The House of the Sleeping Beauties: Analysis of Major Characters
"The House of the Sleeping Beauties" is a narrative that explores the complex emotional landscape of Yoshio Eguchi, a sixty-seven-year-old man who confronts the realities of aging and death through his interactions with young women in a unique and provocative setting. The story unfolds in a house where older men can sleep next to heavily sedated young virgins, allowing for a mix of intimacy and detachment. As Eguchi spends five nights with various "Sleeping Beauties," he reflects on his past relationships and the bittersweet memories they evoke, revealing a deep yearning for connection that transcends physicality.
Key characters include Kiga, Eguchi's friend who introduces him to the house, and the unnamed manager, who maintains a cold yet efficient demeanor. Each of the Sleeping Beauties represents different facets of Eguchi's memories and desires, from the innocent allure of youth to the complexities of his past affairs. The narrative raises questions about mortality, the nature of desire, and the implications of seeking solace in the lives of others, making it a thought-provoking exploration of human relationships and the passage of time. This interplay of characters invites readers to reflect on their own perceptions of love, loss, and the longing for connection in the face of inevitable mortality.
The House of the Sleeping Beauties: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Yasunari Kawabata
First published: Nemureru bijo, 1960–1961, serial; 1961, book (English translation, 1969)
Genre: Novella
Locale: An unnamed hot-spring resort in Japan
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: 1960
Yoshio Eguchi, a sixty-seven-year-old man. A light sleeper with a tendency to have bad dreams, he apparently has had several affairs and remembers the “ugliness” of spending nights with tragic, sad women. Given the opportunity to sleep next to young virgins, heavily drugged and therefore incapable of revealing anything about their lives, he longs for more than the physical touch he is allowed. In the five nights that he spends with six young women, he relives events in his life, all seemingly randomly evoked associations with each woman. Although conscious of the “dreariness” of old age and approaching death, he is indignant about the cavalier attitude to death he finds in the establishment.
Kiga, Eguchi's friend, who introduces him to this special house for older men. Kiga describes the experience of sleeping next to a drugged young woman as “sleeping with a secret Buddha.”
The Woman, the unnamed manager of the house, a small woman in her mid-forties with thin lips, a youthful voice, and a calm and steady manner. Polite but firm, she serves Eguchi tea and delivers clear instructions about the strict rules of the house before taking him up to the room with red curtains where he sleeps with a young girl. Her cold efficiency is epitomized by her quick action in removing dead bodies to another establishment and by her ruthless advice to Eguchi to make do with the second girl when one dies during the night.
The First Sleeping Beauty, a short young woman not quite twenty years old, with long hair and wearing no cosmetics. To Eguchi, she gives off the scent of a nursing baby, bringing back several memories, including those of his three daughters as babies and of a young woman with whom he had an affair in his youth.
The Second Sleeping Beauty, described as a “young witch” with deep red lipstick, pink fingernails, and slightly crooked teeth. Her scent brings memories and fantasies associated with peonies and camellias to Eguchi and reminds him primarily of the courtship and marriage of his youngest daughter and a trip they took.
The Third Sleeping Beauty, a small girl with a small face who looks about sixteen years old. Her deathlike sleep reminds Eguchi of his affair only three years earlier with a young married woman in her twenties and provokes phantasms of hyacinths and orchids.
The Fourth Sleeping Beauty, a large, full-bodied, white-skinned young woman who evokes pity in Eguchi and brings a dream of white butterflies.
The Fifth and Sixth Sleeping Beauties, two women Eguchi sees on his last visit. One is rough, wild, dark, and possibly a foreigner; she momentarily rouses a violent passion in Eguchi to strangle her. She dies during the night. The other woman is gentler, more elegant, and fair. Sandwiched between them, Eguchi has a series of erotic nightmares, ending with one associated with red dahlias.