다무라 도시코『그녀의 생활(彼女の生活』론 ―결혼생활에 나타난 젠더의식의 한계포인트―

Abstract

This article analyzes the gender awareness of the main characters in “Her　Daily Life”, written by Toshiko Tamura, a feminist novelist active in the Taishō period. Equal rights for both men and women, an ideal view on marriage that contemporary-minded women and intellectual men pursued in the Taishō period, were not practiced after a couple got married. The fiction reveals the gap between what people expect from married life when they are dating and the reality of marriage, claiming that the reason for the gap is that men must return to old-fashioned customs that require sacrifices from women so that men can support their families. By looking into the married lives of characters in the novel, this analysis attempts to reveal their gender awareness and issues. Masako, the protagonist in “Her Daily Life”, endeavors to overcome her miserable situation by convincing herself that love requires sacrifice, but there seems to be a limit to this self-deception. During the Meiji era, the Western concept of romantic love, which was different from that of Japan, was accepted as a religious belief, and a need to educate women was emphasized. However, the virtue required of women at that time was not self-realization but was rather manifested through women’s roles as wise wives and mothers. It can be seen that even intellectual men and women who received modern education during the subsequent Taishő period could not break from the pre-modern mindset. This demonstrates that for women to exercise the same rights as men and escape from a life that requires them to make sacrifices for their families, they themselves should have a sense of self and a renewed gender awareness.