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| The Thirteenth Night ： ウィキペディア英語版 |
The Thirteenth Night
"The Thirteenth Night" is a short story by Higuchi Ichiyō, first published in 1895. It follows Oseki Harada, a woman who is married to an abusive husband named Isamu Harada. Oseki left her home, leaving her child behind, in order to seek permission from her parents for a divorce. Ichiyo's harsh honesty about the problems of late nineteenth-century life in Japan and her detailed descriptions of both scenery and what is going on in each character's mind fit the story into the genre of poetic realism. Ichiyo's piece also is a major contribution to fiction of the era on the condition of women.
== Plot summary ==
"The Thirteenth Night" is a third-person omniscient narrative concerning the struggles faced by Harada Oseki, the beautiful daughter from a low ranking family. The narrative starts with Oseki standing outside her parents' house, overhearing a conversation between her mother and father. Her father is talking about the family's improved standard of living ever since Oseki married Isamu, a rising civil servant. He is particularly pleased with the progress Oseki's brother is making as the protegé of Isamu. Oseki had sneaked away from her house, leaving her child with her husband's maids. Her reason for coming to her parents' house was to seek permission from her father to get a divorce. Oseki has doubts about telling her parents and dissolving the marriage as it would result in her parents and her brother losing their recently improved standard of living, but after a brief conversation, she reveals the reason she came to see them.
Oseki describes to her parents the relationship she has with her husband. Isamu does not respect her because she is not well-educated; as a result, he is verbally abusive and seems to delight in humiliating her. After Oseki's explanation, her mother supports Oseki in her desire for a divorce. Her father counters that her situation is not unique and that she is not the only one who has a less than satisfactory life with her husband. He says that it is her responsibility as his wife to take care of him, and that for the good of her family, particularly her brother, she must stay married. Oseki agrees with her father in the end and agrees to go back home, mostly because she believes that she could never truly be happy without her son, Taro, whom she would never see again if she got the divorce. However, she says that she will be "spiritually dead" and will look after Taro as if she is a living ghost.
On her way back home, she gets a rickshaw to take her back home. The rickshaw puller is Kosaka Roku, a childhood friend of Oseki's who used to be in love with her. They exchange conversation about Roku's downward spiral since the time Oseki got married, the narrator reveals that they were romantically involved until Oseki was forced to marry Isamu. The narrative then ends with their going back to their unhappy lives, unsure if they are to see each other again.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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