Ch.2 pg.82
"You shouldn't get so excited over such a trifling thing as a university degree" (Soseki 82). Why does the the narrator say this about himself? Being able to get a college degree and a good education is a big deal in our world today, the narrator should be proud about the work he has accomplished. -Kaci Theros (pg82)
The narrator says this to spite his father. He took his dads happiness over the degree as a sign of his naive traits. Yet it is to note that the narrator thinks this because he values Sensei opinion more than his father's. Being that Sensei does not value degrees, then the narrator degrades it's value too. Thus, the narrator is morphing his thoughts, and making them more like Sensei's. On another note, I think that Sensei has this opinion on degrees because he knows that at the end of the day a university degree will not bring you ultimate happiness. Sensei has had a past and was also a student himself, yet somehow, he ended up sad and depressed. Thus, he acknowledges the fact that even though one can get a degree, there is a possibility that that person will still not be happy at the end of life. Sensei only speaks from experience, therefore his opinion on a degree is biased.
"And seeing that I am one of the creatures that inhabit this world, I can hardly hope to be regarded as an exception." (Soseki 37)
This quote just reinforces Sensei's pessimistic view of society. On the other hand, I can understand that he truly does love her, as he wouldn't have even considered being with her if he hadn't had a soft spot for love in his sullen demeanor.
-Shaun Serikaku
I agree with Shaun, but I have more to add on to the meaning behind this quote. I think that it's extremely sad that Sensei's wife thinks this way, and it is horrible how Sensei allowed this to happen. Sensei knows that he isn't good for his wife and he knows that he isn't giving her all that she deserves. So it annoys me how he still makes her suffer by staying in her life. It was selfish of him to marry her in the first place, knowing that he wasn't going to be the same person that he was before. He deceived her into believing that he could give her a happy life, thus ultimately he revealed that he had the same deceiving traits as his uncle.
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