Preview

Anachronistic Selves: Personal Ambiguity in Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1887 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Anachronistic Selves: Personal Ambiguity in Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro
Balete Candice Lauren Garcia
22 April, 2013
Anachronistic Selves: Personal Ambiguity in Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro
There are many ambiguous issues that are engendered in Kokoro, but this essay will specifically focus on Emperor’s Meiji’s death and the personal ambiguity that the novel’s characters experience as a result. This essay argues that the ambiguity surrounding Sensei, K, and General Nogi’s suicides is not arbitrary. In fact, the ambiguity of ritual suicide in this text is historically linked to the instability aroused not only by the fall of the Meiji era, but also by the implicit tension between the modern and traditional ways of living in Japan at that time. The tension between the modern and the traditional can be implicitly mapped to the geographical spaces of the city and the countryside, respectively. Both the narrator and Sensei, who are described to traverse between both of the aforementioned areas, seem to be the characters that experience the most internal conflict and ambiguity. The characters live in an age of transition, which renders those of an older generation (like Sensei) as anachronisms, and situates the younger generation (like the narrator) within an epistemological impasse in understanding the past. Instead of providing answers, the progression of the text’s narrative poses more questions that arouse ambiguity—Sensei’s actions become increasingly perceived as strange as the novel progresses. However, while most of the novel’s ambiguities stem from the character’s self-consciousness of their own anachronistic statuses, the lack of resolution with regard to personal issues like Sensei’s love triangle and the narrator’s relationship with his father, also contribute to the overall sense of ambiguity in the novel.
Despite its status as a work of fiction, Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro is situated within the historical timeline of Emperor Meiji’s death. Emperor Meiji’s death marks the end of the Meiji era in Japan. The personal is rendered

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The introduction chapter of this book deals with a brief history of how the samurai or "Bushi" come to exist and how they impact Japan throughout history. The book goes into detail about the many different ethical aspects of bushi (a warrior), and how they should strive to live their lives. Many of these aspects are illustrated…

    • 2101 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This novel was written after the World War II, at a time when Japan was conforming to omnipresent westernization. Mishima, who was committed to bushido (code of the samurai), resented the modernization; this can be seen in The Sailor as he deplores his nation’s weakness to conformity. Primarily, Mishima presents the conflict between the traditional and western views with the use of characters: Noboru, the protagonist, symbolizes the former whereas Fusako, his mother, represents the latter. The nihilistic group of boys, in which Noboru is involved, practices “absolute dispassion” (Mishima 54) and trains to be cold and callous; this is an aspect of bushido, which suggests that Noboru is a representation of the patriarchal Japan. There is much evidence for Fusako’s representing modernity; she takes on the family business that her husband leaves behind in death, taking the role of a man. Furthermore, the business is a western clothing store that deals with European merchandise and customers. The internal conflict of Ryuji Tsukazaki is major because it is parallel to the conflict within…

    • 1313 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Musui's Story

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The time after the fifteen hundreds marked a time of great change in Asian countries. Places like China saw a new dynasty take control of the country. And almost every Asian civilization from India to Indonesia came in contact with people from western nations which changed the way people did business and the way Asians viewed the world. Japan, however, seemed to keep separate from the rest of Asia in the way that they were hesitant to deal with westerners. Despite their separateness, this period in time still brought an immense amount of change to Japan and its culture. The autobiography titled Musui's Story shows what life was like during Japan's time of change. When taking Musui's Story in context, one can see not only the change and decay of the samurai way of life but also the change that all of Japan saw during this era.…

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kokoro takes place in the Meiji Ishin era which had installed a period of modernization and Westernization in Japan so hastily that the foundations of traditional Japanese thinking existed with the new Western thought. (CP 391, 701) Ishin in Japanese, references the meaning of both “restoration” and “renovation” (CP 386, 665). The influence of the Western ideals of individualism alienated the characters Sensei and K, from their own societies. These characters would otherwise have been comfortably integrated into the society that they previously had known, so this change of society and culture made each one of them agonizingly lonely in the process. After the Emperor Meiji died,…

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Obasan (Criticism)

    • 1842 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Much about Kogawa's novel makes it difficult not only to read but also to classify or categorize. First, Obasan blurs the line between nonfiction and fiction. Kogawa draws from actual letters and newspaper accounts, autobiographical details, and historical facts throughout the novel, but she artistically incorporates this material into a clearly fictional work. In addition, Kogawa's narrative operates on multiple levels, from the individual and familial to the communal, national, political, and spiritual. Stylistically, the novel moves easily between the language of documentary reportage and a richly metaphorical language, and between straightforward narrative and stream-ofconsciousness exposition. This astonishing variety in Kogawa's novel can, at times, become bewildering and unsettling to the reader. But as many readers and critics have noted, Kogawa's style and method in Obasan also constitute the novel's unique strength.…

    • 1842 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Idleness

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Literary works from the Heian and Kamakura periods allow us to follow the transformation, or stableness of Japanese culture between the two time periods. The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon and Essays in Idleness by Kenko Yoshida both offer insights into the values of Japanese culture during their respective periods. The exploration of these texts will show us what changed in Japanese culture from the Heian to the Kamakura period.…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Paul Varley's Loser-Hero

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the book “Warriors of Japan as Portrayed in the War Tales”, as the title suggests, author Paul Varley studies numerous war tales from hundreds of years of Japanese history, throughout the rise of the samurai warrior culture and the societal change that went along with it. From ancient war tales like the Shōmonki to tales firmly in the medieval times like the Taiheiki, the changes in battlefield customs and warrior society are presented and studied as they change and evolve. Despite all the social changes occurring in these time periods, a certain element stays the same throughout all these tales, the warriors themselves.…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Schalow, P. G. (2007). Poetics of Courtly Male Friendship in Heian Japan. Honolulu, Hawaii: Honolulu University of Hawaii Press.…

    • 2046 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gregory Smith in his essay, “Shaking up Japan: Edo Society and the 1855 Catfish Picture Prints”, focuses on the state of political consciousness among the Edo commoners in 1855, which is when the Ansei Earthquake struck Japan. The author explains the social and political devastation the Japanese society experiences. The traumatic event led to a Japanese Urban Society politically and socially weakening. Subsequently, within the following twelve years, caused a social awakening and proto-nationalism: the Meiji Restoration. Under the Tokugawa Shogun and Bakufu, social class with principles indistinguishable…

    • 1832 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu, and the Edo bakufu was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city of Edo, now Tokyo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868, when it was abolished during the Meiji Restoration.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The ‘Imagawa Letter’ is a very insightful source that allows you to see what life was like while Imagawa Ryoshun was the Tendai [Constable] for what we today call Shizuoka Prefecture. The source is written in a format as if someone was reading this letter to Imagawa from a very unhappy citizen. This source complicates our understanding of the power and control, by challenging what many of us believe or assume about how society was run by rulers in the 14th century. Many assume that their leader was liked and respected by the majority, however, some under the power of Imagawa disagreed. This is demonstrated through the source, giving an insight knowledge to what kind of leader Imagawa was and how his energy, time and priorities were focused…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diary Of Sarashina

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “The Diary of Sarashina” provides a personal first-hand account of what life as an upper class Japanese woman would have encompassed in the 11th century. Her journal entries indicate that writing out memories was useful as an outlet for emotions both blissful and melancholy. Sarashina’s diary reflects that elite women, who were evidently literate, could reflect on their past and find solace in expressing their own personal stories onto paper. Thus, “The Diary of Sarashina” may suggest that the invention of timekeeping documentation was an important tool for court women that needed a place to define their thoughts and feelings without societal judgement.…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Matsuo Basho

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The travel begins in Edo, modern-day Tokyo, in an Era (17th century) in wich new literary genres flourish, due to a new-found wealth that enables all classes to have access to culture. It is in this context of opulence that Basho, with his…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Relate each portrayal/construction to its literary/artistic and historical context Natsume Soseki’s novel, ‘Kokoro’ is the story of many individuals who are in search of appeasing loneliness, and simultaneously discusses the story of two men who attempt to assuage loneliness through love but only find peace in death. Loneliness and the search to appease remains the main theme of the novel. Though the protagonist is unaware of what he is looking for in, Sensei understands the protagonist is a lonely young man who hopes to relieve that loneliness through their relationship. Sensei admits that he is lonely as well, but due to his nature, cannot alleviate it or assist the young man in alleviating his own.…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nao’s family members are introduced in her diary, where the use of intertextuality reveals the characters of many members. Due to the restrictions in the number of words, the characters of the following members Jiko, Haruki#1 and Haruki#2 will be described through the use of intertextuality. Jiko Yasutani is Nao’s great grandmother that self proclaims to be a hundred and four years old. Nao’s diary provides the audience with factual information of the many roles she had. She was a nun, novelist, anarchist, feminist and a New Woman of the Taisho era.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays