The author skillfully uses a cat raised at home as the protagonist in the book. More interestingly, from the perspective of cat observation, he tells the behavior consciousness of people in society at that time with the thought of cats, and expounds his own views to convey to readers.
The author's background and family situation at that time were exactly the same as the situation of the protagonist, Bitter Shami. This book seems to be a dialogue between the author and his heart.
These two identities are: one is the bitter Shami in the real self-book, and the other is the cat in the beyond-reality and beyond-self critic's book.
The natural dialogue between a true self and an id is also a combination of contradictions that each of us has in real life. I don't like the society, I don't approve of myself, and I can't do anything about the environment. But there is a rebellion hidden in my bones, a superego, and I keep fighting with myself in my heart. I can't get what I want, I can't give up, and I don't care about the real state.
Natsume Soseki is a very popular writer today, so let's take a look at the thousand yuan banknotes issued in Japan from 1984 to 27.
Haruki Murakami, a contemporary Japanese writer, said: "If ten" national writers "are selected from the modern Japanese literary writers after the Meiji Restoration, then Natsume Soseki is undoubtedly at the top.
Natsume Soseki was originally named Natsume Kinsuke. Natsume Soseki's pen name comes from China's ancient idiom "Pillow Stone Soothes Flow." A secluded life in which sleeping is a pillow stone and washing is a pillow flow.
It is said that during the Warring States period, a minister named Sun Zijing wanted to retire from his old age and live in seclusion. He told King Wu Zi that he wanted to live a life of "pillow wash stone", but somehow he mistakenly called it "pillow wash stone". On hearing this, the king immediately asked, "Can rivers be used as beds for sleeping and stones for gargling?" Sun Zijing was very quick-witted, and immediately replied, "Sleeping on the river is for washing ears, and gargling with stones is for honing teeth." Finally, it is not known whether Sun Zijing, the minister, retired successfully or not. However, later generations compared "pillow stone gargle" or "pillow stone gargle" to seclusion.
Natsume Kinsuke's pen name "Souseki" came from this.
1.
Natsume Soseki was born in 1867. He liked Sinology since childhood, and began to study China ancient books at the age of 14. In 1893, after graduating from university, he successfully entered Tokyo Normal University to teach under the recommendation of the principal. Two years later, he resigned to teach at Songshan Middle School in Shikoku Island, and the next year he transferred to Kumamoto No.5 Higher School in Kyushu Island as an English teacher. Since then, he has been a teacher until he was 33 years old.
In 195, at the age of 38, he published a short story "I am a cat" in (Du Fu) magazine, which was well received and serialized repeatedly at the request of readers. Inspired by this, Natsume Soseki had the power to create, and the next 1 years was the peak of his creation.
from the birth of Natsume Soseki to the end of I am a cat, he experienced the whole Meiji Restoration period. Therefore, in this novel "I am a cat", we can read the state of the Japanese during the Meiji Restoration, that is, the changes that occurred after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Russo-Japanese War, and actively absorb foreign science and technology. Natsume Soseki was sent to England to study English during this period. Although his task was to learn languages, he was more interested in and loved English literature, and he also learned a lot about literature during this period.
In 1853, four black warships docked at the mouth of Edo Bay, which was the famous "Black Ship Incident". Emperor Xiaoming died suddenly in 1867, and Mu Ren succeeded to the position of emperor. Keio was renamed "Meiji" in four years, from which the Meiji Restoration in Japan began and basically ended in the 189s.
During the Meiji Restoration, Japan changed the feudal backwardness before. On the road of developing capitalism, running all the way's economic and military strength increased greatly. After that, the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Russo-Japanese War both won, which greatly boosted the morale of Japan.
During this period, Japanese capitalism has also greatly changed the Japanese people's thinking. With the rapid increase of economy, the status of industrialists has been continuously improved, while the status of literati has become lower and lower. In this book, Natsume Soseki tells a modern satirical story about the industrialist Jintian family's desire to make Hanyue, a student of Bitter Shami, a son-in-law.
2.
In the book, industrialist Jin Tianjia wants to make bitter Shami's student Hanyue a son-in-law, which is also the most complete story in the whole book.
Bitter Shami's student was born in the cold moon with a good appearance and great knowledge. He is a Bachelor of Science. So she was taken fancy to by Jin Tian, the neighbor of Bitter Shami, and wanted Hanyue to be a son-in-law. So Mrs. Jin Tian came to Bitter Shami's house, hoping to get some news from Bitter Shami.
However, in his heart, Bitter Shami is very disdainful of industrialists. He thinks that rich people are very tacky and don't want to help the Jintian family to fix this marriage at all. As a result, Mrs. Jintian didn't get that kind of condescending courtesy. Because Mrs. Jintian was given a cold shoulder at Bitter Shami's house, she was indignant and retaliated against Bitter Shami. She found some students to scold Bitter Shami, mixed his yard with softball, and constantly harassed their house. Of course.
borrow the cat in this book and say, "If you want to get rich, you must also apply trigonometry! To get rid of justice, human feelings, and shame ... "
shows that the society at that time was characterized by the supremacy of monetarism, lack of morality, lack of ethics and serious individualism.
It's ironic that the author expressed it with the behavior of bitter Shami, and then expressed it with the thought of a cat.
3.
Mr. Lu Xun said:
Natsume Soseki's works are famous for their rich imagination and exquisite words. The articles "Brother" and "I'm a Cat" published in Zi Gui, a humorous magazine in the early years, are light and free, full of wit, and are the mainstream of new Edo art in Meiji literary world, which is unparalleled in the world.
Irony can also be seen in Lu Xun's Diary of a Madman, but it is more direct and firm than Natsume Soseki.
Natsume Soseki's "I am a cat" is more of a bitter satire, which is basically elaborated by this cat. At the end of the book, there is a passage like this: "Maybe society is all made up of lunatics. Madmen get together, arguing, fighting, swearing at each other, fighting for each other. And as a group, it is like a cell that splits, expands, expands and splits, so it is endless-perhaps this is the so-called society. Among them, the guy who is reasonable and knows right from wrong is in the way, so he builds something called an insane asylum and shuts them in and is not allowed to come out. Then, it's ordinary people who are locked up in the madhouse, but crazy people who jump up and down outside the hospital. Perhaps, a madman is a madman when he is alone, but if he becomes a group and has power, he becomes a healthy person. There are many examples of big lunatics abusing their financial resources and power, but many small lunatics are regarded as gentlemen. I have no idea what is right and wrong. "
The author expressed his dissatisfaction with the society and the environment through a cat, and this cat wrote a criticism of the Meiji Restoration period with its unique thought of bystander, because capitalism divided the people's livelihood and economy in Japan at that time, and also because the gap between the rich and the poor made people lose their sex and morality, highlighting the bad roots of human nature exposed by some people for wealth.
Conclusion: The first two parts of Natsume Soseki's I'm a cat are very interesting to read. The story is revealed by the cat peeking at the diary of Sammi Bitter, and at the same time, the cat will comment on human thoughts and behaviors from its perspective.
In the second half of the story, the main characters' dialogues are mostly used to interpret the theme that the author wants to express, and this cat has become a spectator, like a player of a picture, guiding readers to think, feel and comment.
This cat never had a name from the time it came to Bitter Shami's house to the time it was drunk and died in the water tank. It is both a real existence and an ideal personality in the author's mind. When the author wants to express the most pithy thoughts, the ideal personality will emerge, and when the story is over, the ideal personality will quietly leave.
This book is like an ideological dialogue between the author and his own heart by borrowing cats. Through the indirect dialogue between cats and social phenomena, it criticizes the utilitarianism, egoism and a yearning for beauty in his heart at that time.