public class PrivateFieldArray { private int [] x = new int[] {3, 5, 4}; public static void main(String [] args) { PrivateFieldArray pfa = new PrivateFieldArray(); pfa.run(); } private void run() { Inner i = new Inner(); i.run(); } class Inner { public void run(){ int i = 0; System.out.println(foo().x[i++]+=4); foo().x = new int [] {6, 7, 8}; } } private PrivateFieldArray foo(){ return new PrivateFieldArray(); } }