August 8, 2016

Nual, Mike Oliver D

III-AMA

Asian Literature
Japanese Literature: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Author's Background
Haruki Murakami (
Murakami Haruki?, January 12, 1949) is a
contemporary Japanese writer. His books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as
internationally, with his work being translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies
outside his native country.
The critical acclaim for his fiction and non-fiction has led to numerous awards, in Japan and
internationally, including the World Fantasy Award (2006) and the Frank O'Connor International
Short Story Award (2006). His oeuvre received, for example, the Franz Kafka Prize (2006) and
the Jerusalem Prize (2009).
Considered a significant figure in postmodern literature, his works are characterized by elements
of surrealism and nihilism. Themes like loneliness and alienation are recurrent in his works.

The surprising fact about this famous author is that he never dreamed of being a writer from a
young age. He entered the writing profession purely by chance. After studying drama he opened
a coffeehouse and jazz bar, and writing was the last thing on his mind. He got the sudden
inspiration to write a novel when he was watching a baseball match and since then there has been
no looking back. He wrote his first piece of literary work, a 200-page novel which he sent to a
writing contest for new writers. He won the first prize and was inspired to write more.

Literary Characteristics
What Are the Characteristics of Modern Japanese Literature?
Marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition and the nation-centered and group
orientation values. This break included a strong reaction against established religious, political,

and social views. Feminism, individualism, internationalism, liberalism, and proletarianism

emerged during this period.
Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is.
There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative.
No connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and
despair.
Championship of the individual and celebration of inner strength.
Life is unordered and incomplete.
Concerned with the sub-conscious. New literary forms and styles; for example, the I-Novel
(first-person point of view), an autobiographical confessional type of narration, emerges in 1906

SUMMARY

Norwegian Wood is the story of Toru Watanabe, a young man who is damaged by the suicide of
his high school friend, Kizuki. Toru falls in love with Kizuki's tortured girlfriend, Naoko, who is
isolated in her own mind. When she goes into a mental hospital, he promises to wait for her.
Meanwhile, though, he falls in love with Midori, an open and uninhibited girl who represents
life. Toru is filled with guilt when Naoko kills herself, but ultimately he calls out to Midori.
The novel begins when Toru is thirty-seven, remembering the events that happened to him
twenty years ago. In high school, Toru, his best friend Kizuki, and Kizuki's girlfriend Naoko are
inseparable. They are all bound together by Kizuki. However, Kizuki's suicide throws Naoko and
Toru into depression. Both choose to attend colleges in Tokyo, where they can get away from
their pasts.
Toru runs into Naoko one day while he is in college, and the two start to see each other every
Sunday. They go on long walks through Tokyo. Though Naoko has trouble talking and
expressing herself, they spend every Sunday together. On Naoko's birthday, Toru brings her a
cake, and they spend the evening drinking wine and listening to music. Naoko talks
continuously, but she seems to be avoiding certain subjects. Then she breaks down in tears. Toru
makes love to her, but the next day she disappears. Toru writes to her and longs for her but hears
nothing for a long while.

When Naoko finally writes to Toru, he learns she's had a mental breakdown and is in a
sanatorium. While he waits for her, Toru goes to classes and works, remaining isolated until he
meets Midori, a girl who appears and then disappears for days or weeks. He goes to visit her at
her family's bookstore, and they share a kiss although each is attached to another.
Toru goes to visit Naoko at the sanatorium, and he shares a day with her walking in a meadow.
It's the closest he ever is to Naoko, and she tells him about her sister, who also killed herself
when Naoko was young. Naoko asks Toru to always remember her, and Toru asks her to live
with him when she gets out of the sanatorium.
After the visit, though, Toru falls in love with Midori. Midori has been through the deaths of both
of her parents from brain cancer, and she is exhausted with caring for others. She wants someone
who will care for her. Toru does not know what to do when he realizes he is in love with Midori.
He asks Midori to wait while he sorts things out with Naoko. However, Naoko takes a turn for
the worse. She kills herself, and Toru is flung into a pit of grief, despair, and guilt. Toru travels
around Japan, alone with his sorrow. When he finally begins to emerge, he calls Midori from a
clouded pit of depression.

Setting:
Japan (mostly Tokyo), 1968-1970

Characters:
Toru Watanabe - The first-person narrator of the story, Toru is a middle-aged man looking back
on his college years (the turbulent period of 1969-1970). Through memories and flashbacks, he
reflects on his relationships from that time, especially his romantic encounters with two women:
Naoko and Midori.
Naoko - Naoko is a shy, beautiful young woman who comes from the same town as Toru and
had an intense relationship with her childhood sweetheart, Kizuki. She cares for Toru but her
mental health issues and traumatic life prove too difficult to overcome. She commits suicide after
an extended stay at a remote sanitarium.
Midori Kobayashi -- Midori is a friendly, attractive student who strikes up a friendship with
Toru. She feels her parents did not love her, and lives with her elder sister. Shes looking toward
a bright future after spending so much of her youth caring for dying parents and running the
family book store. She falls in love with Toru and is willing to wait for him -- to a certain degree.

Reiko Ishida -- Reiko is a middle-aged woman and Naokos roommate/best friend in the
sanitarium. She left a husband and daughter behind after her most recent breakdown. A talented
musician, she had her concert career ruined by nerves and her teaching career ruined by a
malicious student. She serves as a mentor of sorts to Toru.
Nagasawa -- Nagasawa is Torus friend from the dormitory. Hes bright, charming and well
connected and looks forward to a high-level civil-service career. He is callous toward his
girlfriend, Hatsumi, and sleeps around with many women.
Storm Trooper -- The butt of many jokes, delighting all who hear them, Storm Trooper is
Torus meticulously neat and orderly roommate. He vanishes without explanation after Torus
first year of college.
Hatsumi -- Nagasawas girlfriend and a kind, charming person. Toru admires her and resents the
way Nagasawa treats her. She later commits suicide.
Kizuki -- Though hes already dead throughout most of the novel, Kizukis presence looms
large. He was Naokos childhood sweetheart and Torus best friend. His suicide at age 17 which
had no apparent impetus, continues to haunt his loved ones.

Conflict:
This idyllic existence is shattered by the unexpected suicide of Kizuki on his 17th birthday and
when Toru fell in love with Naoko yet he can't be with her.

Point of View:
Toru Watanabe, 1st-person, narrating from around 18 years after the events of the novel.

Climax:

The climax of the story is that when Toru does not know what to do when he realizes he is in
love with Midori and Naoko.

Mood:
Grief - very dark and depressing because of the death of some characters in the story.
Sadness - The mood is about sadness because in the beginning of the story, the protagonist is
writing about his most intense memories, mostly about suicide of his friends.

Themes:
Loneliness/Isolation: A sense of loneliness and isolation pervades the lives of all the main
characters, including Toru. The protagonists are isolated from their parents, peers and, at times,
each other. Toru rarely interacts with his family, has lost his best friend and even loses his
roommate, Midoris parents are deceased and/or dying (and uninterested in her while alive) and
Naoko is sequestered in a remote rural area, having lost her sister and boyfriend. Reiko is
severed from her life with her husband and child, as well as her music career.
Memories: The entire book is a treatise on the power of memories and nostalgia, with Toru
reflecting back upon his college days and his young loves. Naoko, too, aware of the power yet
vulnerability of memories, begs Toru to keep her memory alive, while memories of Kizuki haunt
them both. The books atmosphere is also heavily colored by nostalgia for the late 1960s -- in
music, history, etc. The powerful memories connected to the Beatles song Norwegian Wood
are what set Torus narrative flashback into motion at the novels start.
Death and Grief: Inexplicable, shocking suicides of young people happen throughout the novel.
Notable characters who commit suicide include Naoko, Hatsumi, Kizuki and Naokos elder
sister, all of whom dont seem to have any particular reasoning behind their suicides. Midori is
also left an orphan due to her parents illnesses and deaths. Though Reikos family is still alive,
she is completely out of touch with them and so she is essentially dead to her husband and
daughter, too. Because of the strong presence of death throughout the book, grief also forms a
major theme, as each character is left to deal with loss of loved ones in their own ways. Toru in
particular comes to learn that the sorrow of loss is not easily moved past.

Symbols:
The Woods: Forests and woods serve as a symbol of the confusion, beauty and loneliness of life,
in which the characters are sometimes lost and sometimes find peace and comfort. Toru and
Naoko take many pleasant woodland walks but she also chooses to hang herself deep in the
woods. The translation of the novels title is a play-on-words of the idea of wood.
1960s Music: The soundtrack to the novel serves as a symbol of the times, and of Torus
generation of youth growing up during the turbulent 1960s. These young people were struggling
to find their place in the world, amidst culture clashes between generations and political factions,
and the authors choices of songs, such as Midoris folk-group songs and those played by Reiko,
reflect this, using the power of familiar music to instantly put the reader in touch with a sense of
times.

Life vs. Death: In being torn between two very different love interests, Toru is also torn between
life and death. Troubled, melancholy, dark Naoko could be seen as symbolizing death while
light, vivacious, earthy Midori represents life. Toru is drawn to both of them. Ultimately it is
unclear which is the winner.

Message:
The message of the story is to point out that death of our loved ones is not just about sorrow,
sadness or grief. The grieving process is difficult. Death teaches us to move on to the next chapter
in our life. Death of a loved ones can make a person grow by the experiences they suffered. The
story also teaches us not to leave yourself with any regrets.
The message of the story is to make us understand some of life's darkest and most dangerous
territory the cold, dark winter woods of death and grief and abuse and do so with wisdom and
warmth that whatever may happen in our life, we must accept it.