ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses one of the most important Japanese modern female writer, namely Enchi Fumiko. In Female Masks, Enchi shows how Mieko psychologically transforms from innocent, traumatized, teenage victim into cold-hearted perpetrator. While her profound anger, pain, indignation, resentment, and sorrow are understandable and indicative of the terrible damage and hurt caused by oppressive patriarchal practices, male sexual transgression, and female acts of displaced retribution, the novel ultimately stands not as a laudable example of female empowerment, resistance, and reclaimed agency, but as a grave warning concerning the pervasive devastation wrought by female obsession with vengeance. In Female Masks, Enchi shows how Mieko Togano psychologically transforms from innocent, traumatized, teenage victim into cold-hearted perpetrator. The chapter examines the mode and means that Mieko employs to carry out her insidious vengeance with the aim of facilitating discussed comprehension and insight vis-a-vis Enchi's work.