일본 사회의 매뉴얼과 ‘보통’의 삶에 대한 고찰 - 『편의점 인간』을 통해 본 사토리 세대의 고민

Abstract

This study is intended to analyze the characters and events described in the novel “Convenience Store Woman”(“CSW”) written by Sayaka Murata, for the better understanding of the Satori generation in Japanese society. CSW depicts the personal and also common problems that youth of the Satori generation faces in the modern society. A community or society is a network that can be established only when individuals are connected to each other. This novel connects such individuals with literary imagination and binds them into a single community. The author will trace the worries about a “manual for life”, centering on the main character Furukura. By analyzing the perceptions and differences of the people around her through events related to their occupations and marriages, and examining the meaning of the protagonist’s choice in the latter part of the novel, it is expected to reconsider the ethical judgment and values for an “Normal” life. The “manual for life” consists of what we conventionally believe “normal people” should have in their lives - for example, job, spouse and family. The characters in this novel aspire to a “normal” life defined in the “manual for life” - a life where they have “a regular job, a spouse, and a baby”, while Furukura wants to live a “normal” life because what she really desires is keeping a relationship with her family and friends, not the life everyone else are longing for. At the end of the novel, her choices change as she decides to live for her own happiness. Furukura, the protagonist of CSW, gives up a job interview for a steady job and concludes that her purpose in life is to be a “Convenience Store Woman”, a part-time worker at a convenience store. Her choices have been oriented toward maintaining an identity acceptable to family or friends around her, but at the end of novel, she now thinks her happiness as a top priority in her life. Furukura’s decision to be a “Convenience Store Woman” is a rejection of conventional wisdom in Japanese society, and also a question about what a “normal” or “ordinary” life is. Hence, understanding the Satori generation will give an opportunity to think about how the conditions to lead our lives are changing with insight of the multi-layered society