J 314 Paper #1 on Natsume Sôseki's Kokoro/Higuchi Ichiyo's "Takekurabe"
Due Tuesday September 24
4-6 pages
Modern literature in Japan begins sometime between the 1890s and the early 1900s. While there is something compelling about Ichiyo's beautiful story told through the eyes of children, it was writen in an adapted classical style of language so may lack a certain modern feel. However, Sôseki's 1914 novel, Kokoro, definitely marks a powerful beginning to modern Japanese prose fiction, so let's start there.
It can be argued that Sôseki's final novel is an exquisite exploration of the intricate psychological condition that comes with modernity. For Sôseki, while modern life brings the opportunity for greater freedom, the cost seems to be loneliness ("the price we have to pay"), psychological malaise, and the possibility of a troubling moral and ethical darkness. Without the rigid class structure and the Confucian ideology associated with Tokugawa times, how does society regulate itself? How do modern individuals conduct themselves morally and ethically in an industrializing, market- driven, free-for-all capitalist society? By what values should they choose to live?
Confucius had his ideas about family relationships: father-son, sovereign-subject, husband-wife, brother-brother, friend-friend. But might Sôseki be turning these Five Cardinal Relationships on their heads, suggesting that all five of them have become outmoded and troubled? How do all these relationships fare in Kokoro? Or are they all being seriously interrogated?
Marriage, education, family life, work, life in the countryside versus urban life--all of these things have changed for the Japanese people by the early 1900s. So, where does it leave them?
If, as Auestad suggests, Sōseki's works can be compared to a "great laboratory experiment" which brings certain features of Japanese modernity into focus, features that are "concretized in certain objects and institutions," and that they combine to provide a picture of social-historical reality at the time, what moments in Kokoro would you focus on as examples of any of this?
Write a 4-6 page essay on Kokoro which analyzes the text from your perspective. What do you think this novel is about? What are some of the most important characteristics or themes of this novel? You may want to focus on the text as an expression of Japan's encounter with modernity and discuss concerns about what "becoming modern" means for Japanese people. Kokoro does have something to say about "the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egotistical selves." (30)
This kind of overlaps with, or brings to mind, the idea that Sōseki was concerned with ethics and morals and is aware that Japan used to follow a Confucian code, centerted around the 5 Key Relationships, but in this novel, these relationships may not be faring so well....
Or, you could think about how Sensei in the novel is not really a "Sensei" or a Teacher in the ordinary sense, but perhaps he does become one in the end. If so, what does he have to teach the narrator? What lessons can be learned? Finally, you could take a hint from Auestad's comments about the importance "social-historical reality" that is brought into the text in terms of the death of the Meiji sovereign, and of the era, and how all of that might operate as an "intertext" that originates outside the novel but it artfully woven into it so as to enhance our reading experience and deepen our emotional response.
*************************
Things I will look for and assess in your papers, then are:
1. The introduction states a clear "claim" or thesis, and the body provides adequate supporting evidence from the text. So quotes from the text are EXTREMELY helpful for making your arguments.
2. The essay is well-written and well organized, has a clear focus, advances a coherent argument, flows well and is generally "clean," i.e., free of errors in grammar, usage, and spelling.
3. The essay demonstrates close engagement with the text and highlights specific passages for analysis or close reading/interpretation. This would probably entail using block quotes: In other words, first you TELL the reader what is important, and then you SHOW the reader an example, a passage from the text--and using BLOCK QUOTES is a nice way to do this!--that illustrates what you are talking about. Then you DISCUSS or ANALYZE the passage or TELL the reader why you think the portion of the text you ust highlighted is significant or meaningful, how it asupports YOUR INTERPRETATION of the text. BTW, when you indent a block quote you do not use QUOTATION MARKS as well--the indentation already tells your reader that this passage is a direct quote!
4. The conclusion echoes the claims or questions that you have raised in your introduction and points out how you have successfully addressed them as you indicated that you would.
5. The sources for your information, ideas and quotations are correctly cited. Internal citation is preferred with a list of works cited at the end if you are using any sources other than the ones used in class or on Wise. So, for example, if you quote Auestad, just go with (Auestad, 1 or 2) or if it's Marcus' bio of Sôseki, just go with (Marcus, 37). For the main text, it can be Kokoro, 30.
*****
Here are some points I developed on what makes a good paper when I was a first year Seminar instructor which involved a strong writing component:
I. WRITING AN INTRODUCTION
Here are some useful hints on how to write a good introduction that might be helpful:
You should pay special attention to the introduction of your paper because a good introduction will do a great deal to help your paper. If the reader understands where you plan to go from the outset, he/she will have a much easier time understanding the rest of your paper.... Therefore, you may find it useful to include in your Intro a statement like,"This paper wil argue that..." or "This paper will demonstrate that....."
If you spend the beginning of the paper summarizing the literature and do not get to your "claim," or your argument until the end, you risk doing harm to your paper. The reader will arrive at the end of the paper feeling frustrated because they had to read through most of your paper without really knowing what it is supposed to be about. If you discover the argument as you write your paper--which most of us do; it is why we write our papers, to find out what we think about something--remember to re-write the introduction.
Therefore, the Introduction should:
• Be thematically explicit. It should contain a general overview of the whole paper. Introduce the themes that will run throughout the paper. Give the reader an idea of the big picture. Example:Kokoro is a powerful modern novel that....In this paper I will argue that/focus on....
• Contain the problem you wish to discuss. This problem can be a gap in current knowledge, a puzzle, a contradiction, unaccountable or conflicting data, etc. Examples:Some critics argue that Kokoro.....but in my paper I will show that..... OR
So-and-so makes this observation about Kokoro:...I find this argument compelling and I will add the following arguments in support of this position....OR
I agree with Critic X when s/he says.....but I would also like to explore how.....
• Establish the cost to the reader of not solving this problem. In short, it should answer the question: So What? Typical costs could be misunderstanding, unpredictability,etc. Example:Critics usually claim that Kokoro....But if we restirct ourselves to this viewpoint, we will over look.....
• The end of the introduction should preview or hint at your response or solution to this problem. This is called the "paper point." This is where you might place your "This paper will argue that..." type of statement.
II. Here is a rather simple version of an Introduction:
As scientists have explored environmental threats, many of their concerns
have proved exaggerated, such as the effect of acid rain and the imminence of the
Greenhouse Effect. [context]
However, recently they have discovered a threat that is all too real: the ozone layer has been thinning, thereby allowing sunlight to reach the earth unfiltered. [problem]
Unfiltered sunlight causes skin cancer, which will raise mortality rates and medical costs. [cost to reader]
This paper will argue that we can avoid these consequences only if we ban chemicals that degrade ozone. [claim and solution]
adapted from: http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:_5X53PhwFMMJ:www.sinno.com/Writing_%26_career_guides/Writing_tips.pdf+The+Little+Red+Schoolhouse-writing+materials&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Here is an adaptation of an actual Kokoro paper:
Kokoro: Ethical and Emotional Darkness of the Heart
Natsume Sôseki’s Kokoro, or “the heart of things,” explores the complexity of the human heart. This exploration centers upon the potential for the heart to be corrupted by modernity’s growing reliance on the self-interest of each individual, which was of particular concern in Sôseki’s historical moment with its fast-paced modernization and rising capitalism during the 1868 to 1912 Meiji era. Sôseki especially explores the effects of increasing competition and individualism through the motif of darkness and shadows. This paper will argue that Kokoro serves as a cautionary tale in which Sôseki/Sensei warns the narrator (and his readers) of the effects of unchecked self-interest and the ethical darkness that the individualism of modernity brings out in all human hearts. In turn, this leads to the emotional darkness of loneliness, distrust of others, and guilt for sins real or imagined.
************************
III. Overall, to be strong and compelling, your paper needs to have COHERENCE, flow, focus, and CLARITY. Your CONCLUSION should parallel your Introduction where you make your claim.
What else makes for a strong paper? COHERENT essays hang together well; their ORGANIZATION is strong and they have a clear FOCUS. This means that their ideas are consistent and they stay on topic. As a result, the paper flows well. The main ideas will hold the other ideas in place. Effective papers do not wander and they do not have parts that do not fit in well with other parts of the paper.