ABSTRACT
The author was born just a few years after the fall of the Tokugawa regime and the establishment of a new government, nominally under the leadership of the sixteen-year-old Emperor Meiji. Her family struggled financially, but she was able to study classical poetry. She turned to fiction in hopes of helping support her family. She achieved popularity but died of tuberculosis after writing only twenty-one short stories. Her stories evoke the lyricism of The Tale of Genji, but, like Saikaku, she writes about ordinary people's struggles. This chapter compares the reactions of Oseki's mother and father to their daughter's dilemma. It explains the change in Oseki's husband from ardent suitor to bullying husband. The chapter discusses the Oseki's theory and also explains his own attitude about his situation. Finally, it explores the social conditions contribute to the problems experienced by the characters.
