Prize Stock by Kenzaburō ōe
"Prize Stock" by Kenzaburō Ōe is a poignant short story set in Japan during the final months of World War II. The narrative follows an African American soldier who survives a plane crash and is captured by a group of Japanese villagers. Initially viewed with fear and suspicion, the soldier gradually forms a bond with the village children, including the narrator, Frog, and his younger brother. The children’s relationship with the soldier evolves from one of captivity to companionship, as they care for him and enjoy playful interactions.
However, the story takes a tragic turn when the villagers receive orders for the soldier's transfer, leading to a heartbreaking misunderstanding. In a moment of panic and fear for his life, the soldier inadvertently becomes a threat, culminating in a violent conclusion that underscores the devastating impact of war on innocence and human connection. "Prize Stock" explores themes of fear, friendship, and the loss of childhood amid the chaos of conflict, offering a sensitive reflection on the complexities of human relationships in times of war.
On this Page
Prize Stock by Kenzaburō ōe
First published: "Shiiku," 1958 (English translations, "The Catch," 1966, and "Prize Stock," 1977)
Type of plot: War
Time of work: Summer, 1945
Locale: A mountain village in Japan
Principal Characters:
"Frog , ," the narrator, a teenage Japanese boy"Harelip , ," his teenage companionHis younger brother His father , a hunter and trapperThe black American soldier , a prisoner of war of the villagers"Clerk , ," a one-legged town official
The Story
"Prize Stock," for which Kenzaburō Ōe received Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1958 while he was still in college, tells the tragic tale of a downed black American soldier in the last summer months before Japan's unconditional surrender ending World War II in September, 1945. The black soldier at first terrifies, then mystifies, and ultimately befriends the Japanese villagers who are told to hold him captive. When orders arrive that he is to be transferred, a tragic misunderstanding leads to his death.
The story begins at dusk when the narrator Frog and his younger brother finish sifting through the ashes by the village crematorium, looking for uniquely shaped bones to use as play medals. Joined by their friend Harelip, nicknamed for his untreated birth defect, the two boys observe the low overflight of a huge American plane before returning home to the second floor of the village storehouse. Their taciturn father prepares the evening meal, after which the boys and their father go to bed.
Before morning, the village is awakened by the sound of a huge crash farther up in the mountains. The adult men go to investigate, forbidding the children to trail along. Harelip amuses himself by letting the village girls play with his penis at the communal spring. In the evening, the men return with their "catch," the black American soldier who survived the plane crash. None of the villagers has ever seen an African American, and they consider him less an enemy than a strange big beast.
Because they cannot talk with their prisoner, they lock him in the basement of the storeroom and chain his ankles with a boar trap. The next day, Frog and his father walk to the nearby town to report their "catch" and ask for instructions. Clerk, a one-legged minor official, jokes with Frog about the captive. Returning to their village, Frog helps his father carry food to the prisoner. Suspicious at first, the black soldier finally takes a drink and hungrily eats the local food.
As the black soldier does not display any threatening behavior, his care is soon left to the village boys, foremost the narrator, his younger brother, and Harelip, who guard their prisoner fiercely. They delegate the emptying of the prisoner's dump bucket to other children and grow increasingly familiar with their "catch." Noticing that the chain of the boar trap cuts into the man's infected ankles, Harelip frees him. Encouraged by the prisoner's cooperative behavior, the children let him out to catch fresh air, and none of the adults object.
Every day, Frog and his friends become more attached to the soldier. They bring him a toolbox to repair the boar trap, and when Clerk damages his artificial leg on a visit to the village, they let the prisoner repair it. Finally, they take their "catch" to the spring, letting him bathe in the nude. Impressed by the size of the black soldier's penis, Harelip fetches a female goat, but the prisoner fails to copulate with the animal.
Finally, Clerk tells the villagers that the soldier is to be transferred. Frog grows alarmed. He talks to the prisoner and touches his body in an agitated and panicked manner. Suddenly, the black man takes the narrator hostage and barricades himself in the storeroom cellar, clearly afraid for his life. As the villagers debate a course of action, Frog is confronted by a man who has suddenly become the enemy again.
The next morning, the villagers break into the storeroom. Using Frog as a human shield, the captive fails to stop the hatchet blow delivered by the boy's father, which smashes Frog's left hand and the skull of the black man. Waking from his trauma-induced delirium, Frog watches the storage of the prisoner's corpse in an abandoned mine, for his cremation is forbidden. Clerk joins the children sledding down the slope on the tail of the downed American plane and is thrown off and killed when his head hits a rock. Frog realizes that war has brought an end to his childhood.