What is the author's style in Swadding Clothes by Yukio Mishima?

"Swaddling Clothes" is not narrated in a straightforward, linear style. While the present action of the narrative is generally progressive (Toshiko leaving the nightclub and heading home in a taxi), the linear progression of events is interrupted by Toshiko's memories and contemplations. The nurse's delivery is also recounted in pieces and from different points of view (Toshiko and her husband's) offering the reader a comparison of the character's attitudes.

There are many reasons why an author may choose to disrupt a traditional, linear narrative with fragmented memories and contemplations—for instance, to use the present action as a mere premise for unearthing the past, to underscore the difficulty and painfulness of remembering the past, or to stress the discontinuity of a character's experience. In this way, a fragmented narrative style can emphasize major themes within the story. For example, Asian-American literature that dramatizes the arduous and often interrupted and diverted journeys of immigrants across North America often uses fragmented narrative styles to enhance the feeling of discomfit and unsettlement in American culture. In "Swaddling Clothes," Toshiko is afraid of the future, as the narrator comments "thoughts of the future made Toshiko feel cold and miserable," because she anticipates only increased violence, bloodshed, and loss of moral values in the rapidly modernizing Japanese society. In this context, the frequent interruption of the present action by Toshiko's memories, projections and meandering thoughts emphasizes her unwillingness to move forward in time into an inauspicious future.