earticle

영어

This paper clarifies the potential of The Country Teacher (Inaka Kyōshi) as a social novel by analyzing the protagonist’s inner conflict and anguish accompanying modernization and war, as well as the dual meanings and narrative effects of the term “Banzai”, which repeatedly appears as a wartime expression during the Russo-Japanese War. At the same time, The Country Teacher depicts how a national event such as war reorganizes the life of a local village and a young man within it. In doing so, it realistically portrays a young man who wanders between ideals and reality, tradition and change, amid the upheavals of modernization and war—thus granting the work significance as a social novel. Such narrative characteristics demonstrate that the novel functions not merely as a work that praises or records the grand discourse of the Russo-Japanese War, but rather as a literary device that prompts reflection on human dignity and the meaning of existence. Moreover, through the dual expression of “Banzai”, the novel employs a device that further accentuates the protagonist’s tragic fate.