The contradictory reaction to the diploma is exemplary of how contemporary Japan does not respect nor value formal education. exemplifying how formal education is considered respectable and important in traditional Japanese culture. Soseki’s use of diction exemplifies the importance of formal education during the Edo Period, as “smoothed” and “tenderly” connotate precaution and preservation. The symbol of diploma could be said to represent importance of formal education in Imperial and Feudal Japan. Soseki contrasts Sensei’s treatment of his diploma to the narrator’s parents’ reaction demonstrating the juxtaposition in their perspectives and the value each of them assigns to the diploma. Evidence of this is seen in the novel when Sensei cannot find his diploma, and when it is stated,“my father smoothed it tenderly…rolled up” (80). The diploma is one such symbol that highlights the contradictory perception of formal education between modern and traditional Japan. The use of setting can be extrapolated to view the juxtaposing attitudes toward university based education in Japan across the two different eras.

Tokyo symbolises modern Japan as it is described as a vibrant and lively city and new the characters associated with Tokyo are aligned with the values and beliefs of Imperial Japan. The countryside symbolizes traditional Japan as the characters associated with it, the narrator’s parents, are aligned with the traditional values of Feudal Japan. Soseki manipulates geographical setting in order to establish the consequence of cultural paradigms shift on the perception of formal education. Soseki highlights the flawed notion of progress associated with westernization through the cyclical nature of society as seen through the beliefs passed down from one generation to the next, the juxtaposing perception of formal education between the two eras and the symbolic nature of death as a form of transition within the novel. Natsume Soseki contemplates the devaluation of society that comes as a consequence of cultural paradigm shifts, as seen in the transition from Feudal Japan to Imperial Japan. In Kokoro, an enigmatic man, commonly referred to as Sensei, opens up to a university student studying in Tokyo towards the end of the Meiji era, a time of huge cultural remoulding in Japan. Prompt: How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?Īnalysing the devaluation of society as a consequence of cultural paradigm shifts as seen in Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro

Natsume soseki handwritten essay kokoro