The most widely read book of the 20th century, encompassing both the Bildungsroman and the popular novel!
The process of a young man, burdened with anguish, opening his eyes to life and society.

“I didn't know that giving in to happiness was admitting defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories.”

『In the Human Shackles』 has the general pattern of a Bildungsroman.
The protagonist of a Bildungsroman is usually a person with a more sensitive intellect and sensibility than the average person.
He has an unhappy childhood, experiences intergenerational conflict, and is tormented by the narrow-mindedness of the world he belongs to, all of which make his mind more sensitive and lonely.
Although he goes to school, the education does not satisfy his spirit.
So, they go out into the larger society and study the world on their own.
In the process, you meet many guides and advisors in life, but you may encounter the wrong guides and experience trial and error.
Questions of faith are usually one of the most important concerns.
Although love can open your eyes, it often ends in pain.
They feel conflicted about choosing a career and sometimes suffer from financial difficulties.
However, after going through various twists and turns, the protagonist finally has a moment of enlightenment and establishes his own outlook on life.
Philip also fits this type of protagonist.
He is a character with a delicate and sensitive personality (his disability makes his soul more sensitive, even pathological), and like the protagonists of other Bildungsromans, he gains insight into life through various problematic processes.
─ Song Mu, from “Work Commentary”

Philip thought of the countless people who live lives of endless toil.
For them, life will be neither beautiful nor ugly, just something to be accepted like the changing of seasons.
The thought that all this was in vain filled me with anger.
But everything I saw, everything I thought about, made that belief stronger.
Anger welled up in me, but it was a happy anger.
If life were meaningless, there wouldn't be much to fear.
Philip faced life with a strange power.

--- p.386