Norwegian Wood (1)
World Literature
12v1 Ho In Hee
Literature is a
portrayal of reality. Regardless of its genre, a piece of literature reflects
reality. Not necessarily that the plot is something likely to happen in the
real world, but “reflecting reality” is more of capturing pieces of the
reality. Only then it can evoke sympathy from the readers. Unfortunately,
Murakami Haruki’s novel did not appear to be reflecting
reality at a first glance. As I turn the pages of this book over, Toru Watanabe
have an emotion-revealing conversation with a Stewardess he just met, Naoko let
Watanabe be disconcerted as she gushes out her ludicrous worries, and Storm
Trooper exhibits every eccentric behavior he can have. All the characters in
were so different and so unique to portray the normal
people of the normal world. But in making such hasty judgment, I overlooked a
very important truth: that no one is normal.
Naoko is a
character tied down by the past wound. She is a friend (or girlfriend) of
Watanabe. Their relationship is not clearly defined- it is somewhere in between
friends and lovers. But this indefinite relation between Naoko and Watanabe does
not seem to be due to the absence of love between them. It is apparent that
Watanabe loves Naoko. But Naoko also seems to have a feeling towards Watanabe. Naoko
is depicted as a stand-off type of person who does not favor interacting with
anyone. Her self-isolation bears an exception for Watanabe. She makes attempts
to share her ideas with. The reason for their ambiguous relation seems to lie
not on the absence of affection between the two but rather on Naoko’s not being
ready to accept a new relationship. Since the death of her ex-boyfriend Kizuki,
Naoko closes her from the world. She remains open to Watanabe, but even with
Watanabe, Naoko often becomes neurotic on the subject of “eternity”. She does
not doubt so much about Watanabe’s feeling of her, but does doubt strongly that
such feeling would last long. This indicates that Naoko is still not free from
the painful memory of Kizuki.
Unlike Naoko who
is very delicate and vulnerable, Watanabe’s dorm roommate Storm Trooper is a
self-determined man. He pursues nothing but his fascination. He does not bother
to make any friends who do not understand him. Storm Trooper and Naoko have
point of sameness in that they both refuse to associate with others. But if
Naoko’s isolation is rooted in fear, Storm Trooper’s rests in that he does not
find any friend necessary. Storm Trooper is disturbed by no one around him. While
Watanabe shows small irritation at him from time to time, he realizes Storm
Trooper’s pure interest in his career is reasonable. Same thing – finding Storm
Trooper’s peculiar behaviors funny but realizing parts of him appealing – may be
happening to Naoko when she laughs at Watanabe’s stories of his roommate.
Nagasawa is
another very interesting character. He is a utilitarianist who does not refuse
anything that is beneficial to him. He does not see any problem with his
womanizing habit since it is something done under mutual consent. When
womanizing, he allows nothing but physical intercourse. He also looks down at
people. To Nagasawa, all the residents of the dorm are “idiots” who never read
profound books from more than 30 years ago. Consequently, Nagasawa’s relations
with others are very superficial.
The three
characters show three different ways of reacting to confusion of the “Norwegian
Wood”. Personally, I buy Naoko’s most captivating. I look forward to see how
the three peculiar yet normal characters adopt to the confusion, and how they
influence Watanabe in three remaining quarters of the book.
