'I Am A Cat (excerpt)' Summary

The story unfolds in the home of the Kushami family, where the cat, who is never given a name, acts as a silent observer of their daily lives. He watches as the eldest son, N'sk, a struggling artist, struggles to reconcile his artistic ambitions with his family's expectations. The family patriarch, a university professor, engages in intellectual debates while dealing with the challenges of his own marriage. Meanwhile, a young woman named Miss Tsukiko finds herself drawn to N'sk, despite his lack of means and her own complicated personal life. Through the cat's wry observations, Sōseki satirizes the social conventions and intellectual pretensions of the time, exposing the complexities and hypocrisies that lie beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary lives. The cat's unique perspective allows the reader to see the world through a fresh lens, highlighting the foibles and contradictions of human nature.