1. What are the main themes of the book? (list as least three) How do these themes find expressin in the novel?

2. To what extent do the issues in the work appear as unique to late-Meiji Japan and to what extent are they universal?

3. What identifies the novel as a work of the late Meiji period? (What tells you that the story could not have taken place in the 1870s or 1880s?) How does Kokoro reflect the kinds of cultural and intellectual dilemmas that Japanese were confronting in late Meiji times?

4. To what extent has Japanese society changed since the beginning of the Meiji period?

5. How valuable is it to use literature in a history class? What potential problems are there in using literary works like Kokoro as social documents or windows on late-Meiji Japan?