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restrained from acting by traditional ideas and both suffer from their indecision to carry out what they really believe in. The intensity of Käthe's anguish resembles that of Tokio with one exception, that is to say, Käthe's love for Johannes was intensified during the time Anna was staying in their home, while in Tokio's case his love was tormented by jealousy of Tanaka, to whom he lost Yoshiko.
The minor characters in both Futon and Einsame Menschen remain unchanged and appear to be conventional.
As the result of the foregoing analysis, it becomes discernible how the main characters differ. Let us now interpret why Katai made some changes from Einsame Menschen when he wrote Futon.
Katai characterizes Tokio as an intellectual married man who is bored with the environment of his work and home life. Thus far the situation of Tokio before he meets Yoshiko is similar to that of Johannes; however, the developed character of Tokio does not have Johannes' strong-willed power to carry out his desires. Our question is, why did Katai make this modification in Tokio's personality? In order to answer this problem, let us return to the theme of Futon and reexamine whether or not it requires this change. The answer is positive, as we note that the theme calls for Tokio to fall in love with Yoshiko, that is all, and in no way does it require Tokio to have a similar positive attitude to that of Johannes. It could, therefore, be interpreted that Katai removed from Tokio the characteristics of Johannes' decisive attitude for the sole purpose of emphasizing the effects of Tokio's torment caused by his oscillation between the two poles of duty and love.
