While reading the story The Thirteenth Night by Higuchi Ichiyo, I thought about Isamu and Roku’s similarities and differences. Isamu and Roku come from different lifestyles, Isamu is a wealthy man while Roku is from a lower class. They also feel different about Oseki. Isamu doesn’t respect Oseki because of her level of education and likes to humiliate and verbally abuse her. Roku was in love with Oseki and was romantically involved with her before Oseki was forced to marry Isamu. The similarities I found between Isamu and Roku were that they both are selfish, mistreat their families, and our overall unhappy with their lives.
While Oseki was talking to Roku near to the end of the story, I think Oseki learned that no matter the class there will still be similarities between a man from a lower class and higher class. For example, Roku and Isamu still had the same behavior even though they were from different classes. I think from that, she realized she could have ended up in the same situation if she married Roku instead of Isamu, but on the other hand she felt like life could have been better with Roku since they came from the same class and understand each other better. I think Oseki also learned that no matter the class, everyone has their struggles.
Hello Skyy,
I concur with your assessment. I also think their meeting was a wake up call to Oseki that happiness does not choose class. You can have money and wealth, but you may not be happy. It unifies people of different classes because everyone wants to be happy in their lives.