No Longer Human

by

Osamu Dazai

Tsuneko Character Analysis

Tsuneko is a bartender who serves Yozo one night when he doesn’t have enough money to pay for his drinks. A sad soul, she takes pity on Yozo and spends the entire evening with him, eventually inviting him back to her apartment, where they sleep together and talk about how unhappy they are. Tsuneko’s husband is in jail, but she commits herself to her new relationship with Yozo—a relationship that accelerates quite quickly. The next time they see each other, they spend the night together and again talk about how unhappy they are, and Tsuneko eventually says she can’t bear to go on living. Together, they decide to die by suicide. When they throw themselves into the ocean, though, Tsuneko is the only one to die. Yozo is saved and thus must face the scandal surrounding the role he played in Tsuneko’s suicide. In retrospect, Yozo thinks Tsuneko might be the only woman he ever truly loved.

Tsuneko Quotes in No Longer Human

The No Longer Human quotes below are all either spoken by Tsuneko or refer to Tsuneko. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Isolation and Alienation Theme Icon
).
The Second Notebook Quotes

I drank the liquor. She did not intimidate me, and I felt no obligation to perform my clownish antics for her. I drank in silence, not bothering to hide the taciturnity and gloominess which were my true nature.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Yozo’s Father, Tsuneko
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:

It was entirely different from the feeling of being able to sleep soundly which I had experienced in the arms of those idiot-prostitutes (for one thing, the prostitutes were cheerful); the night I spent with that criminal’s wife was for me a night of liberation and happiness. (The use of so bold a word, affirmatively, without hesitation, will not, I imagine, recur in these notebooks.)

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Tsuneko
Page Number: 80
Explanation and Analysis:

It was because I felt sorry for Tsuneko, sorry that she should be obliged to accept Horiki’s savage kisses while I watched. Once she had been defiled by Horiki she would no doubt have to leave me. But my ardor was not positive enough for me to stop Tsuneko. I experienced an instant of shock at her unhappiness; I thought, “It’s all over now.” Then, the next moment, I meekly, helplessly resigned myself. I looked from Horiki to Tsuneko. I grinned.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Horiki, Tsuneko
Page Number: 84
Explanation and Analysis:

Yes, just as Horiki had said, she really was a tired, poverty-stricken woman and nothing more. But this thought itself was accompanied by a welling-up of a feeling of comradeship for this fellow-sufferer from poverty. (The clash between rich and poor is a hackneyed enough subject, but I am now convinced that it really is one of the eternal themes of drama.) I felt pity for Tsuneko; for the first time in my life I was conscious of a positive (if feeble) movement of love in my heart. I vomited. I passed out. This was also the first time I had ever drunk so much as to lose consciousness.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Horiki, Tsuneko
Page Number: 85-86
Explanation and Analysis:

She lay down beside me. Towards dawn she pronounced for the first time the word “death.” She too seemed to be weary beyond endurance of the task of being a human being; and when I reflected on my dread of the world and its bothersomeness, on money, the movement, women, my studies, it seemed impossible that I could go on living. I consented easily to her proposal.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Tsuneko
Page Number: 86
Explanation and Analysis:

The next instant he asked with his quiet smile, “Was that real?”

Even now the recollection makes me feel so embarrassed I can’t sit still. It was worse, I am sure, even than when in high school I was plummeted into hell by that stupid Takeichi tapping me on the back and saying, “You did it on purpose.” Those were the two great disasters in a lifetime of acting. Sometimes I have even thought that I should have preferred to be sentenced to ten years imprisonment rather than meet with such gentle contempt from the district attorney.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Takeichi, Tsuneko
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis:
The Third Notebook: Part One Quotes

Why, I wonder, couldn’t he have mentioned the simple fact that the money would be forthcoming from home? That one fact would probably have settled my feelings, but I was left in a fog.

“How about it? Have you anything which might be described as aspirations for the future? I suppose one can’t expect people one helps to understand how difficult it is to help another person.”

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Flatfish (speaker), Tsuneko
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
The Third Notebook: Part Two Quotes

The voice of a resistance weak but desperate spoke from somewhere in my heart. It said that I had not caused anyone to die, that I had not lifted money from anyone—but once again the ingrained habit of considering myself evil took command.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Horiki, Tsuneko
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
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Tsuneko Quotes in No Longer Human

The No Longer Human quotes below are all either spoken by Tsuneko or refer to Tsuneko. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Isolation and Alienation Theme Icon
).
The Second Notebook Quotes

I drank the liquor. She did not intimidate me, and I felt no obligation to perform my clownish antics for her. I drank in silence, not bothering to hide the taciturnity and gloominess which were my true nature.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Yozo’s Father, Tsuneko
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:

It was entirely different from the feeling of being able to sleep soundly which I had experienced in the arms of those idiot-prostitutes (for one thing, the prostitutes were cheerful); the night I spent with that criminal’s wife was for me a night of liberation and happiness. (The use of so bold a word, affirmatively, without hesitation, will not, I imagine, recur in these notebooks.)

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Tsuneko
Page Number: 80
Explanation and Analysis:

It was because I felt sorry for Tsuneko, sorry that she should be obliged to accept Horiki’s savage kisses while I watched. Once she had been defiled by Horiki she would no doubt have to leave me. But my ardor was not positive enough for me to stop Tsuneko. I experienced an instant of shock at her unhappiness; I thought, “It’s all over now.” Then, the next moment, I meekly, helplessly resigned myself. I looked from Horiki to Tsuneko. I grinned.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Horiki, Tsuneko
Page Number: 84
Explanation and Analysis:

Yes, just as Horiki had said, she really was a tired, poverty-stricken woman and nothing more. But this thought itself was accompanied by a welling-up of a feeling of comradeship for this fellow-sufferer from poverty. (The clash between rich and poor is a hackneyed enough subject, but I am now convinced that it really is one of the eternal themes of drama.) I felt pity for Tsuneko; for the first time in my life I was conscious of a positive (if feeble) movement of love in my heart. I vomited. I passed out. This was also the first time I had ever drunk so much as to lose consciousness.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Horiki, Tsuneko
Page Number: 85-86
Explanation and Analysis:

She lay down beside me. Towards dawn she pronounced for the first time the word “death.” She too seemed to be weary beyond endurance of the task of being a human being; and when I reflected on my dread of the world and its bothersomeness, on money, the movement, women, my studies, it seemed impossible that I could go on living. I consented easily to her proposal.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Tsuneko
Page Number: 86
Explanation and Analysis:

The next instant he asked with his quiet smile, “Was that real?”

Even now the recollection makes me feel so embarrassed I can’t sit still. It was worse, I am sure, even than when in high school I was plummeted into hell by that stupid Takeichi tapping me on the back and saying, “You did it on purpose.” Those were the two great disasters in a lifetime of acting. Sometimes I have even thought that I should have preferred to be sentenced to ten years imprisonment rather than meet with such gentle contempt from the district attorney.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Takeichi, Tsuneko
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis:
The Third Notebook: Part One Quotes

Why, I wonder, couldn’t he have mentioned the simple fact that the money would be forthcoming from home? That one fact would probably have settled my feelings, but I was left in a fog.

“How about it? Have you anything which might be described as aspirations for the future? I suppose one can’t expect people one helps to understand how difficult it is to help another person.”

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Flatfish (speaker), Tsuneko
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
The Third Notebook: Part Two Quotes

The voice of a resistance weak but desperate spoke from somewhere in my heart. It said that I had not caused anyone to die, that I had not lifted money from anyone—but once again the ingrained habit of considering myself evil took command.

Related Characters: Yozo (speaker), Horiki, Tsuneko
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis: