I have been
writing about Natusme Soseki, I also mentioned in my blog his masterpiece –
“Kokoro”, however, I didn't analysed it thoroughly enough, the overall plot was
mentioned, yet, “Kokoro” deserves and has to be analysed in a bit different way
than I did it last time. Natsume Soseki stood astride between two epochs, Meji
Era he loved, he was brought up in, and changing Japan which stood for
modernity, Western patterns of life, society, culture, so much different than
Japanese. I dare to claim he was a very fortunate man, even though he suffered
and felt the stigma of wars, especially the Great War, he didn't live long enough to see more of atrocities, he died relatively young at the age of 49. He
was always struggling with alienation, with attempts to prove he is someone
else – just to fit into a social frame. His characters are a pure reflection of
himself – lone individuals, rejected outcasts who fight to be understood,
sadly, they do not find acclaim from anyone, even from their own family. They
are condemned, crossed out to die in oblivion within desolation of loneliness.
What halted Soseki were changed in society, he couldn't get use to rapid
development and industrialization, he lived in London, spent there two years,
saw and knew how important industrialization is, yet, what frightened him to
the winter bones was an overwhelming poverty, he saw all parts of London, the utmost squalor, as well. He didn't want it happen to Japan, which was a
prosperous feudal country. He didn't want the consequences of industrialization had the same great impact as in the United Kingdom . “Kokro” is a very sad novel, it presents lone
individuals who cannot be framed, they defend themselves from being put into
proper place in the society, the society they do not like, they stopped
understand, feel strange to. They violate against everything, travelling from
place to place in search of work and proper existence, the migration and
immigration frightens them, since they lived in Japan they have been taught to
stay in one place, to belong to a place they were born in, to belong to certain
social group – it all gave them a sense of personality, protection, self-being,
and suddenly it is taken away from them, they are forced to travel, to change, to fit again, to adjust again to new places, new sometime hostile people, again
and again – the modern world imposes sets of behavior they do not like to obey. “Kokoro” presents disorientation – simple, common village people have to become
someone else, urban people – their life (tranquil, calm, harmonious) is forced
to change its pace to fast, vivid, fit into a frame of humdrum city. The values
are drastically changed, from partnership and brotherhood to egoism – let’s
face it, people became selfish to thrive and survive in a city, they do not
want to stay behind – therefore their mad, basic, brute human instincts are
awoken. Self–efficiency, self-dependence, self–being help
modern society to create human-machines; “self” means “lone, alone, solitary,
deserted, astounded” – “Kokoro” describes all those adjectives, adjectives of
sadness, helplessness, depression and finally – suicide. In modern world, in
modern Japan those who don't keep up with a life style pace are condemn to
catastrophe, extinction or what’s worse – existence as a lone, forgotten piece
of something bigger. The book is somber, very dull, the repetitive motive is a
suicide, the suicide which is bad, sinful, forbidden, in “Kokro” is not
perceived as something wrong, in contrary, it is glorified as something worth
to be proud of. Soseki in his novel says faraway to Meji Era, the book says
goodbye to Emperor, to the familiar values. Everything passes away … the author
laments, cries with sadness. He knows that he doesn't stop changes, but, he doesn't want modernity either, he wants to stay archaic, with the Emperor – in Japan he loves
and admires. Soseki is a patriot and loyal to his origins. He condemns changes,
he called cities;
“…
great metropolis…”
He constantly criticizes everyone who stands for changes as good and helpful factors, he
sees that there are people who do anything to push through changes, use modernization to their advantage against all odds. Nothing stops people from reaching the peak of modern life,
sometimes crossing the limits is the only way to exist, it is simply,
hypocrisy. Sosaki criticises, banishes, condemns and feels shame of the death
of humane virtues . “Kokro” is so modern that it might reflect XXI century any
world’s or European city in which there is a problem with building up a steady,
firm relationship, the meeting of two people should be so easy in modern world
by means of telegraph, telephone, surprisingly – the encounter doesn’t happen
whose failure it is … humans or machines, who or what halts it... . Even now in XXI
century people still cannot meet
one another, they write – it means talk with one another … but do they really
speak to each other …?! “Kokoro” describes that matters – the presence of
everything but response to on one … the silence, the self-being is like
incurable flu. The main character K’ is so frightened of modernity, so shocked
of the industrialization that he closes his mind to new ideas and people, he
wants to live in security, therefore decides to live in isolation, sterile, hermetic environment. The heartbreak
K’ underwent and the lone life he had made him so depressed that he committed
suicide. His state of mind knew only one thing, K’ is doomed and his lifestyle
leads him to self-destruction and death. His heart represents Love, he cannot
live in a society which is totally deprived of hearts and basic human feelings.
For someone like K’ the suicidal thought may seem very impressive’, namely, He didn't want to live in a lie, he wanted to be truthful and honest. What is more
he doesn't feel guilt … he is shameless almost naked in his frankness, it can
be interpreted in the following way “I do not want to live so I simply die”,
eventually, He does what he thinks and says. K’ represents the fall of a human being, he shows its fragility
and mortality, instability and a desire to be loved, the individual does
anything in order not to be left alone …
he even prefers to die. Homosexuality in the novel is not condemned but
portrays the state of human soul, its sensitivity, sensuality … desolation into
sadness.
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