I am a literary giant in Japan

Upon seeing that it was Pete, this troublemaker, Kitagawa Hide frowned slightly, knowing that this kid was definitely here to make things difficult for him.

Kitagawa Hide originally intended to ignore his raised hand to ask a question, since there were so many students and celebrities in the large lecture hall, it was normal not to pick some people.

But Pete was determined to annoy Kitagawa Hide. Before Kitagawa could even call his name, Pete stood up, grabbed the microphone from the bewildered host beside him, and loudly proclaimed, "Mr. Kitagawa, I am Pete Dumont, son of White Dumont, leader of the Norwegian Democratic Socialist Party."

"Hello, Pete, please allow me to interrupt your self-introduction."

I am from the East and rarely have the opportunity to visit Western countries like Sweden and Norway.

Today's open class has limited time, so I hope that you, and the students behind you, can be concise and ask me questions directly. This will also allow me to interact with more outstanding students.

Thank you for your cooperation, Pete.

Kitagawa Shuichi interrupted with a barrage of words, defeating magic with magic, effectively silencing Pete's next words.

Pete Dumon is clearly proud of his family background, and he always makes a point of mentioning his father, who is about to run for president of Norway, at the beginning of each speech.

I bet there's going to be a lot more of his self-praise and boasting to come.

Kitagawa Hide would definitely not allow this kind of conversation, where the guest takes the lead, to continue.

Pete, who was choked by the remark, became even more annoyed. He looked down and saw Olivia looking at him with disgust and disdain, which fueled his anger even more!
The students and celebrities who were observing the class were all intelligent people. From Kitagawa Hide's way of addressing and his attitude towards Pete, as well as Pete's eyes that clearly wanted to tear Kitagawa Hide apart, they knew that the two of them probably had a grudge.

Kitagawa Hide's public literature appreciation class was so engaging that they felt it was worth the ticket price.

It seemed there was still a good show to watch, and everyone immediately perked up, looking at the two of them, hoping to glean some clues from their expressions.

Pete forced himself to calm down, then gripped the microphone and asked loudly, "I recently read your novel 'Childhood,' in which you repeatedly mentioned the tragic life of the protagonist Alyosha and his mother."

If I remember correctly, Alyosha's mother was accidentally shot by a fanatical anti-serprise activist and tragically died at home.

"Yes, this is the last major plot point related to Alyosha's mother. Her death was indeed due to this sudden gunshot wound."

Kitagawa Hide nodded.

In "Childhood," Alyosha's mother and grandmother are among the few people who show him sufficient kindness and help.

The overall tone of Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy is "truth," "tragedy," and "humanity," and the novels span from when Alyosha was three years old to when he was twenty-three.

Over these long twenty years, he will gradually grow from an ignorant child into a proletarian revolutionary fighter who has experienced the trials and tribulations of society and has gained a new level of awareness.

In order for Alyosha's character to gradually develop, there must be one or two figures who play a driving role in his life.

The death of the mother in "Childhood" and the death of the grandmother in "My Apprenticeship" are plots arranged by Gorky.

Of course, in order to make the plot more impactful, Kitagawa Hide made some changes, which also achieved remarkable results.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of Alyosha’s mother. But I have a very big question about this plot.”

Pete's lips curled slightly upward as he uttered the "difficult question" he had prepared for a long time.
"The one who shot Alyosha's mother was a fanatic against the abolition of serfdom."

In your novel, you did not emphasize his origins and identity, but only his evil deeds and tyrannical tendencies.

Without a doubt, he is a person with personality defects, and most likely even mental illness.

In my opinion, Alyosha's mother's unexpected death was more like an attack by a KB member, or a mentally ill person; it was a complete accident and tragedy.

Throughout your novel, you condemn the murderer while also intentionally or unintentionally praising the correctness of abolishing serfdom.

Pete's voice echoed throughout the large lecture hall.

When he said he thought Alyosha's mother's death was more like an accident, Kitagawa Hide roughly knew what the kid was going to say.

Sure enough, his sympathy for the murderer was palpable later on, almost as if he had "I am a 'white leftist'" written all over his face.

"Is this guy out of his mind? He sounds like he's defending a murderer."

In front of the radio, Jabami Rei cursed out loud, unable to comprehend Pete Dimon's thought process.

The observant Yumeko keenly sensed the rift between Kitagawa Hide and Pete from their previous conversation and said to her, "Hide seems to have a conflict with the student who asked the question."

"Huh?" Jabami Rei scratched her head.

Saito Rena, Kawade Shizuko, and the others also looked at Yumeko.

Yumeko explained, "When this student, who called himself Pete, asked the question, he addressed him as 'Mr. Kitagawa,' instead of the more commonly used 'Teacher Kitagawa.'"

In English, teachers and other respected figures are generally addressed as 'Professor/Dr', not 'Mr'.

Japanese people generally don't speak English very well. The Japanese university entrance exam does not require candidates to take the English test; they can also choose Japanese, Russian, German, French, Spanish, etc.

Furthermore, these types of language subjects are not highly valued in admissions to prestigious universities (with a few exceptions, such as Sophia University, which has extremely high requirements for applicants' English proficiency). Therefore, even top graduates of the University of Tokyo, such as Rei Jabami and Rena Saito, are not very proficient in English.

Rei Jabami initially chose German, while Reina Saito simply chose her native language, Japanese, as her language subject for the exam.

"Now that you mention it, it seems Kitagawa didn't speak to Pete very well either." Saito Rena recalled that Kitagawa Hide's tone was very urgent and abrupt when he spoke to Pete.

She was probably the person who interacted with Kitagawa Hide the most, besides Yumeko.

Furthermore, the two frequently communicated about work and career matters, so Saito Rena was extremely sensitive to Kitagawa Hide's tone and manner of speaking.

"This person is really annoying. And how can he sympathize with the person who indirectly caused Alyosha's mother's death!"

As a mother, Mayumi Aso is very sensitive to this kind of thing.

After her daughter Aizi started elementary school, in order to make up for the harm caused to her daughter by being a single parent, she simply stopped writing for three years. During this period, she did not plan to write any more literary works, but wanted to devote herself to her daughter.

Mr. Shimamura's wife, Keiko Shimamura, shared similar thoughts.

Now the two often exchange experiences on raising children, and sometimes when others are too busy with work, they will help take care of the children.

Mayumi Aso's maternal glow greatly benefited Yumeko; one could say that the two little ones in the Kitagawa family had to consider her as half a mother.

Because she is also a mother, Mayumi Aso empathizes with Alyosha's mother's words and actions, and often puts herself in that role when watching "Childhood".

On her deathbed, Alyosha's mother preferred to die alone and unknown to anyone rather than let her beloved son see her miserable state before her death.

Mayumi Aso felt that Kitagawa-sensei truly captured the essence of maternal love!

Now, there are actually people speaking up for the murderer who destroyed Alyosha's few precious "childhood memories"!
She absolutely disagrees!
"Exactly! This kind of scum should go to hell, he should be eaten by that female ghost in Thailand!" Last time, when filming "Children in the Dark," Hebi Rei was terrified by Nana, and now when she criticizes people, she often uses the "Thai female ghost" joke.

Yumeko and the other two chuckled a few times, then fell silent and listened to Kitagawa Hide's response on the radio.

"The abolition of serfdom was a great feat. Although Alexander II, who did it, was assassinated, no one would question his actions, and no one should think that the inhumane serfdom system was right, right?"

Kitagawa Hide glanced at Pete.

"White leftists" claim to have the most humane aura and are most willing to speak out for the disadvantaged.

If they support a serf system that is worse than feudalism, then they are slapping themselves in the face.

Pete wasn't that stupid, and quickly replied, "Of course I don't agree with serfdom, and I don't think anyone here would agree with that either."

What I want to say is, putting aside our respective positions, let's just talk about the incident where the fanatic accidentally shot Alyosha's mother.

Regarding this small plot point, Mr. Kitagawa, you are condemning him and deliberately defaming him between the lines.

Could it be that his hand was shaking when he fired the gun, and he accidentally shot Alyosha's mother?
Could he not also have been one of the victims of this massive revolution?
Simply by publicly opposing the abolition of serfdom, he was labeled a "bad person" and "incorrect" by everyone, including Mr. Kitagawa, the original author.

Isn't this simplistic way of judging right and wrong worth discussing and rethinking?
I know that after I raise this question, many people will tell me that this is just a plot in a novel, and since I am the author, all the interpretation rights must be in my hands.

I am not questioning your "Childhood" or your literary creation ability, but simply asking about this plot, wanting to know if it reflects some of your own political beliefs and behavioral standards.
Don't you think this biased treatment will unfairly stigmatize the fanatic in the book and leave him with indelible stereotypes?

Pete asked a series of questions, and when he got emotional, he also showed a particularly compassionate expression.

In some ways, he truly lives up to his reputation as White Dimon's son.

When White Dumont defended the KB activists, he said the same things, and just as calmly and confidently delivered his distorted views to a group of people.

"Has this little rascal gone mad?" Knut, sitting in the audience, finally realized that Pete was there to cause trouble.

He looked at Ma Yue Ran, who was equally angry and bewildered; clearly, both of them believed that Pete was a plant arranged by the other.

After realizing that Pete was most likely faking it himself, Knut and Göran Malmqvist could only frantically pray that Kitagawa Hide wouldn't fall into the self-justification trap carefully designed by the "white leftists."

The inherent thinking of "white leftists" is to first present their views to you, regardless of whether they are right or wrong, because basically few people will agree with their outrageous ideas.

They don't expect your approval.

They'll only find fault with you and then make you prove you're not sick.

Once you fall into their logic, you'll frantically try to prove to them that you're right.

If you start doing this, you'll be playing right into their hands.

They would immediately ask you, "If you believe you are right and I am wrong, then why are you trying to prove it?"

Then you'll have to start explaining why again.
Ultimately, their approach is to exploit celebrities to satisfy their sense of superiority, and then to gather a large group of people with similar feelings of superiority, thereby forming a force that can influence the political arena.

The most prominent characteristic of these people is that they pretend to care about the problems of the most vulnerable and pay more attention to those groups that are easily abandoned, such as death row inmates and fanatical cult members, than most people do.

But they won't actually solve these problems.

They are simply enjoying a distorted sense of superiority from the feeling that "I am helping a group that no one else is helping, I am so great."

“Novels will certainly reflect the author’s personal thoughts and values, that’s beyond doubt,” Kitagawa Hide replied with a smile.

"So you're admitting you're prejudiced against that fanatic?" Pete was pleased with his ability to change the subject and attack people.

Regardless of whether Kitagawa Hide truly thinks this way, as long as he has this inclination, he will offend a large number of "white leftists" in the Western world who will shout "Black Lives Matter" in the future.

These people wield a lot of power and resources. If you offend them, Kitagawa Hideaki's chances of winning the Nobel Prize next year may not be so secure.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, Kitagawa-sensei!" Knut wanted to shout these words out loud.

He stared frantically at Kitagawa Hide, hoping that if the other person saw him, he would remember some of the reminders he had given him when they parted the night before.

Unfortunately, Kitagawa Hide didn't even glance at him.

After Pete finished asking his question, Kitagawa Hide put away his smile, thought about it seriously for a moment (which was unusual for him), and then took the microphone and answered in an extremely serious and certain tone: "I have no prejudice against any of the characters I have written."

I am a creator, and as the one who created them, I have only love for them, a deep love.

Of course, I know you just want to ask my opinion on your group and some politically sensitive topics.

Pete, you don't need to beat around the bush.

Your father is just like you, so I think he's highly unlikely to win the presidency he's been eyeing next year.

A head of state who only displays pettiness is unqualified.

Kitagawa Hide's words immediately heightened the already tense atmosphere to an extreme level.

The crowd below erupted in uproar.

It was an open secret that Kitagawa-sensei was very "tough." News reporters from both BBS and ABC television stations had known this for a long time.

But I never expected him to be so tough!
Upon arrival, he immediately said that the man's father was not fit to be president!

This is not over yet!

"No problem, I'll do it for you."

I can tell you with absolute certainty that I despise your kind of pointless whining!

Not only do I despise you, but I'm also going to write a book and make a movie to satirize you!

With the microphone in hand, Kitagawa Hide delivered his challenge directly to the rest of the world through two major television stations and countless traditional media outlets.

All fans of Kitagawa and literature were in an uproar!

The last time Hideaki Kitagawa wrote a novel satirizing others was with the globally renowned "We Are Disabled Yet Resilient" trilogy.

These three books directly destroyed a vested interest group.

This time, however, he actually turned his guns directly on the largest, most terrifying, and most troublesome group in the Western world! (End of Chapter)