Nagai Kafu

The Fox

In the story The Fox by author Nagai Kafu, there are two general attitudes among the adults towards the fox. The first attitude is presented through the words of the cook, O-Etsu, who explained to Tazaki that “it would be bad luck for the house to kill the fox-god” (pg.18). Japan is a country with superstitious ancient beliefs that usually involve traditional aspects of religion, culture, and society. When it came to the killing of an animal, these superstitions were highly considered. O-Etsu is presented in the story as a superstitious women with an affinity towards Buddhist practices. For instance, when the dad and the rest of the hunters advance to the execution of the fox, O-Etsu, along with some other women, began to intone Buddhist prayers and adorned their bodies with religious amulets. But not everyone held the same views as her. Contrary to O-Etsu, the father in the story shares different ideas that contradicts any ancient belief. Due to the fact that he is part of the New Order of Japan, his adaptation of new Western ideas has lead him to acknowledge the killing of the fox and the chickens as something rational and rightful.

On the other hand, the child finds himself confused as he is the only one questioning the killing of the fox. Subjectively, the child wonders whether these hunters are any different from the fox, since they not only killed the fox but some chickens as well. As he struggles to articulate these thoughts, he remembers that “from the struggle of the snake and the frog, Turgenev, in his child’s heart had doubted the benevolence of God” (pg. 30). He then wonders whether there is justice or not in this wave of new ideologies. Through Turgenev’s literature, the child questions the meaning of “trial” and “punishment” and its ambiguous use in the world as something hypocritical and irrational.