Kokoro

Written Task 2

Kokoro was written by Japanese author Natsume Soseki and published in 1914. The story depicts the shift in Japan between the feudal Meiji era (1868-1912) and its modern form. The story depicts this social transition between three main characters which are Sensei, K, and the unnamed narrator of this fictional story. The characters of the story are all male and the most prominent values that are expressed throughout the novel are that of the male gender pertaining to this particular region in Japan. The social group that is marginalized within the text is that of the female gender in Japan. The novel minutely depicts the attitude of the female group toward the social transition in the setting. This written task will analyze the

However, Sensei only analyses her at an almost superficial level rather than getting into her story. The same goes for Okusan and the relationship that the narrator has with her. She does not tell a lot about herself rather she tells more about her husband and focuses on his feelings and her worries for him. This comes to show how the female characters served as a supporting role for the main male characters. This is also evident with the mentioning of the narrator's mother and K's mother. They were very minimally mentioned however they served as a look into the perspective that both characters had and the impact that they had left on their lives.

The minimization of the female group in this novel also really emphasized the author's main purpose of writing the text. Okusan and Ojusan did not have much say into the novel because in the period in which the novel was written in women were not totally equal to men. The modern transition that Japan had to go through affected the way women were portrayed and valued. Women began to play a bigger role and be noticed more by men, even by their spouses. The many instances where Okusan serves as a caretaker for her husband reflects these values that Japan was evolving

He carried his remorse throughout his whole marriage and all he was waiting for was for the perfect time to end his life. Although Okusan did not have the chance to give Sensei much insight on her feelings and concerns toward him, she made an effort to comfort him. Throughout the novel Sensei does not feel worthy of having Okusan and in some way does not notice the actions that she dedicates to him. Soseki depicts the struggle that the Meiji culture had on the relationship between husband and wife. Soseki exposes the defect that this culture had in the perspective of women indirectly. The conflict lied within the men that saw themselves to be loyal to the Meiji era. Sensei reflects this schism between his thoughts and those of his wife saying, "Reminded of it by my wife’s jest, I replied that if I were to die a loyal follower’s death, the lord I was following to the grave would be the spirit of the Meiji era itself" (Soseki