What is the Conflict?

In his novel, Natsume deals primarily with the psychological and ethical problems dealt with by the Meiji era intellectuals, who had to reconcile their Confucian dedication to the public with the individualism imported from the West, and the new unabashedly individualistic tide of thought which had emerged even while Meiji was alive. Through the tortured and melancholy character of Sensei, Natsume showed the alienation and guilt that he himself felt personally from his separation from the traditional ethics of Japan, along with his struggle to find a solution.