[One Thousand Characters a Day] Books Going to Work <1> - The Things That Break Me Down

Editor's NoteThere are times at the workplace when one feels miserable, shabby, ragged, and experiences despair, misery, and sorrow. The rainbow-colored workplace, which was believed to foster self-growth while maintaining professionalism with style and dignity, disperses like a mirage. ＜Books for Commuting＞ contains the comfort found in books the author, a newspaper reporter, picked up as a means to relieve pain when wanting to forget about work. It is a record of the printed words read through tears whenever the inner self feels torn and the ego seems to vanish at work. Of course, the protagonists in the 21 books introduced by the author do not offer great insights or answers. However, the author asserts that through this 'escapist reading,' they have become somewhat stronger, clearer, and more resolute as a 'working human.' Word count: 910.

Published in Japan in 1948, ＜Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human)＞ is a novel containing Osamu Dazai’s autobiographical story. The protagonist, Yozo, cannot adapt to a society dominated by falsehood, hypocrisy, deceit, and distrust, yet he endures and suppresses his alienation from such a society, forced to lie and become cunning. So he decides to become even more rebellious. While others find nothing funny, he laughs uproariously as if mad, talks loudly, and acts exaggeratedly. He chooses to become a clown.

His defense is that he chose to become anti-social rather than be socialized into a 'mad society.' Yozo is thoroughly alienated and rejected, sometimes falling into debauchery and indulgence. He is a complete wreck. Yozo goes through alcohol, cigarettes, prostitution, suicide attempts, adultery, aiding suicide, running away from home, and coughing up blood, eventually being admitted to a mental hospital. He becomes convinced that he is 'no longer human.'

Since the novel is written in the form of a 'memoir' depicting his inner self soaked in alcohol as if drowning in a bottle, it even feels like reading his drunken ramblings in print. When 'Yozo' forcibly creates exaggerated laughter, acts as a clown, and claims to be a jester, one thinks about his shattered inner self. One reflects on the human figure being destroyed within his erratic words and gestures.

Viewed through the lens of Carl Gustav Jung’s 'Analytical Psychology,' Yozo is a person who cannot put on and take off his 'persona.' The persona is like a 'mask' that a group demands one to wear, representing specific roles, norms, and attitudes. A socialized individual has masks to wear at the organization, workplace, or company dinners, which should be put on during work and taken off after. However, Yozo feels a chilling horror toward the mask itself. He neither wears the mask properly nor looks squarely at those wearing masks. Could it be because he recognized the human expression crushed and shattered beneath the smiling mask? Or because he shuddered at the cruelty of the artificially created mask that suppresses one’s true nature thoroughly?

- Gu Chae-eun, ＜Books for Commuting＞, Pajit, 16,800 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.