How Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai reflects a girl’s struggle
Schoolgirl : a novel that embodies the struggles of Japanese teenage girls searching for a sense of identity and freedom. Written in 1938 by the famous Japanese writer Osamu Dazai , and narrated by a teenager, Schoolgirl is a novella that captures the melancholic life of a young Japanese girl, on a normal school day. However, not only does it depict her mental and emotional challenges, but it accentuates the social pressure women had faced during post-war times and still face today. By that means, as the reader dives into the teenager’s narration, he/she will discover the hidden pain of teenage girls during the 1930s. A story of pain: Throughout the novella, Osamu Dazai tackles the mind of a teenage girl in her day-to-day life. The story starts off with the girl, waking up from her slumber and describing her mornings to be dull: “ Mornings are grey. Always the same. Absolutely empty. […] It’s awful really. All kinds of terrible regrets converge at once in my mind, and my heart stop...
