In the beginning of the third book, I noticed how recurrent Murakami used pathetic fallacy in order to reflect the feelings of Toru Okada as the winter approaches. There is this sense of timelessness that winter brings, as if Okada’s life was frozen since he does not get any calls and is trapped in his home in the torment of his own loneliness. I noticed that during the winter the wind up bird was not described, as if everyone wanted to avoid Toru’s solitary path. Moreover, the diction is stiff and the weather is emphasized by the repetitive use of unpleasant feelings like being cold, “The winter was a cold one, but I sometimes forgot to turn on the heat, unsure whether the cold was real or just something inside me. I would throw the switch only after a look at the thermometer had convinced me that it really was cold, but even so, the cold did not diminish”. (345) By that cold atmosphere, we can feel Toru is ill, being as he is trying to distance himself from his own reality since he knows the life he is currently living is based on the past, and the grief of Kumiko’s absence. On the other hand, when the spring comes it feels like Toru is given his life back as if it was his opportunity for a new start, “February came to an end, and March was half gone when the freezing cold began to relent somewhat. Warm winds blew up from the south. Buds appeared on the trees, and the new birds showed up in the garden.”(350) It feels like the spring announces the beginning of a summer full of new opportunities and encounters for Toru, since he now has the determination to work in order to buy the Miyawaki house. And by meeting Nutmeg on a hot summer day a year after he saw her for the first time, Murakami wants to reflect how much of a turn Toru’s life will take after all the routineness and normality that is conveyed in the two first books. All in all, Murakami’s pathetic fallacy conveys the changing state of Toru’s life, as he is striving for a change and has to cope with the pain and emptiness of his life by concentrating on his own future.
I definitely agree with your point on pathetic fallacy- I did not actually pay attention to it as much when reading the book, so I am very glad that you pointed it out! Of course, pathetic fallacy is a recurrent literary device in novels from every day and age, but it is especially important in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle because of the novel's big theme of life's stages (also emphasized by the novel's separation into three books). Because so many characters in the novel have had two or more major stages in their lives- Creta Kano (1st stage: pain; 2nd stage: numbness; 3rd stage: "resurrection"), Kumiko (1st stage: numbness; 2nd stage: sexual freedom/resurrection), Toru (1st stage: life with Kumiko; 2nd stage: numbness/life without Kumiko; 3rd stage: surrealist/abnormal life)- pathetic fallacy (in terms of the seasons) is a perfect way to underline this theme, since seasons come in major phases and are very different from one another. However, the season changes really only highlight Toru's life stages, with the winter symbolizing his numb/lonely stage (right after he feels that everyone has abandoned him) and the spring symbolizing his resurrection and beginning of a new (surreal) life.
ReplyDeleteWell developed analysis, Alia! ;-)
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