Jun’icharo’s The Tattooer.

“The Tattooer”
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Junichiro Tanizaki is one of the most notable authors of modern literature in Japan. He showcases his prowess in using personalization to create a character in his short story, The Tattooer. In literature, characterization is a literary device that a writer uses to depict the traits and personality of a character in a piece of work. The writer narrates the story of a young Seikichi, who is a skilled tattooer. Junichiro uses personalization of inner thoughts to depict the sadist nature of the protagonist (Tanizaki, 2015). For instance, his sadist nature is evident as he enjoys inflicting pain on men in his life of duty. “…Don’t act like a child. Pull yourself together – you have hardly begun to feel my needles!” And he would go on tattooing, as unperturbed as ever, with an occasional sidelong glance at the man’s tearful face…” Also, the author uses behavioral characterization to portray the personality of Seikichi. “…unrivaled boldness and sensual charm of his art…” (Tanizaki, 2015)Later in the story, the narrator uses the beautiful young girl to depict a different character of the protagonist, where initially, Seikichi was bold. After the protagonist finally gets to lay his hands on a woman that he adores, the narrator shifts his character to a gentle and submissive tattoo artist.
One example of the external character traits of the protagonist is his bold nature and his prowess as an artist. Also, the internal character traits of Seikichi are depicted with his sadist nature, as illustrated in the short story.

“…Ah, you are a stubborn one! But wait. Soon your body will begin to throb with pain. I doubt if you will be able to stand it…..”(Tanizaki, 2015). It is apparent that Seikichi is a round character since he is multidimensional and his character traits are complex and contradicting. Therefore, the different character traits of the protagonists prove that he is a rounded character as opposed to a flat personality whose qualities are not conspicuous, for instance, one time he is sadistic and bold while other time he is timid and gentle. Therefore, the author uses characterization to depict the complexity of human nature.
References
Tanizaki, J. (2015). The tattooer (pp. 1-116). JiaHu Books.