An Analysis Of The Image Of Fujio In Gubijins

Natsume Soseki is renowned as the national writer of Japan,enjoying a high status in the history of modern Japanese literature.Gubijins is Natsume Soseki’s first work after he gave up being a university professor and worked as a full-time writer for Asahi Shimbun.This work can also be regarded as a major turning point in Soseki Natsume’s literary career.According to previous researches,most studies on Gubijins are affected by the literary evaluation of the naturalist school represented by Masamune Hakucho.Such studies tend to analyze Fujio’s sudden death from the the literary thoughts of “promoting virtues and punishing evils” and “moral novels”,therefore they view this novel as a failed work.Restricted by the above factors,domestic studies on Gubijins are few,and studies on the character’s image of this novel are even less.But it is observed that most Natsume Soseki’s works,in a profound way,reflect his understanding of modernization.He intended to express his own views through his literary works,of which Gubijins is no exception.From the perspective of modernization,this paper intends to study the writer’s understanding of Japanese modern women through analyzing the image of Fujio who is the heroine of Gubijins.First,this paper analyzes the beauty image of Fujio from three aspects: the purple Fujio,Japan’s Concubine Yu,and Japan’s Cleopatra Second,this paper analyzes how the background of Fujio’s times influenced her life and her view of love which finally led to a tragic ending.Third,based on Fujio’s sudden death,this paper explores the reason of her death from three aspects: Natsume Soseki’s selfsalvation,Natsume Soseki’s individualism,and collision of Eastern and Western cultures.Finally,this paper summarizes that Natsume Soseki killed Fujio in his novel for the purpose of protecting her.It seems that in his novel Japan’s traditional culture won the race against Western civilization which is represented by Fujio in this novel.However,Natsume Soseki,with his sophisticated writing techniques,leaves enough room for readers to reflect how Japan’s modernization develops,how should Japan treat its traditional culture while accepting Western culture,and other social problems.These questions are still well worth exploring,and have reference value for China in its process of advancing social development.