In Higuchi Ichiyo’s story “The Thirteenth Night” the female characters represent the lives of women in Japan from the time period Higuchi Ichiyo lived in. The story shows how at the time, education was not prioritized for women and that women’s lives were centered around the needs of men. In the story female character, Oseki represents a woman who in those times would want to value her happiness over the necessity to stay with her husband for financial reasons. A woman who had to endure the rife of her husband in order to stay in her child’s life. A time when women had zero say in the development of themselves financially, as individual or as a creative.  

In those times women were seen as only mothers and wives. They were deemed to have zero value outside of that. They did not have much power but some rebel by vocalizing their distaste for these society norms. In the story Oseki’s mother represents women from those times who were fed up with the way men were allowed to treat women and Oseki’s mother was willing to leave everything that Oseki’s husband provided for the family behind to save her daughter from unhappiness.  

When Oseki met Roku again it reminded her of the fair life she once imagined having with Roku. She could have had a life where she could bond with someone without feeling inferior. Her relationship with her husband shows that because she came from an unwealthy family, and she was undereducated it caused her to struggle to keep up with her husband’s lifestyle. It made her feel left out in settings where he socialized with his friends and their wives. It made it hard to retain her husband’s desire for her. That allowed her husband to unfairly loathe and bully her repeatedly. With the benefits she received from her husband toward caring for her family, she knows she cannot stand up for herself or she will fail her family. Oseki is constantly battling being poor or remaining supported finically by her belittling husband. She feels trapped and devalued in her relationship. I feel like Oseki realized that wealth does not equate to happiness. In a Marxist theory view Oseki learned that she became his wife to serve him and not to be his loving partner, and if she married in her class, she might not have necessarily felt that way. 

In this story, it is clear that Oseki is trying as much as she can to search for her happiness, which was before she got married. She got married, but she does not feel happy. She only continues with this marriage in order to support her family economically. She only continues her unhappy marriage to solve the social status that her husband can provide for her family. One of her greatest achievements in life is that she gets rid of her husband, but the thing that prevents her is her son and her family. She endured ill-treatment in order to be with her son and help her family. The woman’s priority at that time was to obey the man.

Higuchi Ichiyo focusing on the struggles of the protagonist Hands Oseki, from a low-ranking family. Oseki left her home and came to her parent’s home to seek permission to divorce her husband, Isamu, a wealthy civil servant. Her father disapproves of the divorce, as it would mean a loss of an improved standard of living for her famil.Oseki details her unhappy marriage, and her mother supports her, but her father believes It is her responsibility to take care of her husband.Oseki decides to go back home, mostly because she believes that she would never see her son Taro again, if she got the divorce. Oseki meets her childhood friend, Kosaka Roku, who used to be in love with her, and they talk about his downward spiral since she got married. In the end, the narrative ends with them returning to their unhappy lives, unsure if they will ever see each other again. I think that the significance of their meeting in this story is every to make it clear that money do not make happiness.