Piano is a Ph.D. candidate in English at Bowling Green State University. In the following essay, she explores the vain and egocentric attempt of a young man to achieve manhood by intentionally seducing and abandoning a young woman in "Fountains in the Rain."

Written in 1963, the short story "Fountains in the Rain" by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima reveals the calculated intentions of a young man who breaks up with the woman he is dating because "it was something he had long dreamed of." His motivation for the breakup is not that he no longer loves or desires her, but that he thinks his action will bring him a maturity that he has not yet experienced. Although the young man Akio claims that breaking up with Masako will usher in an elevated stage of emotional and mental development, in fact, it does not. Ironically, the situation engenders...