Abstract
Although it is possible to start even further back the milestone of modernization efforts and initiatives in the Ottoman Empire is seen as the first half of the nineteenth century. Both the Tanzimat and Islahat movements carried out in this period and the First and Second Constitutional Monarchy announced later stand out as important steps taken towards modernization. The effects of these moves are not limited to the administrative and political fields. It is aimed to reach large sections of the society. However, by nature, societies do not immediately adopt innovations, they show resistance. This resistance brings with it conflicts. The encounter between established and deep-rooted value judgments and contemporary and emerging value judgments creates a kind of mentality conflict. It will be noticed that the works that include various aspects of this mentality conflict and the writers who deal with them increased especially in the Second Constitutional Period. The story "Recm", written by Reşat Nuri, who started to write works in this period, which is described as the political laboratory of our republic, is also fictionalized around a conflict of minds. In this story, published in 1919 and included in Reşat Nuri's first story book, "Recm, Gençlik ve Güzellik", the sad fate of a young and idealistic schoolteacher is discussed. In this story, which points to the tragic situations that bigotry and ignorance can cause, the contrast between the value judgments and way of interpreting life of the people of Elmacık village and a young teacher from Istanbul is emphasized. The main purpose of the study is to analyze the story of "Recm", which is one of the precursors of this conflict and mentality conflict, which will also form one of the main themes of Turkish literature in the Republican period.