No Longer Human is a semi-autobiographical novel that depicts the theme of alienation through Oba Yozo’s (the protagonist) moral and emotional degradation throughout his life.
When approaching an analysis of the novel as a whole, it can often be terribly misconstrued because of how much of the piece goes over the reader’s head. No Longer Human is delivered in a sense that so much of its ironic appeal is almost discarded as it isn’t immediately apparent to the reader. However, this could easily be considered as the most important part of the novel.
In order to understand this, you must also be able to understand where Osamu Dazai was in his life when he started writing this book.
Contrary to popular belief and interpretation, Dazai was not experiencing feelings of depression at this point of his life (when he started writing the novel). He had recently returned home from a trip to Tsugaru, with a wife and child waiting at home for him, and another child on the way. It is important to note that No Longer Human did not come from this place in Dazai’s mind where he felt the need to write about how awful his life was. Instead, it came from a need to write purely about the sins of man, and have a place to release his grievances into the world, via Yozo.
It was only once Dazai started writing this novel that he realised he had single-handedly plunged himself into possibly the worst period of his life. This is where the irony comes in, seeing as Yozo performs almost the exact same actions in the novel.
Yozo doesn’t start off in a horrible place in the novel. He has a content childhood with sufficient social interaction and connections. As he starts to grow up, the reader is brought along with him on his journey of physical, emotional and moral ignominy, to a point where Yozo is no longer recapping his past, but rather recognising the depravity of where his life came to and what he will do next.
Seeing as Yozo was almost unintentionally created as a parallel of Dazai’s life, it is important to remember that Yozo didn’t consider himself this disaster of a human being his entire life; he only started to recognise it in his mid-twenties, as did Dazai, therefore amplifying that the sins of man are relentlessly natural, and should not be held on this pedestal of alienation, but rather be recognised as an innate series of events (however, importantly, this should not be interpreted as excusing such actions, rather simply understanding them), focusing strong attention on the consistent struggle between the individual and the society in which he lives in.
Therefore, we can then understand that Dazai was not writing this novel in a manner of guilt and confession, but rather in a reflective and retrospective manner, as a means of cathartic release from holding this perception of the sins of man in his own mind.
In addition, the novel being written in first person allows the reader to experience an intimate understanding of the psychological depth that Dazai intentionally portrays.
