Mon or The Gate - Betrayal

Mon or The Gate is the third novel of the early Trilogy after Sanshiro and Sorekara (And Then) written by Soseki. Sanshiro is a novel-like novel having a plot though rather simple and Sorekara (And Then) is still a novel especially the last few chapters, which are dramatic development of the main character Daisuke after his long consideration or hesitation (not making a decision and not taking an action).

Mon or The Gate, on the other hand quite differs from Sanshiro and Sorekara in that it has almost no plot and no dramatic development either in the outer world or the inner world of the main character Sosuke. The novel narrates the dairy life of the middle aged couple of Sosuke and his wife Oyone (early middle aged by our standard now). Sosuke and Oyone are suffering a sense of guilty as they got married when Sosuke was a university student by betraying Yasui, then Sosuke's friend and Oyone's boy friend or fiance or wife (not clearly mentioned).

The story starts with the the dairy life of the couple and Koroku, a 10 year younger brother of Sosuke, who is a student living in a dormitory makes the story a bit complicated. It is difficult to get what these three people are talking and doing until the middle or latter parts of the story where we become to know what happened to Sosuke, Oyone and Koroku in the past with some more details. This story arrangement is Soseki's intention to make the readers wondering. If you read this novel twice you may enjoy the story more from the beginning in the second reading.

The most of the Soseki novels are still new even written more than a century ago but the story of Mon is rather anachronistic now as Sosuke and Oyone do not have to feel so guilty. Actually the sense of guilty is not developed much in the novel. The novel does not say anything about Oyone's change of mind (which is not unusual in our real world) - from Yasui to Sosuke. The social pressure due to the betrayal is mentioned in the relations of the related families and relatives but not so persuasive - from which Oyone is supposed to have already been a fiance or a wife of Yasui before Oyone got married with Sosuke.

Betrayal may be a key word of this novel but not developed much in the novel either. Betrayal was the most unfavorable action in the Bushi (Samurai) society in the Edo period and the people of Soseki's social class in his era (late Meiji era) may still have had a very strong sense of this.

The title Mon or The Gate apparently comes from the following part in Chapter 21. But this part does not seem very important as compared with the the other parts in this novel. Sosike visits a Zen temple in Kamakura for salvation or a solution of his problem but his short stay of 10 days at the Zen temple does not give him anything to help him spiritually. Zen seems to show a profound meaning but Soseki is very cool to Zen in this novel. Soseki is also very cool to Tea Ceremony  or even ridicule it as shown in Botchan and Gubijinso. These suggest that Soseki was a man of reason and logic, did not go into mystical things.

"
自分は門を開（あ）けて貰いに来た。けれども門番は扉の向側（むこうがわ）にいて、敲（たた）いてもついに顔さえ出してくれなかった。ただ、
「敲いても駄目だ。独（ひと）りで開けて入れ」と云う声が聞えただけであった。彼はどうしたらこの門の閂（かんのき）を開ける事ができるかを考えた。そうしてその手段と方法を明らかに頭の中で拵（こしら）えた。けれどもそれを実地に開ける力は、少しも養成する事ができなかった。したがって自分の立っている場所は、この問題を考えない昔と毫（ごう）も異なるところがなかった。彼は依然として無能無力に鎖ざされた扉の前に取り残された。彼は平生自分の分別を便（たより）に生きて来た。その分別が今は彼に祟（たた）ったのを口惜（くちおし）く思った。そうして始から取捨も商量も容（い）れない愚なものの一徹一図を羨（うらや）んだ。もしくは信念に篤（あつ）い善男善女の、知慧も忘れ思議も浮ばぬ精進（しょうじん）の程度を崇高と仰いだ。彼自身は長く門外に佇立（たたず）むべき運命をもって生れて来たものらしかった。それは是非もなかった。けれども、どうせ通れない門なら、わざわざそこまで辿（たど）りつくのが矛盾であった。彼は後（うしろ）を顧（かえり）みた。そうしてとうていまた元の路へ引き返す勇気を有（も）たなかった。彼は前を眺（なが）めた。前には堅固な扉がいつまでも展望を遮（さえ）ぎっていた。彼は門を通る人ではなかった。また門を通らないで済む人でもなかった。要するに、彼は門の下に立ち竦（すく）んで、日の暮れるのを待つべき不幸な人であった。

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The English translation will be added when available.

You can enjoy the conversations between Sosuke and Oyone, like the conversations between a man and woman in other Soseki's novels - in Sorekara or And Then the conversations between Daisuke and Umeko (Daisuke's sister in law) for instance.


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