Norwegian Wood

August 29, 2013

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.