Confessions

The titles of these climactic chapters are significant because they denote core characteristics of the characters they describe. Shūya, “The Believer,” is convinced that his mother will return to him one day if he can only capture her attention. Alternatively, this title also speaks to the level of self-deception he needs to maintain this conviction. Moriguchi, who narrates the final chapter—“The Evangelist”—is thus someone “who spreads the word [of God]” or otherwise “zealously supports something.” While she suggests at the end of Chapter 6 that Shūya can finally begin his “recovery,” the implication is that she is spreading the “gospel” of “Saint Sakuranomi.” However, in her own quest for vengeance, Moriguchi instead sparks acts of revenge through her entire class, from bullying to matricide. More directly, she speaks with Shūya’s mother about him, but her thoughts are forever lost to anyone but Moriguchi.

Shūya exemplifies The Pitfalls of Perception in these chapters. His perceptions mostly relate to himself—first a sense of self-loathing because of his mother’s unhappiness and abuse but also a sense of love and bonding with her through science. This bond gives him a dual perspective after his parents’ divorce: that his peers are beneath him because they are less intelligent and that if he can catch his mother’s attention through science, she will return to him. The latter morphs into increasingly violent variations, from science fairs to murder to mass destruction, but Shūya clings to his self-deception like Naoki clings to life. It is only when Mizuki—the most logically perceptive of the class—points out his own inaction and the truth of his mother’s abandonment that Shūya’s self-delusion is shattered, confirmed when he visits her lab and sees proof of her new family.

The Cycle of Blame and Revenge influences both Shūya’s and Moriguchi’s actions. Shūya never directly blames his mother for leaving, so he can never exact revenge on her. Instead, as Moriguchi points out, he “hurt[s] everyone except her” (233): shocking Moriguchi, killing Manami, and strangling Mizuki. His bomb is his final act of misplaced blame, an act of revenge against the classmates and teachers he views as inferior to him. As for Moriguchi, who has manipulated Werther all along from the shadows and observed Naoki and Shūya from a distance, the boys’ matricides finally sate her desire for vengeance. Her choice to withhold Shūya’s mother’s final words to him regarding the contents of his website is her final revenge.

Despite espousing science and logic above all else, Shūya exemplifies Failing to Consider the Consequences of his actions, except for his desired outcome. He brings much of his misfortune upon himself, from gaining Moriguchi’s enmity by shocking her and killing her daughter, to losing potential media attention because he rejected Naoki’s friendship, and to losing his girlfriend because she angered him by speaking an unwelcome truth. The loss of his mother is also his doing, most directly via the bomb but also because despite his desire to reunite with her, he never sought her out until it was too late. He therefore acts without thinking, reacting emotionally but refusing to acknowledge the meaning or results of his choices. Chapter 6 emphasizes the degree to which Moriguchi, on the other hand, remains fully aware of the consequences of her actions. While Sakuranomi thwarted her plan by switching the milk cartons she injected with blood, her plan still created chaos in the classroom and induced the psychological torture she intended. Furthermore, her manipulation of Werther—taking advantage of his admiration of Sakuranomi—provides yet another element of control over the classroom from which she retired.

The dichotomy between Moriguchi and Shūya’s mother highlights another angle of The Nature of Motherhood. Moriguchi’s role, apart from emphasizing her unconditional love and dedication to her child, is to indicate her ability to balance a STEM-associated career with family life. Shūya’s mother, by contrast, abandons her family entirely for her career as an engineering professor. While she eventually does try to balance work and family the way Moriguchi does, Shūya’s bomb destroys that fate, indicating that she moved from one role (housewife) to another (professor) but was never able to manage both. Additional references to Snuggly Bunny reiterate this theme: Shūya notices Manami’s display of Snuggly Bunny and signs of maternal love and hates her for it, as they indicate a love he never received. While he is initially ambivalent about Manami as his victim, seeing her Snuggly Bunny regalia convinces him to kill her. His use of Snuggly Bunny as the murder weapon also indicates the toxic, deluded perversion of the maternal love that he desires—it is neither real nor possible and destroys him as much as he destroys both Manami and his own mother.

Shūya’s inventions are another prominent symbol within the final chapters. Shūya loves science because it connects him to his mother and hopes his inventions will bring her back to him. However, this desire proves to be a double-edged sword: As his desperation to reach her through science increases, so does the fatality of his inventions, from the shocking coin purse to a bomb, which he ironically detonates using a mode of communication he could have used to communicate with his mother. This highlights the fact that his inventions separate him from actual connections he could make with his peers. They don’t understand the ingenuity of his creations, leading him to consider himself superior and isolating himself from them. The only people who can understand and appreciate his machines are Moriguchi, whom he alienates by using her as a test subject without consent, and Mizuki, who values his inventions but ultimately sees through his self-deception. Thus, though Shūya creates devices to connect with people, he only succeeds in isolating himself with them.