the ending (with spoiler...)

[Amanda]

I was reading this book with such a foreboding, Mishima being Mishima (and having finished "Temple of the Golden Pavilion" prior to reading this one).

As I was rolling up on the last page, the tension eased -- but then I was struck by the last paragraph, where Shinji credits himself, and not the thought of Hatsue's photo, that took him through the storm.

Somehow that last bit seemed to negate the love story in one punch, where you see the instant that Shinji leaves the lovestruck boy in his past, and Hatsue will be pushed into a subservient role to her husband.

Did that strike anyone else in the same way? Or am I reading a little too closely?

[Kevin]

What i thought was strange for a second. The writer is probably trying to play around with us. It ends usually with a mystery to make us think. I really doubt he is serious.

[Norman]

Mishima not serious? You can't be serious!

[Julia Marie]

Amanda, that is exactly how I felt at the end. I've never previously read Mishima, but I held my breath through the romance of the whole novel and was extremely surprised at those last lines!

I feel that she is being put into a subservient role, which is interesting, because until that point, she was the one who was better than him, if only because of her status.

[Mezba]

O_____O

[Leana]

I took it more to mean that Shin-ji is now aware of his own manhood, of his own inner strength, in a way that he wasn't before. Throughout the book he was a boy, accepting the whims of others. In the end, he realizes that he wasn't simply "allowed" to marry Hatsue -- he actively made that happen, through his own courage and fortitude.