Botchan (master Darling)
1906
Meet Botchan: a hot-blooded, stubborn Tokyo boy who thinks nothing of jumping off roofs to prove his courage or getting into fistfights over matters of pride. Raised by a stern father and a gentle mother who dies young, he drifts through school with little interest in books but a burning sense of justice that will not be quenched. When he takes a teaching position at a middle school in the remote mountains of Shikoku, he expects to find honest, simple people. Instead, he discovers a nest of hypocrites: scheming teachers, spineless administrators, and students who spend more energy pranking their instructors than studying mathematics. Botchan refuses to play the game. He speaks his mind, fights his battles openly, and earns both enemies and allies in the process. Soseki Natsume drew on his own year teaching in Matsuyama to craft this biting, hilarious portrait of a young man who won't compromise his principles even when the whole world seems stacked against him. A century later, Botchan remains the soul of youthful defiance, a reminder that integrity and stubbornness sometimes look exactly the same from the outside.
Editions
X-Ray
“Now that I thought about it, though, I realized that most people actually encourage you to turn bad. They seem to think that if you don't, you'll never get anywhere in the world. And then on those rare occasions when they encounter somebody who's honest and pure-hearted, they look down on him and say he's nothing but a kid, a Botchan. If that's the way it is, it would be better if they didn't have those ethics classes in elementary school and middle school where the teacher is always telling you to be honest and not lie. The schools might as well just go ahead and teach you how to tell lies, how to mistrust everybody, and how to take advantage of people. Wouldn't their students, and the world at large, be better off that way? Redshirt had laughed at me for being simpleminded. If people are going to get laughed at for being simpleminded and sincere, there's no hope. Kiyo never laughed at me for saying anything like what I said to Redshirt. She would have been deeply impressed by it. Compared to Redshirt, she's far and away the superior person.””
— Soseki Natsume
“إن كان الصدق والبساطة يجعلان المرء عرضة للاستهزاء، فهذا يعني أنه لم يعد هناك أمل في هذا العالم””
— Soseki Natsume
“One may be branded foolishly honest if he takes seriously the apologies others might offer. We should regard all apologies a sham and forgiving also as a sham; then everything would be all right. If one wants to make another apologize from his heart, he has to pound him good and strong until he begs for mercy from his heart””
— Soseki Natsume
“Hanya karena seseorang pandai berargumen, tidak berarti orang itu orang baik. Sama halnya seseorang yang dikalahkan dalam argumen adalah orang jahat.””
— Soseki Natsume
“Kalau kau bisa membeli kekaguman seseorang dengan uang, kekuasaan, atau logika, maka lintah darat, polisi, dan profesor universitas akan memiliki lebih banyak pengagum daripada siapa pun.””
— Soseki Natsume
“Ketika manusia bebas memutuskan untuk menghormatimu, hadiah yang kaumiliki lebih mahal nilainya daripada apapun.””
— Soseki Natsume
“Really, there’s nothing in the world as undependable as human beings.””
— Soseki Natsume
