From Whiskers to Wisdom: Unpacking Natsume Souseki's "I am a Cat" and "Kokoro"

Natsume Kinnousuke, known as Natsume Souseki, is considered to be the founder and pioneer novelist of Modern Japanese literature. It is a well-accepted fact that he is the most influential writer who greatly inspired such essential authors as Haruki Murakami and Yukio Mishima. In Natsumes' works, he adopted an attitude close to the maxim of Aestheticism, and with this feature, he differentiated from the romanticism and naturalism movements of the period. This approach of him is also clearly seen in his books like "Kokoro" and "I am a Cat" (Wagahai wa Neko de Aru). Although these two books are written by the same author in the same era, and both of them are regarded to be fundamental samples of Modern Japanese literature, they are quite distinguished from each other in such aspects as; the type of narration and theme.

The first differentiation between the two books is their type of narration. However, both in the novels, a first-person perspective is utilized whereas; the books differ significantly from the narration. The narrator of "I am a Cat", the first novel by Natsume Souseki written in 1905, is the household cat. Considering the period in which it was written, the book, which broke new ground with an animal narrator, is not a fable conversely, it has all the characteristics of a novel in full measure. The narration achieves a humorous effect when the cat uses a wide variety of descriptive phrases for things rather than repeating the same word to mock. Additionally, a vast number of critics, as well as the readers, indicated that Natsume embodied a cat while composing "I am a Cat", hence the work has taken its place among the classics. On the other hand, in Kokoro (1914), two narrators appear; the protagonist and his mentor accompanying him. Furthermore, unlike typical samples, the novelist preferred referring to the characters with titles rather than addressing them by their names. According to some, the underlying reason is that the characters do not represent unique stereotypes but represent any ordinary person. Kokoro and I Am a Cat go beyond the ordinary with their narrations and differ from not only each other but also other works.

The other contrast between these two novels is their theme. Aiming to give a more detailed explanation, the plot of I Am the Cat is about the routine life of a domestic cat with its owners and the people around them. The main characters are the cat, his master Mr Sneeze, the friend of his master Mr Waverhouse and the dearest student of his owner Mr Coldmoon. The author partly describes himself with Mr Sneeze, while the cat represents his inner vision and his self-criticism. As an outside eye, the cat observes the Japan of the Meiji era which was caught between the East and the West and reflects Natsume's perspective on society, culture, and generation of the age. Likewise, the book concerns criticizing without telling a story with a plotline. No matter how multidimensional and empathetic the characters are, they solely serve as stereotypes of certain segments of society. On the other hand, the main idea of Kokoro is to demonstrate that even a moral person might have a drastic impact on the lives of both himself and those around him due to his wrong decisions or desires that he could not control. The novel is based on a relationship between a college student and his mentor. Kokoro emerged in three parts. Only by the third section, the storyline is cleared up and the book presents the intended main idea to its reader. In this sense, while I Am a Cat is a critique of society, Kokoro is written to make the readers question their inner worlds.

Despite their differences, these two books are equally considered fundamental works of Modern Japanese Literature. They both reflect the writer's ideology, his experiences and his inner world, as well as they, contain traces of the characteristic of the society of its time. In summary, these two books honoured Natsume Souseki's memory in their own way. Kokoro is the most read and beloved book of the author. Similarly, I Am a Cat is a national novel that is still being read to adolescents in all schools in Japan even today.