Hachiman Hikigaya

Grade 2 Class F

Instructor: Shizuka Hiratsuka

Length of Exam: 90 minutes - Do not open this booklet until you are told to do so.

Looking Back On High School Life

Write your response in the space provided

Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the society is in a bad shape, but it is broadly assumed that one cannot by conscious decision and action do anything about it. A developed society is decadent and so is our language - so the argument goes - must inevitably share in the general decline. Following that, any struggles against the fragmentation of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring revolvers to semi-automatic pistols or muzzleloaders to assault rifles. Underneath this lies the semi-conscious belief that language is of natural societal evolution and an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.

Now it is clear that the downfall of a language must have been led by socioeconomic changes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of a select few but an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form and so on indefinitely. A liar lies because he feels he must conceal certain facts from being discovered, and then lies more because now he must cover the previous lies with more of them. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the depiction of youth. It becomes ugly and deceptive because our thoughts are foolish and self-deceiving, but the untruthful nature of our language makes it easier for us to generate these foolish thoughts. The point is that all this process is reversible. Modern language, namely light novels and everyday speech, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary measure. If one rids themselves of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward thinking critically: so the struggle against untruthful language is not futile and is not the exclusive burden of the press. I will come back to this soon, and I hope by that time the meaning of what I have condemned here will have become more coherent. Meanwhile, here are some specimens I have collected, each representing the way our language as it is now habitually spoken.

These examples have not been chosen because they are especially bad - I could have quoted far worse if I had cherry-picked - but because they demonstrate various conditions that happen repetitively in today's literature and conversation.

(Insert examples here, as I cannot find them in an in-class essay)

1. GENERAL LACK OF CONTENT. "Light" literature, the kind of books often consumed by the youths, lack any meanings of their own. They usually come with a premise that is trending or in common interest of the younger males and then fail to devise a clear message of their own. A faceless high school student who suddenly gains the affection of all the females of a magical world, et cetera. It happens often in everyday conversation as well, for example, lengthy small talks between "friends" who are unaware of each other's names.

2. DECEITFUL DICTION AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE. While social interaction is human nature, the use of deceitful language to maintain the status quo of friendship is common amongst those who are socially adept.

3. PRETENTIOUS CARINGNESS. These are feel-good statements usually used to "comfort" those of a lower social hierarchy whose actual use is to generate self-esteem of the speakers themselves.

I was about to write down more examples, but judging the little amount of time remaining, I will skip straight to the conclusion.

I have not here been considering the literary use of language or the evolution of it, but merely language as an instrument for expressing and not for concealing true intents. Certain think tanks have been promoting that abstract vocabularies are meaningless and have used this as a pretext for advocating a kind of political quietism. Since you haven't fully understood the Communist Manifesto, how can you claim that it promises a utopia against human nature? One need not abide by absurdities as this, but one must realize that the present anti-intellectualism prevalent in the younger generation is correlated with the meaningless news feeds and fast food literature catered specifically to the likings of young males, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the oral end. If you stop using feel-good statements and reading stories of a faceless protagonist engaging in sexual activities with a large-breasted harem, you are freed from a culture of self-deception. Then when you make a meaningless or untruthful remark its stupidity will become obvious, even to yourself. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time one can even, if courageous enough, send some empty, deceitful and useless phrases - just start trying, there will always be someone who loves you, you are all my friends, I want something genuine or any other garbage of that nature - into the landfill where they belong.