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Childhood Clowning from "No Longer Human". Yozo recalls his childhood as a life of shame, marked by an inability to understand human needs like hunger or the purpose of everyday objects.

Early childhood, in the family home in the Northeast

Childhood Clowning

Yozo recalls his childhood as a life of shame, marked by an inability to understand human needs like hunger or the purpose of everyday objects. To mask his terror of others, he invents a persona of the clown, performing absurd antics to make his family laugh. He describes the oppressive mealtime rituals and his fear of his father's authority, which drives him to desperate acts of appeasement.