77105
... この事がお母さまに或いは悪い祟りをするのではあるまいかと、心配で心配で...

Kazuka is wondering about if she caused a curse to happen to her mother by
burning the snake eggs. I understand the general meaning but the suffix "mai"
confuses me a little bit.

It's a suffix used to convey a negative meaning, right? ie. 'probably isn't'
or 'musn't'. But here, it is challenging for me to understand why the author
used it. It feels like it weakens the possibility of Kazuka harming her
mother, but we know that she is anxious about her actions. Or is it used here
to strengthen the if clause?

This is "The Setting Sun" by Osamu Dazai by the way.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-06T15:16:47.460
77103
2020-05-06T18:01:12.737
38732
question
meaning suffixes
Suffix まい in this context
まい is a negative inference/volition marker, and あるまい is interchangeable with
ないだろう/なかろう.

> 犬ではあるまい。  
>  = 犬ではないだろう。  
>  = 犬ではなかろう。  
>  = It's probably not a dog.

But when they are followed by か, the meaning is switched. (If you know
ではない(の)か, this is in the same vein.) See also [Difference between だろうか and
ではないだろうか](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/34189/5010).

> 犬ではあるまい **か** 。  
>  = 犬ではないだろう **か** 。  
>  = 犬ではなかろう **か** 。  
>  = It's a dog, isn't it?

Your sentence can be rephrased to 祟りをするのではないだろうか, so she is thinking it is
likely to cause a curse.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-06T18:01:12.737
77105
2020-05-06T18:01:12.737
5010
77103
answer