Stephanie Zambrano 01:195:331 9 October 2008 Professor Walker All By Myself- “_Kokoro__”_ It is true that K suffered a tremendous amount of heartache and perhaps Sensei is now cognizant of the fact that perhaps death is his only solution. Death serves as an escape from everyday realities. Senseitotally and completely isolates himself from the rest of the world. When his mother-in ' law- Okusan becomes ill, he says that he finally becomes useful. Nevertheless, Okusan passes away, leaving her Ojosanalone with no real family. Sensei still moves closer and closer towards death. Perhaps there is a certain peacefulness that Sensei hopes to find in death that he could not find in life. “You may wonder why I reached such a conclusion. But you see, that strange and terrible force which gripped my heart whenever I wished to make my escape in life, seemed at least to leave me free to find escape in death. If I wished to move at all, then I could move only towards my own death” (Soseki 189). This quote is the epitome of loneliness and possibly even regret. Sensei explicitly tells the student not to reveal any startling news of his past to his wife. The student, by the end of the novel is able to see Sensei at face value. Readers recognize the futility of life and the helplessness and vulnerability of man. “Kokoro” is a powerful narrative that explores the depths of self-identity, friendship, and isolation. We may say that in KOKORO, Soseki wrote about the different shades of friendship that exist between people and asks if it is really possible to have a true friend. The corollary is then, are we not all alone ? Are not friendship and love cosmetics to cover basic loneliness ? People speak of sacrifice, but more often than not, they sacrifice not themselves, but others, at the shrine of their own desolation. These are universal themes and so KOKORO is an interesting novel which I recently re-read. If you are looking for a good introduction into modern Japanese...