Reading Hunchback

I am a woman with a reputation for reading popular books at the "Why now?" kind of timing.
"Hunchback" is one of those books.

As a story, it doesn't have any shocking plot twists.
But I was drawn in so strangely that before I knew it, I had finished reading it in a flash.

I think that's probably because the protagonist, Shakka, was so incredibly real.
Rather than a "fictional character," she felt like a real person living somewhere out there.

I felt as if I had been allowed to quietly peek into a corner of society I had never known before.

On the other hand, it also gave me a chance to think about many things.
Until now, I had been leaning against digitizing school textbooks.
I had heard that paper books help information stick better or that grades might drop, and that was my own personal experience as well.
But through this book, I learned for the first time that this way of thinking itself can be violent. I learned for the first time that paper books require a body healthy enough to handle them.

Also, the discussion about the relativity of the strong and the weak in the correspondence between Ichikawa-san and Arai-san after the novel really struck me.

"Even if one is weak in one aspect, one can be strong in another."

I was born a woman in the early Heisei era and raised in the countryside.
I believe I have had painful experiences precisely because I am a woman.
Sometimes, that makes me want to throw everything away or get angry.
I even make modest appeals to society at times.

But, for example, I am already a full-fledged adult.
I can work, I can take care of my own living expenses.
I can go where I want to go, and I can generally do what I want to do.

On the other hand, there are probably people for whom my "normal" is not normal at all.
In both good and bad ways.
Some might be surprised by my "normal," thinking that they don't have to endure such things.
And others might think, "I can't believe you can do things like that so freely."

Where do I stand?
I feel that I must not forget that, and that I must think carefully and do the very best I can.

Of course, I think that will help someone far away, too.
But not just that—I pray that it will also make things a little easier for me, for my loved ones, and for people like me.