. Ryuji has spent most of life on the sea and in various ports of call. He has seen more of the world than Japan and, thus, the boys believe he is not limited by the social customs they scorn. Interestingly enough, the ocean that Ryuji travels is coded female, somewhat "womb-like." The boys hold their fathers in contempt, but very little mention is made of mothers other than Noburu's. The attempted nurturing by their fathers is what the boys cannot tolerate, and the nurture of children always carries a feminine connotation. To the boys, Ryuji has apparently escaped such feminine control. Ryuji, however, is very much enthralled with the feminine. He holds a romantic belief that he will one day achieve glory and then will be enveloped by the sea, almost a sort of longing for a return to the womb. He decides to remain on land with Fusako only after he gives up his dreams of glory, exchanging one variety of feminine control for another. Once the boys realize this, Ryuji becomes an element of existence that must be dismantled.
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