Genre
Literary fiction
Setting and Context
Meiji era Japan
Narrator and Point of View
The entire book is written in the first person. In the first half, the narrator is an unnamed student, and in the second half, Sensei writes about his own life.
Tone and Mood
The first half of the book, from the narrator's point of view, depicts Sensei as an enigmatic character with a great hidden sadness. In the second half, Sensei's tragic past is revealed. Throughout the book, significant attention is paid to the psychologies of the narrator and Sensei.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Narrator (protagonist), Sensei (protagonist), loneliness & misanthropy (antagonist)
Major Conflict
Sensei struggles with his sense of loneliness and misanthropy.
Climax
The narrator receives Sensei's testament, at the end of which the man states that he has decided to commit suicide.
Foreshadowing
Sensei speaks often of death and guilt, at one point distressing his wife by asking her what she would do after he died.
Understatement
Sensei often downplays his own emotional complexity and intelligence in his conversations with the narrator.
Allusions
The historical events of Emperor Meiji's death and General Nogi's suicide figure prominently.
Imagery
Significant attention is paid to the beautiful solitary scenes of nature in which Sensei and the narrator talk.
Paradox
Sensei is deeply distrustful of the entire world including himself, but he still loves his wife deeply and trusts the narrator.
Parallelism
The narrator's father's sickness and Sensei's depression follow the course of Emperor Meiji's sickness.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The narrator imagines Sensei represented by the light of his house which shines alone amidst the dark city before it is extinguished.
Personification
N/A