Reason and purpose: Throughout the whole novel, there is an omnipresence of a sense of reason and purpose. In Toru's first dream about Creta, he mentions explicity, "There was some kind of reason and purpose to all this." (102) It like if in his subconcious, he knew very well that this was not an another dream. Later in the novel, we are revealed that this in fact was not just another dream.
Weird: Like others have mentioned preivously, the novel is written in such a way where things are very weird. Just the diction used creates unexpected imagery, and as readers we are left feeling awkward. Toru describes one event of the novel the following way: "We had been playing our assigned roles on the office stage, but stepping down from the stage, abondoning the provisional images that we had been echanging there, we were both just unstable, awkward lumps of flesh, warm pieces of meat outfitted with digestive tracts and hearts and brains and reproductive organs." (106) Another weird part of the novel if when Kumiko is describing the first time she caught her brother masturbating, which could be a situation that any younger sister could encounter, she let's us know of a detail which sets this situation apart. Her brother was masturbating to their deceased sister's belongings.
Evil: Also, there are several elements of evil (which goes back to the title). In the neighborhood that Toru lives in, there is a vacant house. This vacant house appears to be haunted. As Toru's uncle explains all the badluck that happened to those who inhabited that house, we can conclude that there is a supernatural force (like I have mentioned in a previous post) that haunts that house. This element of evil is interesting when we look back at the title of the novel, which suggests that this bird's cry warns us of evil. (Back on raphaela's post "title of the novel").
Weird: Like others have mentioned preivously, the novel is written in such a way where things are very weird. Just the diction used creates unexpected imagery, and as readers we are left feeling awkward. Toru describes one event of the novel the following way: "We had been playing our assigned roles on the office stage, but stepping down from the stage, abondoning the provisional images that we had been echanging there, we were both just unstable, awkward lumps of flesh, warm pieces of meat outfitted with digestive tracts and hearts and brains and reproductive organs." (106) Another weird part of the novel if when Kumiko is describing the first time she caught her brother masturbating, which could be a situation that any younger sister could encounter, she let's us know of a detail which sets this situation apart. Her brother was masturbating to their deceased sister's belongings.
Evil: Also, there are several elements of evil (which goes back to the title). In the neighborhood that Toru lives in, there is a vacant house. This vacant house appears to be haunted. As Toru's uncle explains all the badluck that happened to those who inhabited that house, we can conclude that there is a supernatural force (like I have mentioned in a previous post) that haunts that house. This element of evil is interesting when we look back at the title of the novel, which suggests that this bird's cry warns us of evil. (Back on raphaela's post "title of the novel").
For sure there is a lot of "weird stuff" in this novel - but people are weird, aren't they? Even if they appear "normal" on the surface, there are no limits to what they might be thinking or imagining. Look what our brains cook up when we are asleep...
ReplyDeleteEvil, yes... I think in some ways this book is an old-fashioned struggle between good and evil. Kumiko is the territory Toru is fighting for - and he never gives up. This makes it a romantic story too. It's difficult though to put your finger on exactly what is evil about Noboru Wataye, (even if characters like Boris the Manskinner are more obviously evil because war allows them to be). For me, NW is like a black hole, an absence, a negation. He threatens to swallow everything, to suck them dry. He's a predator.