賢治自身への戒め、若い青年のあるべき姿- 「氷河鼠の毛皮」を中心に -

Abstract

「Glacier rat fur」is a story about what happens in a train bound for Bering. Thisstudy divides the work into three parts and analyzes each part. This study, first,critically examines Kenji’s messages throughout the work, and argues that the worlddepicted in the work, the world in the imagery, the real world and the fictional worldcoexist by analyzing the north-oriented background, international affairs andcharacters, in the process of getting to the core of the work. The goal of the currentstudy is to grasp the ideal image of youth that Kenji seeks for as revealed in theway youths behave in this piece. The first part of the story depicts events occurring between the departure fromIHATOBO and right before the departure of the train for Bering. There are twopossibilities for where the train for Bering departs; either the train is bound for Russiadeparting from Japan or, conversely, it is bound for Japan departing from Russia. Depending on which possibility is taken, how to analyze this work seems to differfrom the other. The middle part of the story depicts the types of passengers and images of man. At the time. The fact that this story deals with events of internal affairs tells usthat Kenji is aware of and concerned with how the world evolves around him. The final part constitutes the climax of the story and describes events unfoldingon the train. In describing these events, attention is paid to the young man whois solving problems in the process. The young man is the ideal image of humanthat Kenji seeks for. This study compares the young man with Frank Yasuda, areal person who has led a righteous life. What Kenji intends to capture in this work is the ideal image of youth and thisstudy compares this idea image with the righteous life of Frank Yasuda, a real humanbeing. Daichi, dressed up in fur, is a reflection of Kenji in the work who tries torecognize the fur trade, Russia-Japan relationship of the time and history. This study concludes that Kenji seeks for ideals in his work despite history, nature and severitiesof the realities and that the ideal world the author seeks for is representedmetaphorically.