Interactive Oral Reflective Writing
Dear IB Juniors,
We just completed our first round of interactive oral presentations! The presenters did a great job explaining their concepts, providing examples, and then drawing us into the conversation so that we left with a renewed appreciation of the historical, philosophical, biographical and psychological contexts! Click here for the Interactive Oral Presentation Topics
Thank you so much!
It’s difficult for me to ask more of you, especially when you are all already working so hard. Still, this IB English course requires that we write a 300-400 word “Reflective Statement” after the “Interactive Oral Presentations.” (By the way, if you would like to see a sample “reflective statement,” click on “Nick Peters SOW Essay” on the page titled “IB Exemplary Essays.” His essay received the highest mark possible from an IB examiner)
I know you are all hard-working and very capable, however. So, I expect great thinking on this important writing assignment!
Use the following questions to help you develop a personal reflection and please do not go over the word count:
Because of the “Interactive Oral Presentations,” which concepts or ideas do you now understand? Select only one or two concepts to write about. (topic sentence)
Which specific examples from the novel can you relate to this idea? Explain in several sentences of commentary how this scene/moment/passage exemplifies the concept. (Concrete detail and commentary here)
Explain the author’s role in addressing this concept. Which choices specifically does Murakami make to influence how we think about this concept. (commentary on the writer’s choices)
Which questions about Murakami are you left with as a reader because of your participation in the “Interactive Oral Presentations”?
Word count: 300-400 words
Due: Monday, February 15th at 7 p.m.
- Type your reflection into a word document or cloud storage. Save. Then, read aloud and proofread.
- Upload it to this website by clicking on the “comment” link at the bottom of THIS POST.
- You will not see your reflection post immediately. First, I will need to approve your comment. Once I approve your comment, you will see your reflective statement on this website.
Our reading schedule should allow for us to read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle: Book Two, chapters 1-6, up to page 229. Please maintain the good habit of reading nightly and taking notes or making observations as you read. You’ll need those quotes in three weeks!
Kind Regards,
Mr. Coey
From the “Interactive Oral Presentations” I now have a better understanding of the Japanese spiritual beliefs and more about Murakami himself. In one of my peers presentations they talked about Japanese spiritual beliefs. For example Seppuku is where a samurai would commit suicide by stabbing themselves on the left side of their stomach and then right after they would cut out their throat. Doing so they believed that their spirits would go in the after life. One of their religions is Shintoism where they believed that anything related to nature is God. “He would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old-fashioned samurai way, but there was no time for that”(page 117). What happened on page 117 was an example of Seppuku that took place in the old abandoned house.
My other classmates helped us understand more about Murakami. I discovered that his country doesn’t like him because he has more American traits than his own- Japanese. I also learned that Murakami’s books are diverse and are written in 50 different languages, the reason behind his books having a jazz shadow because he once owned a jazz club. Two of Murakami’s many random obsessions were cats and wells (that’s why both are usually included in his books). “So now I had to go cat hunting. I had always liked cats”(page 9). After the cat left, weird actions started to occur to Toru.
Murakami used a psychological lens to write his book to male each person who reads them to think. His way of writing leads a reader in different directions of thinking. Its rare for a group of people to have the same opinion om The Wind Up Bird Chronicle.
My questions: Does the cat symbolize something/ someone? If so who?
Who most affects Toru’s life?
Who do you think the woman on the phone is?
Due to the Interactive Oral Presentation on the novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,” by Haruki Marukami, I was able to understand the theory of “Water” in the novel. Toru Okada, one of the dominant characters of this novel is connected to the water psychologically and physically. Murakami revealed this theory throughout the novel in a unique and mysterious way. Water is associated with his consciousness and sub-consciousness.
In the presentation on “Psychological Criticism” one of the researchers explained the theory of water. He stated that water plays a very unique role in Toru’s life.
In addition to that in the novel Mr. Honda enlightened him “Just be careful of water. Water that’s missing from where it supposed to be. Water that’s present where it’s not supposed to be. In any case, be very very careful of water.” (Pg. 51)
The reason why Mr. Honda said it was because he knew the importance of water. He had survived the “battle of Nomonhan” and suffered burst eardrums. He has watched his batch mates die for water. So, I believe he was suggesting him to be care with it based of his experience. But the researcher stated that Toru has some type of electricity inside him and the women for him are the water. He should stay away from them because when water and electricity get together they can cause some serious damage in his life.
Murakami made some distinctive choices on the novel to influence the readers about this mysterious theory of water. For example Mr. Honda acknowledged Toru from his experience about the necessity of water on the battlefield. But, Malta Kano aware him about how water is connected to his sexuality. Water plays an important role of transformation in his wet dreams, it interchange his sub consciousness to consciousness.
• I wonder how and who inspired Murakami to write this novel?
• Why did Murakami specifically used water as one of the motifs in this novel and why only it’s connected with Toru’s consciousness or sub consciousness?
• What kind of lesson he wants the readers to learn from this novel? What is the purpose of this novel?
Throughout the “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” presentations, I received a better knowledge of the author, Haruki Murakami, and the book itself. The presentations helped me learn about how Murakami’s biography, his novel and terms to help us get a better understanding. For example, during Chris and Ersa’s presentation, I learned what certain Japanese terms meant such as seppuku, which means taking your own life. An example of seppuku is when a samurai takes his own life or kills himself because of his failures or dishonesty. In the novel, we met Ms. Malto Kano, and also learned how “Malto” isn’t her real name, in the presentations, they explained how Ms. Kano uses the name “Malto” to show how strong her identity is and how strong of a woman she is. “She was defiled by Noboru Wataya. Violently raped.”, Kano’s younger sister was raped by Kumiko’s brother, which in my point of view, i believed that’s what makes her a stronger woman.
Faizan, Mai, and Jesus’ presentation was an interesting idea to touch on. Their presentation was based on psychological criticism, and during their presentation, they talked about how Toru new consciousness, thinking, and experiment was based on the idea of water. Which I personally found interesting because i wouldn’t have thought of that.
Sandra and Priyana’s presentation talked about the biography of Haruki Murakami and how he prefer his novels to be written in an American Style compare to a Japanese Style. He also received criticism about it, but in my opinion, as they were explaining the reason of why he does it, i felt as i can agree and say if the novel was written more in a Japanese style, it would have been difficult to interpret his writing.
My question is, If the novel was written in a Japanese style rather than American style, would it change the storyline and his usage of sexual scenes?
Due to the Interactive Oral Presentations on The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami, I was able to much better understand the concept of Japanese Spiritual Beliefs used throughout the novel. Before doing the presentation, I didn’t know anything about the Japanese spiritual beliefs like the seppuku, Shinto, kotodama, and Japanese mysticism. “He would of preferred to slit his stomach open the old-fashioned samurai way, but there was no time for that” (117). Seppuku was one of the most interesting concepts that I learned about because it’s a way for the ancient samurai to kill themselves due to them committing a serious offense or bringing to not only themselves but also their family. For men they would stab the left side of their stomach and after that they would slit their throat. For women they would just slit their throat. Japanese believed that by killing themselves it showed courage and that they were releasing their spirit into the afterlife. I also learned about another religion that I didn’t know that existed and that is Shintoism, which is the belief that there is spiritual powers exist in the natural world. I also I got to learn more about the author, Haruki Murakami. In my peers’ presentation, they talked about how the author had more applause from foreign countries on his books than his own country because they believed that his style of writing is more western style than Japanese style. For example he writes graphic sexual scenes like Toru’s wet dream, Toru’s interesting phone sexes, etc. As a reader I have many questions like what is the cat and its significance? What the difference between western writing and Japanese writing? Why did Murakami write sex scenes? Is Murakami sexually active? Because his writing sounds like he is speaking from experience.
Because of the “Interactive Oral Presentation” I have not yet understood the purpose of talking about a missing cat but I now gained a better knowledge of Japanese spiritual belief Sepukku in Murakami’s novel “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle”. The most interesting idea that was presented that i gained knowledge about is Sepukku presented by Ersa and Chris. Sepukku is an honorable suicide acted by warriors and emperors. You must be really determined to kill yourself like mentioned in Tim O’Briens novel “The Things They Carried”.
The scene in the novel “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle” that i relate to Seppukku is when the superelite officer decided to kill himself because he didn’t want to be made a spectacle hanged in the bargain by the MPs who were dragging the generals and field officers that went crazy in China. So one day he saw a GI outside his house and “he blew his brains out on the spot. He would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old fashion samurai way,but their was no time for that”117. His wife also accompanied him by committing suicide also. It was a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet because the GI was only looking for his girlfriend and was asking for directions.
Murakami uses Japanese spiritual belief to see how hardcore Japanese spiritual beliefs are and how japanese spiritual beliefs have changed over time. A question i will like to know and also my classmates that have yet not been responded are Why are we reading this book? What is the theme of the book? Who cares about a cat? Is the book really about the cat?
Reflective statement
Throughout the wind-up Bird by Haruki Murakami
We have discussed many subjects such as the psychological, biological, philosophical, and historical context of the novel by interacting with the book itself` and being interactive with the oral presentations. The historical context of the book is shown for example “in other words, it wasn’t much different from Manchukuo, where japan held the reins of power” (145). This quote shows the historical context by explaining the events that were occurring on September 18 1931 when Japan attacked Manchuria and the Japanese forces had occupied several points in the south. In Addition “plus two packhorses loaded with food, water, and weapons. We were lightly armed.”(139). This quotae also explains the important historical occurring events in 1931 when Japan was eager for vast natural resources which were found in china and seeing this weakness they invaded and occupied ManchuriaA
Consequently, due to my being present in the classroom at the given time, I have now gained a nonconsensual surge of knowledge pertaining to the critically acclaimed novel The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. As a reader, one cannot help but notice the significantly vast array of symbolism emanating off the ink of these pages.
From humanized cats hiding under masks of textual innocence, doubling as scapegoats for eager readers’ open, unstoppable, incomprehensible interpretation, to a man as simple and bland as can be, doubling as the key to all unlocking the very mystery any and every entity unfortunate enough to stumble upon the fabric of these pages so desperately lingers in search for. Haruki Murakami’s creations are superbly more than the eye can see, and the unconscientious reader may be capable to pick up.
In the beginning of the novel, protagonist Toru Okata searches for his wife’s missing cat along the back alley sliding adjacent to his apartment; his path unwittingly corresponding to the path of a young, rebellious girls daytime stroll. As the two’s path inevitably meet, she leads the married man down an avenue leadingly on the brink of disastrous self-discovery. “Go to sleep if you want…I’ll wake you if a cat shows up.” The young girl goads him into a dreamlike trance, glossed with a false veil of comfort draped in the transparent excuse that is languished ignorance.
Many might argue the “cat” in this situation plays a symbolic role as the embodiment of Toru’s reasoning to stay in his bland, sexless marriage. The young girl is his pillar of trial. And if he were to open his eyes during her tyrannical reign over his mind, he too, would become his own pillar of trial. Perhaps, even, a pillar of salt.
Those who deem symbolic literature in the regards of attaining a concrete definitive nature, are those who enjoy the lifestyle of that in which they apply their thoughts.
My classmates have introduced us to interactive oral presentations with different topics connecting to the book. There were many different ideas to the novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but the main two ideas that I understood were the beliefs and religion in Japan and in the novel and the historical context that was mentioned in two chapters. In my opinion these two topics are very important for the novel.
The Japanese spiritual beliefs are symbolized throughout the novel. Kami are the spirits, which take the form of things. The cat throughout the book can be said to be a God to the two main people Toru and his wife. The cat symbolizes their marriage, good fortune and misfortune when the cat is gone also cats are meant to be mysterious so Toru’s life is mysterious after the cat is gone like the cat was balancing their lives The water can be a water God or spirit that have good or bad in it and we see this through what Mr. Honda says to Toru and what Malt Kano was looking for was good water. That can represent how people throughout the novel need good water in their life.
In chapter 12 and 13 the war that was active in China is very mentioned and with the Soviet Union and the Mongolian territory. My classmates discussed this topic and I was less confused about it.
The author’s role in addressing the topic of beliefs in the novel is very important because we see it in the characters and ideas of their traditions and cultures how cats are worshipped and how some people have those powers of ‘seeing’ in the future. The historical context in those two chapters suggests that Mr. Murakami uses this to express what happed to the two characters and the secrets and suspense that war sometimes has and what happened to both of them.
The questions that I still have in mind are, What was said in the document?
What is Malt Kano called in Japan for her ‘seeing’?
What does Haruki see the cat as?
Throughout the novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami i notice many different beliefs for the japanese within their cultures. Murakami brings in the different rituals the japanese encounter when following their beliefs. Throughout the interactive oral presentations they helped me understand the context in which involving the spiritual beliefs. An example of one of the spirituals beliefs is in page 117 when he says that he would prefer to slit his stomach open the old fashion way. This showed how Murakami connects the japanese spiritual beliefs to the real life situations in the japanese culture. In my opinion it was a good way to connect the book to real life situations due to Murakami giving us a better understanding of how people in different cultures go through. A very visual and great example of one of the spiritual beliefs is “seppuku” This is believed that the samurai will die with honor and great respect. During the process of seppuku you are not suppose to express your feelings through facial expression because you’re dying with honor. Also throughout the book we see hidden messages or hidden ideas connected to many things in the book such as creta, the cat, toru etc. which gives us a chance to think about the book more thoroughly and pay more attention to the context that is given to us. Thus making the book seem as if it is a detective novel which really intrigues me as a reader to the book. Murakami’s techniques on providing information of the japanese spiritual beliefs and different rituals within them is very helpful to people that don’t understand the culture such as myself. Murakami leaves us very confused due to the hidden messages within the context causing us to think and open our minds which will allow us to feel as if we were a detective.
Question: What was the reasoning of murakami writing this novel? Was it to help us understand the japanese culture?
I like the questions you asked because they were insightful but I would like to answer one of your question. The purpose of Creto Kano having sex was to relieve the pain she was in. Her being a prostitute wasn’t for money but to relieve herself from the physical pain. Overall good job!!
Before my oral presentation for historical context, I had no idea what historical context meant or how Murakami’s novel, “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle”, but now after reading Murakami’s novel and presenting the historical concept theme to the class, I now know what concepts of history relate to Murakami’s novel.
The main concept I saw in “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” was that Murakami tends to use the method of story-telling to relate to history and historical truths. Another concept that I learned was that Murakami included characters such as lieutenant Mamiya and Mr. Honda.
Murakami also tends to disregard us as readers of what type of historical methods he uses in his novel. Murakami included lieutenant Mamiya’s story for materialistic ideas. “They had everything ready for us there: four horses, two pack horses loaded with food, water, and weapons,”(pg.139).
Another example of historical context that Murakami included was Mr. Honda’s story on pages 51 and 52. Which made a historical reference to Namonhan and Manchukuo, which is now known as Manchuria.
Well, I hate reading, but I’m pretty sure that having all these pornographic scenes is NOT normal. All over I been noticing that he must enjoy adding allot of sex into his books, but hey, he probably like all that naked woman and sex scenes when he reads too. We can see a type of sex scene when he is having that mysterious phone call, the person on the other side of the line says a lot of weird/kinky stuff, and well he just goes along with it. I personally wouldn’t blame him because I mean if a girl is coming at me telling me she wants to do what she going to do to Toru I wouldn’t let that chance pass either. So Toru, you did well, I don’t blame you. Throughout the course of the days we were listening to the IA about The Wind-Up Bird I was able to see how not only Maurakami also adds a lot of traditional Japanese history in the novel. In the novel we are able to see how he is able to incorporate historical facts about Japan such as the war and the veterans. Another thing that i found interesting on the IA’s are the way he incorporates religion into this novel, a great example of that would be when he talks about Shintoism, a very common religion among the Japanese people.
I think a specific example where we see how much sex is in this book we can also see it when he talked about “the cat.” I personally believe that “the cat” is talking about the marriage and the love he feels how it occasionally leave or it can also mean the vagina, a common slang word would be a synonym to the word cat.
Murakami, are you a sexually active fella?
great statement, you brought up some really good points such as the idea of “The Cat” having more than one meaning.
I like how you speak whatever is on your mind about a topic. It can be a great tool to use. This novel does have many explicit scenes, but like Angie said Murakami doesn’t know what is going to happen next. Cool reflection though!
I enjoyed your reflective statement. 😛
In reply to your question at the beginning of the novel Toru was not sexually active.
Throughout the wind up bird we are introduced by Murakamis great writers choices by adding Japanese symbolism and getting us to feel what he wants us to feel. Making us readers have a more understanding of what exactly is happening throughout the wind up bird. “No the cat had not came back yet “(8). I believe that Murakami choice of writing not only makes us comprend the symbolism in the novel but also it changed with time. For example I believe the cat ties with the Japanese’s symbol behind the lucky cat. Which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner and him loosing it he isn’t lucky no more of it’s a downfall in his and kumikos marriage. Also cause the cat and great meaning to them and behind how they found it.
“I was in Hokkaido when kumiko had the abortion “(237). I believe that the story behind kumikos pregnant is a symbol of their marriage and how it’s in trouble. Because of the pain and empathy that cause toru to have behind it also the time he introduces the story to us after we have suspicious thought that kumiko could be having an affair on toru.kumiko and her absence throughout the novel could make us believe otherwise also we are introduced that toru had gone with the college girl he got pregnant before to get the abortion with and they had made the decision together. Murakami uses paring stories to get us readers to understand what’s happening and to explain how much the abortion hurt toru causing his pain to take over his body and empathy taking over causing him not to feel the burn cause of how much he had been hurt.
Is it possible that Kumiko could had, had an affair while being with Toru getting her pregnant making her want to make the decisions about the abortion on her own ?
I really like the way you are able to find quotes that fit into what you are trying to say
In the novel The Wind Up Bird by Haruki Murakami, I was able to understand how Murakami showed a lot of symbolism and ways of writing throughout the novel. For example by researching his biography I found out that the novels he writes tends to always have a cat involved in the stories. Mainly because he has a strange obsession with cats along with wells. He also uses a lot of sexual content in detail in order to bring in and catch the attention of readers, which answered my question I had before on why he put in so many visionary details on such sexual scenes. Also as I was reading the novel I noticed how Murakami at some parts of the novel took it very slow meaning it was boring the readers but once reached to the certain point he adds a certain scene which surprises or hits the reader all of a sudden. During a interview Murakami is asked why he does such things in his novel by going very slow to all of a sudden hitting the readers to something they never expect. His response was it makes the story even more interesting and fun. He knows some scenes will bore the readers but during a certain point of surprise he enjoys seeing the reaction of the readers. In the novel Murakami shows numbers of real life situations such as overcoming desires. For example when Toru had the wet dream with another woman. It symbolizes what he wants but is trying to fight the fact in order not to risk the marriage he has with Komiko. Even in real life we face desires that we know will lead to harsh consequences. So Murakami shows and tries to makes the readers understand the feeling of such emotion through the novel.for my question, has murakami ever face similar situations as he did in the novel?
I appreciate how you answered some of the questions many people may have had. It helped to clarify why some points in the novel were slower than others. It also clarified some things for me, such as what the symbols meant, and why he chose those specific objects because I, myself, was wondering why he those symbols. Thanks!
I appreciate all the commentary you have and the questions you have still unanswered because i have the same questions as well. Amazing reflective statement!
Thank you for helping me understand why the author Haruki Murakami writes most of the part of the novel very slowly and have scenes that brings the readers’ interest again. He repeatedly does this and I’m actually amazed by that because he has control of readers’ boredom and then bring back their interest.
In the oral presentations , I had a lot to think about ,especially with Chris and Ersa’s presentation. They told us theories that went beyond our imagination. The cat could possibly be a divine animal that serves great luck and hope to The Okada family. This idea also opened up a new theory of the cat , Noboru wataya. Their presentation also included the noble honorable death of how a samurai kills himself . The Japanese culture is very explicit and interesting of how their customs work.
Murakami has a inexplicable style that makes us question the characters or even has us reaching out far beyond the physical realm. I felt a strong connection when I viewed the novel through the psychological lens . I was able to understand a lot more of what our main protagonist , Toru Okada was feeling internally and especially in his mind .One thing Murakami delivered directly to us as readers was the craving desire Toru felt. There is a ” persona” and ”shadow” that is set in motion in various events in the novel. We see on page #(11) that the mysterious lady implies that the phone call would do him no harm out side his life,”Ten minutes won’t kill you.It won’t put a hole in your life”. In page#(189),we also see that Toru is in a sexual dream with Creta Kano and is wearing Kumiko’s dress,”you don’t have to think about a thing,Mr Okada,” said Creat Kano ”There is nothing to worry about.Everything is going to be fine.”. The persona we see in Toru is the husband portion who loves his wife and no one else and the other portion is the shadow where we see the sexual desires in Toru’s mind . Murakami seems to be implying that our physical emotions are much more stronger than what we hold internally. Although he loves Kumiko and has been married to her for six years, his love for Kumiko wasn’t strong enough to keep his “shadow” in check. I felt anxiety and pressure on my chest when I placed myself in Toru’s position. That phone call with the mysterious lady made it seemed like I was doing something dark and insidious.I sensed a bit of a candy analogy with Toru’s decisions ,”One candy is fine but a second one wouldn’t hurt”.Toru implemented that idea with his sexual desires but only that the candy was not candy but instead women .Murakami altered the the atmosphere at unexpected moments in the novel. In a way Murakami control’s our feelings and thoughts by making us feel what Toru is thinking about and what he feels internally. Is there a possible future event in the story where Toru will end up with another woman other than Kumiko?
Throughout the novel,The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, questions continue to stir about why Murakami made such decisions in his novel. Thanks to the presentations I was able to obtain a better understanding of his choices as a writer and background information.The presentation conducted by Chris and Ersa touched upon the idea of people committing suicide to keep their honor. I found that idea interesting that people valued their honor over their own lives. They also touched upon some of the traditions of the samurais and their values. In my point of view, their topic was extremely interesting and in their point of view that what Toru is doing against the code of honor and therefore must repay for them.
In a presentation by Priyana and Sandra they allowed to go into Murakami’s way of thinking, his style and his past. It was interesting and extremely helpful in understanding Murakami as a writer. I also found it helpful because they were able to answer my question of why does Murakami include such vivid scenes? Their answer was actually quite understandable. They stated that he does it as a attention grabber for readers. That made sense since there are indeed some dull moments in the novel. These scenes has the reader engaged, they feel uncomfortable but yet they are engaged. They also emphasized how Murakami’s style is more western and is therefore looked at with great shame by some in Japan. The reason for his western style is due to all his influences. They’re all western authors. Their presentation helped me better understand why parts of the novel are needed and on how Murakami writes and thiThere are a majority of techniques that Murakami uses and the way he uses it makes the story extremely impacting. These research presentations gave us a greater idea of why Murakami made the choices he did. These presentations allowed to have a peak of Murakami’s mind and the way it works.
Thanks to these presentations, I was better able to connect with the novel and understand it. It opened up new doors of interpretations for me to explore. It opened it from a religious perspective, to a physiologic and much more. With this information the novel is that much more enticing. How does Murakami tie religion into his novel?
As one reads the novel, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, they would most likely believe it is a series of books or storis combined to be about birds. What the readers don’t expect is it to be a story full of many graphic scenes such as, sexual fantasies, thay actually holds many significant symbols,for example, the cat, and well, in both the protagonist’s, and Murakami, the author, Murakami, himself.
The main protagonist, Toru, is on a quest to find his missing cat, but doesn’t realize he is on the quest to find who he truly is, we know he has no clue what he wants to do, as he states that he no longer believes he wants to work in the law field. Through his journey to find his cat, he meets different women, or ladies, that has different attributes that seems to rekindle a various kinds of fire, that reminded him of several flashbacks of what he was like when he was not married to Kumiko, or question how things came to be. The interactive oral presentations, help me to realize that Noboru Wataya, his cat, could be more than a simple image of a cat. It helped me realized, with the understanding of what a shinto is, that this cat could be a god, since in Japanese, a god could also be an animal, enabling us to see further in depth as to why, the married couple is so frantic and seem to worship the cat, to an unlimited extent. As the cat disappears, so does Toru’s “normal life”, without the car, and Kumiko coming home late or not at all, he seems to understand the feeling of what it is like to be empty, finally coming into realization, that he finally has time to think for himself.
Though this may be true, someone or something, must have realized that Toru, who seems to have am attractive feature, not on his face but for who he is, saw this, and realized it has to be stopped. It is believed that this person may actually be Kumiko, as she is the closest to him, and the most suspicious, for example, if her schedule was so busy, how does she find that time to call him, but suddenly hang up, and get a gift from someone else, knowing that Toru and Kumiko herself, are unable to afford it.
The novel opens up many questions thay have yet to be answered throughout reading the text. Murakami seems to use a style or technique to hide what he is truly trying to say, even though us, the readers, are trying to pry out and make sense of everything. As to why there are many sexual scenes, as to why this is happening specifically to Toru, but not Kumiko as well, as it usually revolves around the married couple, but as the story slips away from the two, it reveals strange ideas, about Toru and other women, which is why it goes back to Toru and Kumiko, then back to a new random scene, to confuse us, like a filler episode on a television show.
I really appreciate your idea of how in Toru Okada’s search for the cat he is actually searching for his purpose in his life. It also makes me think about how as the cat disappeared, his life slowly disappeared along with it and how the closer he comes to finding the cat the more we realize that his true purpose is beginning to unravel. Thx!
Hey Sandra i really enjoyed reading your interpretation it helped me realized that what you were saying may be true. i like how you connected Toru’s life with the cat. awesome work!
Wow! Your idea written in your reflection are really agreeable. For example, I thought of the book that has to do with something about birds but like you said it have many graphic scenes that we as readers did not expect. And of course, the graphic scenes were a bit disturbing in the novel.
After participating in the “Interactive Oral Presentation” on the novel “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami, I now have a better understanding on several concepts used throughout the story. One concept that caught my attention during the presentation and as I read the novel was the Japanese spiritual belief Seppuku(aka harakiri).
Seppuku, which is a form of ritual suicide that was practiced by the samurai and daimyo of japan, was first introduced to us in the novel during a conversation between the character Toru Okada and his uncle. When Toru’s uncle was talking to him about a vacant house in the neighborhood, he mentioned that an “army guy” that use to live in the house had committed war crimes and was determined not to be put on trial. Unfortunately, when he encountered a lost GI, who he thought was coming to get him, he decided to kill himself. ”So one day when he saw a GI stop his jeep in front of his house, he blew his brains out on the spot. He would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old fashioned samurai way, but there was no time for that.(117)” The man was serious when he said he was not going to be put on trial so when he thought they were going to take him away, he took his own life. At first when I read the story I was ignorant to the reason why the man wanted to commit suicide by cutting his stomach open and I was a little confused, but thanks to the presentation I am now aware that Seppuku was a popular spiritual belief and tradition in Japanese culture. If I had not seen the presentation I would be oblivious of the fact that to the Japanese this was common and I wouldn’t have been able to understand why the ritual of Seppuku is important. How does Murakami represent the idea of “honor” in his characters?
wow great reflection abby! I had the same confusion as you on the spiritual belief’s and great quotes by the way 🙂
great interpretation bro, i like the quotes you use in your response
I appreciate the quotes took from the novel and the description of what Seppuku is, a traditional form of suicide that was popular in Japan. I was confused as well as to why would someone want to kill themselves, but to now know it was in the idea of being honored, I understand a little more. Great reflection, keep up the good work!
Through the eyes of my classmates I learned a lot of new things that I wasn’t able to see from my point of view. I learned the deeper meaning behind every psylogical, spiritual, and historical context mentioned in the novel “The things they carried,” by Haruki Murakami. My classmates showed me a new perspective on the novel for example how the cat could stand for being a good luck charm and when the cat goes missing their marriage dissolves into nothing or how during the old times warriors used to kill themselves by gutting themselves and many more.
Murakami takes us on a beautiful journey with his confusing yet intriguing writing. I see Murakami constantly use the psylogical critical lens in his writing. He blurs the lines between reality and fiction. An excellent example from the text is where Murakami writes, “I came. I opened my eyes.”(103) Prior to this sentence Murakami writes about a wet dream he has, which includes Creta Kano, and during the period he is telling us about the dream it seems so real and genuine but, he then tells us later on that it was all a dream. Murakami makes your mind believe one thing but in reality you can never truly tell if what he’s telling us, the readers, is the truth or a fragment of Toru’s imagination.
The author leaves many questions left unanswered about the novel. As I get deeper into the novel I realize that Murakami does this on purpose to keep the readers guessing and intrigued by the novel. I don’t understand what does the bird symbolize? What about water? Why is it constantly being used in the text? Why is Kumiko and Toru’s relationship so boring? Why do they act like acquaintances? What’s wrong with Noboru Wataya? Why is he so rude and distant? Is there some incest going on in the story? I have these questions and many more which are leaving me puzzled yet on the edge waiting to see what happens and if my questions are answered the way I want them to be.
Wow, you’re one curious person! I strongly agree with you the fact ‘that Murakami does this on purpose to keep the readers guessing and intrigued by the novel’. I have notice this idea as i read along as well. These symbols are brought up so much that it doesn’t loose it’s significance.
The bird symbolizes the coming of a new good or a bad event. Whenever he saw the wind up bird he met a new women in his life first the women on the phone then May Kashahara then Malta Kano and at last Creta Kano. But after all relations (asexual relations) with all these women the bird never went away till his wife Kumiko left him. I thunk the bird was a sign of kumiko’s break up with Toru through other women.
Water is a psychological idea of Tour’s life. Before marriage he was conscious then he got marriage and welcomed water in wet night with his wife then slowly his conscious begin to turn into subconscious when he started getting calls. Remember Mr.Hinda and Malta warned him about water it’s because when he went into the dried up well in vacant house he found himself completely lost and he tried for 2 days to think but he couldn’t means when water went away from his life his subconscious transformed into unconcious.
Your all questions are interesting and I have answers too but not having much time I can’t give you answers
Hope you got some answers.
AMAZING!!! Love your example of the cat…and your idea of him writing his novel in the Psychological lens
Wow, your questions though. Additionally, I agree and like your interpretation because i, myself believe he writes they way he does in order for us to stay intrigued!
Wardah,
Just a minor point of distinction: Murakami “blurs the lines between reality and fiction,” which then lends itself to our application of a “psychological lens” reading and interpretation.
Coey
I really liked how you discussed the fine-line between fiction and reality because it is seen widely through the book. It is a topic that I have a hard time distinguishing which is which. Great Reflection!
Through, the interactive oral presentations I have acquired a deeper understanding of the novel, “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami. What I learned was that Murakami has an obsession with the thematic objects in the novel such as; the well, the cat, water, etc. I believe that these themes/symbols are added to his stories so that we readers can up with our own interpretation of them while he figures out why they are important to him. For example the motif of water and the cat, to me the water doesn’t stand for just one thing, the cat included. As brought up in one of the presentations the water is a symbol of Toro leaving and entering his conscious and subconscious, but also the flow of thought, not just of the characters but Murakami himself. Like when Toro goes to the well to be alone and to think about reality and he starts to lose himself in the darkness, “like sand gradually being washed away by flowing water” (231). Murakami is comparing Toro thoughts of physically disappearing to sand being washed up by water so we can picture Toro down at the bottom of that well slowly wasting away. But it can also symbolize Toro’s thoughts are taking over him and clouding his grip on himself and reality. Then, in one of Toro’s many wet dreams, when Creta Kano is about to preform sexual acts upon him, he stops her, “Stop it, Noboru Wataya will be here any minute. I don’t want to see him her.” (103). Here Murakami is implying that the cat is a symbol of Toro’s and Kumiko’s love. And since the cat is lost their love for one another is gone. Or that Toro doesn’t want to see Kumiko’s brother. This concludes my reflection.
I like the idea where you stated that the well can symbolize “Toro’s thoughts are taking over him and clouding his grip on himself and reality” it actually seems accurate of why he would go into the well in the first place and the result of it, similar to a transformation. Awesome!
I found this reflection to have a unique and creative interpretation. your opinion is interesting in the way that you see how the author is trying to solve his problems the reader is able to do so also along side him. it would be a disappointment if at the end of the novels Murakami wasn’t able to answer for himself why he’s so obsessed with cats, water and the well and so we were never able to answer for our newly created obsession with these symbols.
In the wind up bird chronicle, i didn’t understand much of the Japanese culture and how Murakami blends the Japanese culture together to form storytelling in his novel. Because of Ersa and Chris’ ideas of the Japanese culture I know understand how Murakami shapes and writes his stories. I learned that Ersa talked about Seppuku was an honorable suicide so those Japanese samurais would die in honor. This happens to the Colonel officer, who was tried on trial alongside with other officers, who shot himself in his own home right before a lost G.I parked in front of his house. The Colonel officer was a man in the war who killed five hundreds people and enslaved people who were held in captivity. “He would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old fashioned samurai way but there was no time for that, so his wife killed herself also to accompany her husband in death”, (117). Murakami uses Malta Kano as a way to tell different perspective in the Japanese culture. For Malta’s name was based on an island that had spiritual water. “Malta is not my real name… Malta is a professional name I took from the island Malta”,(39). This leads to how Murakami writings in this novel. According to Murakami’s choice of writer, he focuses on the detail of his writing. Which makes me think “What does the mysterious blank faced man symbol”?
Hey Austin,
In regards to you question, I believe that the faceless man symbolizes himself. If you take a look back way in the book when the faceless man first took place in the book, he was the one that guided Toru to a dark room where eventually has a sexual moment with Malta. Through that case, I think that the faceless man represents the idea of Toru’s shadow leading himself into that room foreshadowing that sexual idea.
Toru’s doppelganger because he always appears when Toru is having a moment or dream about another woman other than kumiko.
Due to the amazing interactive oral presentations it made me get a way better understanding of the novel. At first i thought the novel was weird but after the biological oral presentation and learning more about the author himself it made me want to continue reading this great novel. The interactive oral presentations helped me understand the context in the novel much better. I really did not know anything about Japanese spiritual beliefs and the psychological oral presentation taught me so much
The biological oral presentation was mine. I had a great time learning more about Murakami on one of his interviews he says “ when i start to write a story , i don’t know the conclusion at all i don’t know what is going to happen next “ This explains a lot of Murakami’s writing you don’t know what is next like in a criminal minds show there is a lot of mystery involved in this novel for example “ when i woke up , i was alone. The girl had disappeared from the deck chair” (21), This shows how Murakami makes us think like where have the girl gone? Why did she leave toru without saying goodbye? Will she come back into toru’s life?This goes back to what Murakami said in his interview when he says “i don’t know what’s going to happen next “.
Another great understanding of the context from the biological oral presentation is from the interview were Murakami said “the good thing about writing books is you can dream while you are awake “ How much more sense can this make? His novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle all seems like a big dream.
The psychological oral presentation made me understand words in the novel like seppuku , for example “he would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old-fashion samurai way” (117). When i first read the sentence in the novel i couldn’t understand what they meant and after the psychological presentation i had a much better understanding.
Hey Angie,
I liked your use of rhetorical questions, they made me reflect on my interpretations of May and what she symbolizes. Thank you. Great reflection.
Awesome reflection girl! Yes, Murakami is extremely unpredictable but this is what makes his stories so interesting. Love it !!
Throughout the novel Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, we as the reader further develop our understanding of the historical, philosophical, biographical, and psychological contexts of the literary work. And through the Interactive Oral Research Presentations I was able to more specifically focus on the historical context of Murakami’s work.
As an Interactive Oral Research presenter I was given the opportunity to further my understanding of the historical context that Murakami institutes into his work. I closely studied the terms Shinto, Kotodama, and Seppuku. Shinto is the faith that believes mainly in ancestral, natural, and sacred powers. This religion doesn’t have any one type of deity. Rather, the gods of this religion can take the form of ideas, concepts, or objects in which the individual can worship. These gods are called Kami. And in Murakami’s novel, traces of this Japanese religion are present in the way the characters feel it important to find the cat. Possibly because the cat is a form of a Kami. Also the way Toru Okada uses dreams to escape from his problems in reality to a world where he can receive the carnal things he cannot receive in reality. Which can also be a form of a Kami.
Kotodama is the belief that all language has a spirit. The word kotodama translates to ‘koto’ meaning language and ‘dama’ meaning spirit. And this idea includes identity as a language, also having a spirit. Each word or identity can have a negative spirit or a positive spirit depending on whether the word or identity is positive or negative. This belief is present in the way some of the characters we have studied this far into the novel have changed their names in order to create a new identity for themselves. For example, Malta and obsession of water brought her to the changing of her name to Malta, thus changing her identity in its entirety. She wants her identity to have the connotation or spirit of clean, pure, even magical water. As well as Creta Kano, and how her name originates from the name of the island Crete in Greece. And this connotes or has the spirit of the Greek warriors and all the pain they were able to endure. Kotodama was a widely spread belief in Japans early years. And is still present in the Japanese lifestyle today.
I really liked how you added your understanding and research into your reflection to give us a more wider interpretation, that you may have forgotten to add in your presentation, hearing it is good, but then reading about it afterwards can help better connect ideas, thx!
Good job Chris I’m impressed on how well you did your research on the historical context. i feel as though i have gained more knowledge through your explanation. Thanks
Reflective Writing: Word Count: 318
Murakami’s style of writing is very unique in my opinion, he has this sort of magical power that sucks in the audience into reading the novel. From the recent Interactive Oral Presentations by my wonderful peers, I now have a better background information of the book in addition to Murakami himself. With the mention of Seppuku in Ersa’s and Chris’ presentation, the suicidal scene of the Colonel officer broadens my understanding. Seppuku is a ‘stomach or abdomen-cutting’ Japanese ritual. In addition, I was opened to new vocabulary in their presentations, the term Kotodama and Shinto sparked my interest therefore I am very appreciative. The very graphic images my peer, Guadalupe presented was very attentive to me, not only that but with the help of the image, I was able to visualize the scenes presented in page one-hundred and seventeen. Aside from this suicidal scene, Priyanna and Sandra gave a very precise presentation of Murakami’s style of writing, the mentioning of this book being written in many languages amazes me because you get a different perspective each time and you can kind of tell when Sandra and Priyanna mentioned this book being criticized in it’s mother and, his style of writing out stands me especially with the influence of jazz music. Lastly, I would like to talk about Faizon’s group who did an amazing job in performing the presentation. Not only had I felt like it was an IOP, but it was an actual IOP given that they added a mind blowing conclusion. This mind blowing conclusion deepened my knowledge about this cat, Noburu Wataya. I had never been a fan of psychological critical reading lens, but the cat representing the conscious mind had me thinking if the cat is actually a cat or just an abstract idea. I am very well-informed thanks to my wonderful peers!
I appreciate that you brought in all that you learned from the presentations and added a bit of commentary, really shows you were listening intentively to the presentations and you got learned a lot out of them. Amazing reflection!
I agree with the idea that my peers opened my eyes and gave me a new perspective on the book. I like how you included what every presentation taught you and also I learned about the officers cutting their stomach recently too and I was very disturbed but intrigued at the same time. Overall good job!!
After experiencing the Interactive Oral Presentations I have come to better understand the idea of how the psychological critical lens is applied to the book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. What caught my attention were the new ideas that came up with the meaning of water which we know is a motif in this novel. My mind was open to the idea of women being associated or connected to the presence or absence of water. It was said that it seemed to be that when water or the flow of water was present there was also a woman present in Toru’s life. I took this idea in and thought of it as life being present when water is present.
Water means there can be life and an example of this would be the time in which Toru spend many hours in the dried up well behind the abandoned house. Everything in this house says “death”. The house is abandoned, the yard in growing to its liking, and there is no longer any water flowing through the house. It’s dead to say which is also why I believe Toru thought it was the best place to take some time and think about his life after all the change that his life has went through in a short time period. Toru has lost Kumiko which means that instead of there being the flow of water because there is a woman in his life there is nothing but dryness. Perhaps Toru was looking for answers to why Kumiko left or he was looking for her herself. While in this darkness Toru tells us the way in which he and Kumiko met reminding us again about his losing her. He describes the darkness, which I believe is connected to the dryness of the well in the way that they both lead to nothing, as “In it you could see something. And at the same time, you could see nothing at all,” (222).
Murakami doesn’t specify what he means by “something” but in this case I would argue that perhaps he’s hinting that it’s a person that is the “something”. Murakami uses this style of writing to influence the reader’s thinking and to engage them more. This way he leaves the idea of the meaning of water open to interpretation of the reader. The statements above are only my thinking and I would actually like to know what purpose or goal Murakami had in adding these motifs to the novel and what effects he thought it would have on his readers. Also the idea of women is another topic I’d like to get more information about. Why is it that women have such a drastic effect on Toru himself and his life? Do they symbolize something special to Murakami? The answers to these questions would probably be very interesting and enlightening. This concludes my reflection.
Your last question really got me thinking.
I appreciated how you connected the idea of women and the flow/absence of water. Your example made perfect sense as to why he was in the dry well continuously after Kumiko left him. Your last question really got me thinking as to why the women in the novel had such an impact on their “environment”. Great reflection and connection!
With the Interactive Oral Presentations on the book “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami, the groups helped me understood the historical context of the war and the author himself better. For example, in Murakami’s book the music that was mention a lot or throughout the book was Jazz, such as Andy Williams (80) music was playing when Toru went to the Cleaners where Kumiko forgot his polka-dot tie for 2 years. Thanks to Sandra and stating that he once own a Jazz Club in his lifetime. This led me to listening to the some of the songs that were mention. I believe Murakami used the pretext of the old times, especially in the western style, was to create or give us understanding of how it was actually during that time and just to see how he viewed it from his perspective. For the historical context, I heard of Japan invading China and the puppet state Manchuria but I never knew the great details of it. Thanks to Guadalupe and her groups great description of the geography and what was going on at the time. Japan massacre China made me connect ideas automatically to the time of the Nazi Germany and one of our previous work “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. It helped create a better image of what Lieutenant Mamiya saw as a solider and connect how each Japanese solider must of felt during that war. For example, when Yamamato was skinned alive Lt. Mamiya tried to close his eyes but “one of the soliders would hit me [Lt. Mamiya] with his rifle butt” (159). Lt. Mamiya didn’t want to watch yet he was forced to, similarly to the Japanese soldiers. They were force to obey, honoring their code and protecting their country. Murakami’s still left me questioning about such ideas as “Why involve cats (knowing he already loves them) in a book called ‘The Wind-up Bird’? Those two ideas contradict each other.” , “Does Noboru Wataya represent as a something big? Like a clue to some sort bringing all the mystery together?” , and “Is the prostitute , woman on the telephone possibly (even though I can’t believe it) Kumiko? Like another personality?”
Great question you have there Mai, i would like to try and answer it in my opinion. I think that it is possible that the “Prostitute” woman on the phone can be Kumiko because maybe she is trying to test Toru or do something to figure out certain things.
Very descriptive interpretation Mai. i like how you connected it to the book The Things They Carried and how it helped you picture it better. Also you have some very interesting questions to think about. Overall great job!
Before the interactive oral presentations I didn’t have any knowledge on the Japanese spiritual beliefs, the terms kotodama and Shinto, Japanese mysticism, or the beliefs about suicide in the Japanese culture. The presentation Chris and Ersa presented on this topic gave me a brief and good understanding that I now comprehend.
In the novel, “The Wind up Bird Chronicle”, there are several examples that show this concept about Japanese spiritual beliefs, specifically the beliefs involving suicide. For example in chapter 10, “…he blew his brains out on the spot. He would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old-fashioned samurai way…” (117). This quote from the novel describes the gruesome suicide that an ex officer in the war committed after finding out that he was going to be put on trial for being involved with the executions of five hundred prisoners of war (POWs) and for “forcing tens of thousands of farmers to work until they dropped dead” (117). This man didn’t want to be seen as a joke so he voluntary took his own life. Not how he would have wanted to die because for the Japanese taking your own life shows courage and restores your family’s honor. The ones who practiced these rituals called seppuku were originally done by the samurais. This concept of Japanese spiritual beliefs is shown in The Wind up Bird Chronicle through a story that is told in the book of a man taking his own life and committing suicide.
Murakami shows the concept of spiritual beliefs throughout the entire novel for example the cat, Noboru Wataya. The cat in the Japanese culture signifies luck. If this story was told by a different author with a different cultural background the cat wouldn’t have the same significance and wouldn’t play a big role in the novel. He wouldn’t make us ponder “What does the cat mean?” a question we ask each other every time the cat pops up in the novel.
The novel is an entire mystery to me at this point and the ideas that come with it but I still don’t understand, “What does the water signify/mean?” “Why does he have to be aware of it?”
Those are some good questions, Guadalupe. Although I may or may not be able to answer it correctly, I think that the water signifies his life. You know how rivers only flow downstream, and can never flow back upstream? Well I think that’s similar to his life because if he’s not careful, whatever action he takes, he won’t be able to undo it.
I agree with you, their presentation was very informative! As for your question, I think for Toru, water has the ability to make him feel some sort of way, like it kind of strengthens him and gives him confidence or what not. The motif water seems like it never disappears therefore it must have a very great impact of Toru. You might want to consider the significance role water plays for Malta Kano as well !
Haruki Murakami’s astonishing novel The Wind -Up Bird Chronicle is written in a difficult structure and technique addressing different topics that leaves the reader in a confusion before going to next chapter. Japanese spiritual beliefs, particularly Japanese mysticism was one of the concepts discussed in the interactive oral presentation, which helped me have a better understanding of the topic and relate it to Murakami’s work.
Japanese mysticism; the connection of man to God or internal union with God was mentioned in the book several times, and Mr. Honda “ A practitioner of spirit possession.”(48) is an old man who presents the Japanese spiritual beliefs throughout the novel. Mr. Honda has some spiritual powers due to the fact that Kumiko’s parents choose him to find a match for their daughter’s wedding and he choose Mr. Okada “ They could only invite terrible consequences by opposing the match”. (49) there is no doubt that no one knows what will happen in the future, but Kumiko’s parents believed in Honda’s spiritual powers about predicting the future and accepted the wedding.
Murakami’s role of writing made the character even more interesting because he introduced him at the beginning of the novel with a little information and left the reader with a lot of questions about the Japanese spiritual beliefs and Honda himself and his powers. Furthermore Honda found internal union with God in the last days of his life “ I’m going to die very soon. I am not the least bit afraid of dying . This is the span of life that has been allotted to me by the will of heavens.”(132) he seems very sure about his death while writing this letter; and this could be a prove of his spiritual powers, because Lieutenant Mamiya later on the novel found out that he wrote the letter one day before he died.
There are a few questions I would ask Haruki Murakami:
Are these spiritual beliefs part of Buddhism or Shintoism?
Is there a character in his real life that inspired him to write about Honda?
I like how you connected Mr. Honda’s actions with spiritual powers and I also agree that the author wrote very few details about Mr. Honda in the beginning so we can stay hooked to the novel to unravel his mysterious behavior. Also, I like your questions and how you went deep into the novel. Good job!!
Beheshta,
I appreciate how you center your reflective statement on your understanding of Mr. Honda and mysticism. What do you think about the Toru at the bottom of the well, searching and contemplating? Does this imagery remind you of Japanese mysticism?
Mr. Coey
yes, because when he is on the bottom of well he is still hopefull for life and that’s because of his beliefs on Mr. Honda’s spritual powers.
With the amazing Interactive Oral Presentations my classmates did on “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami; I got a better understanding on the novel which I wouldn’t have gotten reading it alone. These presentations really helped me understand the psychological effect that almost every character in the novel went through.
An idea that I was introduced to in the presentations, repression has to do with behavior being determined by our unconscious thoughts, wishes, memories and more that are “sometimes” hidden from the conscious awareness. After reading through half the novel I came to the realization that every characters behavior has a unique touch that signifies the past they endured. For example Kumiko had a bad relationship with Noboru Wataya because she saw him “performing” bad acts with her dead sister’s clothes; Lieutenant Mamiya practically lost everything after going to war his lover remarried, parents and sister died. Malta Kano had to stay quiet about her supernatural powers she possessed that led her to wonder about the world; while her sister Creta Kano lived through 20 years of dreadful pain. Looking through some of these characters past we can see how their behavior really represents repression. Kumiko even having no strong relations with Noboru Wataya allows him to take her divorce to Toru; Lieutenant Mamiya even after having lost everything still finds reason to carry out the wills of Mr.Honda. Malta Kano finds it difficult to be open about her words of advice and what she knows because she wasn’t allowed to at a young age; Creta Kano who suffered with all this pain somehow finds salvation through prostitution which surprisingly I believe is the opposite of harmony. This idea of repression is brought up over and over again by Murakami in this novel.
The main character Mr.Okada I believe is built on the idea of repression. “It’s an endless cycle.” (202), Okada lives through this idea of repression losing his cat, wife and stumbling upon woman that are not discreet on the role that they play on his life, only is it than that Okada understands himself that neither is he discreet in in his own life’s decision; its than that he realizes “Sometimes” you have to come out of the bubble that keeps you locked in, even if it means expressing your inner thoughts to people who you have no interest in when he confronts Noboru Wataya on Kumiko who left with no trace.
Hmmmmm, interesting. The repression idea is an newly brought up idea and in addition, the examples you gave are extremely informative as long with the quote about the ‘endless cycle’. The idea of repression really ties in the the novel, awesome!
Great ideas of how the characters each have a problem that can represent them as a character in it’s entirety.
P.S Happy Birthday!!!
Amazing! I love your insight on the novel and your thinking process. I agree when you write that Creta Kano finding salvation in prostitution is very weird because giving your body away to a random person is not freeing its oppressing your mind in return. Either way great interpretation!
I really love the way you explained your topic. It made me start thinking more about the psychological processes used in the making of the characters, especially the one about repression and the fact that it can apply to every singe character! Great reflection!
Mr.Honda warned Toru to be careful about water so as Malta Kano. Mr.Honda’s fellow came to tell his story to Toru so as Malta Kano’s professional fellow Creta Kano told her story to Toru. Lieutenant Mamiya got struck in the bottom of the well with intense pain so as Toru got struck in the bottom of the well with intense pain in his body and hunger strokes. Mongolian soldiers left Mamiya to die in well so as May Kashahara left Toru to die in well. Mr.Honda came to help Mamiya so as Creta Kano came to help Toru. Mamiya’s lover remarried so as Toru’s wife told him about her affair through letter.
What does well symbolize?
Is it any kind of medium that change person’s life because when Toru came out of well he found everything unfamiliar?
After coming out of well Mamiya started a new life and lived long to tell his story to Toru. Is is gonna be the same thing that Toru will start a new life and live long to tell his story to someone else in next generations?
The Interactive Oral Presentations on “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami were very helpful because it helped me understand some concepts that I never knew or understood about. It helps the readers and the presenters themselves to have a more and better understanding of the novel and the connections to it. The presenters that talked about Murakami’s background information helped me understand about him more and why the novel is the way it is. The presenters included that Murakami was in a interview and they asked him why he was so descriptive of his graphic and Rated scenes, and he has no specific special reason to why he did that, he did it just because, probably just to entertain the audience, nothing special. That makes me think of real situations of how sometimes we do things without having a important reasonable explanation of why we do certain thing, and it makes me feel more accepted in a way. Something that I also found very interesting was when the presenters included about the Japanese culture and spiritual beliefs and referred to the text on “He would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old-fashioned samurai way, but there was no time for that. His wife hanged herself in the kitchen to ‘accompany’ her husband in death” (117). This scene is very interesting because the presenters on this topic was very specific about how Japanese cultures are doing this and this is something that I have never knew until it was mentioned in the oral presentations. Overall, the Interactive Oral presentations were really helpful and interesting because it helps us more around the novel instead of just talking about what the book is about but what surrounds it. Some questions I do have though, leaning towards the author, is why he added such graphic scenes? Doesn’t he consider that there are some audiences that would be into this novel but would be terrified by the scenes that were included? And also what were the special techniques in his writing? Besides that he was pretty descriptive in what he wanted the audience to see and imagine.
Hey Ka,
In regards to you questions, I believe this was the purpose of him to plant these vivid images inside our minds. Through the descriptive words, we are able to possibly live that same moment just as Toru is in those sexual scenes. Also, if you notice while reading this book, things start to get dry and boring. I bet that through the use of vivid sexual scenes, the author intentions to wake up the reader from those dry moments and excite them.
I like how you state the information that the presenter gave out in their Interactive Oral . From Sandra’s interactive Oral , i heard that he like to be descriptive in his novel so the book will be more interesting. This might be a reason why he added the graphic scenes but I may be wrong .
From what I read about Murakami, he himself was afraid of writing those scenes, he stated “The violence and sex abuse are a of stimulation for the story. I don’t like to write them but I have to for the story’s sake.” (Murakami’s Interview with The Guardian)
Throughout the novel, “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Murakami, uses different methods for the reader to understand the contexts of the book in different ways such as, the Japanese spiritual beliefs and the historical context. Due to the interactive oral presentations, it helped me understand the context in the novel much better and even some context that I didn’t once understand or know any meaning behind it.
For an example, I didn’t know the novel actually involved some Japanese spiritual beliefs that occur in real life. I thought Murakami, the author just said random things at first until of course our presenters of this topic brought up the fact that he involves some real life beliefs. In the novel it says “He would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old-fashion samurai way,” (117). At first when I read this part, I didn’t seem to understand what the author was referring to, until our presenters explained and showed us that in Japan, there’s many beliefs, and in this case this was called the “seppuku”. Seppuku is a believed to immediately release the samurai’s spirit to the afterlife. After our presenters filled us in on this topic I felt like my mind opened up more and was able to connect to certain context in the novel more. It also made me realized what the author, Murakami is capable of, and the hidden context in his writing is really interesting.
Murakami uses Japanese spiritual beliefs to make the readers constantly wonder what the context in his writing mean and how it relates to one thing or another, because this whole entire novel is like a investigation to us readers always leaving us clues that leads us to nothing in the end. It may be so frustrating that our questions may not be answer but I think it’s just Murakami’s choice of writing that is interesting and the way he writes that has hidden meanings to it and how he describes such scenes in a very visual way.
Question: What made Murakami include Japanese spiritual beliefs in this novel, like has he ever encountered anything like seppuku in his lifetime?
Due to Angie’s oral presentation on Murakami’s personal life and my own researches I can tell that he hasn’t encountered anything like Seppuku in his lifetime.
Yeah but maybe a friend of his in his life perhaps?
I liked the way you explained how at first you didn’t even realize that Japanese Spiritual Beliefs were being used through out the book and how you had an open mind about it.
Through out the interactive oral presentation , I have learned more about the author and the story , ” The Wind Up Bird Chronicle ” , itself . The story have been much more understandable throughout both presenters and audience thoughts on the book . As a summary of the presentation , I’ve learned about the author , Haruki Murakami , technique and style of writing . The purpose of the description he gave in his novel is for no reason but his opinion and liking of being descriptive , due to Sandra’s and her partner interactive oral . The book have been very disturbing yet interesting by Murakami describing of the character ,Toru Okada , wet dreams . His technique of writing is far different from Japanese . He write his book in English because of the revealing of his sex images in his novel , which Japanese Mangas and traditional doesn’t include that much of details . The book contains different imagery in each chapter . But the ” faceless man ” , in chapter 9 , had caught my attention and gain my interest . In my opinion , this faceless man represent as Toru’s shadow leading him to the life a man should be put as . As Kumiko is out working everyday , it shows to me that she ,Toru Okada’s wife, represent as the husband in their marriage relationship . Suppose the wife should be home cook and clean , but she is out like a man working for their relationship and leaving Okada home. Toru seems to be represent as a house wife but is put as the husband . “This Way Mr. Okada ,… He guided me with rapid steps trough the crowd and out into a corridor.” (102 ) .This quote reveal the faceless man leading his way to the path of happiness and comfort , not in misery . As his wife , Kumiko , is not spending time with him , it seem to be that Toru is losing interest of their relationship . Not only that , their sex life only occurs once a while . However , Toru is still standing as the husband of their relationship but having wet dreams with a sixteen year old girl . Because of being well descriptive of Toru’s wet dreams , Murakami wrote his book in English or otherwise his book will be contain as “Hentai” , Japanese genre of manga that contains sexual plot , if it was wrote in Japanese language .
I like how you talked about the Author’s choices and technique of writing and how you felt about it.
Through the interactive oral presentations, I have gained a better knowledge of Marukami’s novel The Wind Up Bird. An idea from the presentation that has helped me gain a better knowledge was the idea of water. At first, while I was reading this novel, I have no clue on how the idea of “flow of water” has to do with the missing of the cat. Through the presentations and the reading of the novel, I believe that I have had a better connection of this idea of water. First of all, I believe that the flow of water has a connection with the spiritual world to the Japanese culture. This is shown through the storytelling of Creta’s sister Malta. Creta explains how her sister had left the family and travel around the world to search for the “perfect water”. Creta talks about how when her sister, Malta came to Hawaii found the perfect water for her “powers”. “The water there had a great influence on her spiritual powers”(89). Malta has a power that could predict what is going to happen later in the future and it always happen. It is almost like a fortuneteller.
I believe that Marukami used this in the novel because this is probably one of the major beliefs in the Japanese culture. In the novel, Malta even states that she believes that water has a connection to human existence (88). Through the idea of flow of water, I believe that Marukami wants the reader to see how water has a connection with the spiritual world. We don’t know exactly how it does but if the water flows around the ocean it would probably spiritually flow outside this earth and go into another existence world. Questions that are now then raised in my mind would be, how does water flow to the spiritual world to find the missing cat?
(Sorry for the late post, I had technical issues with my computer today for some reason when accessing the web page.)
Don,
Thank you for your ideas. In addition to Hawaii’s water, I believe Malta found the source of a “mystical” water in “Malta” (40). I have also come to understand that “water” as in “stream-of-consciousness” is a metaphor for the fluid, creative process of writing. I believe that Murakami’s references to water are complicated: sometimes in reference to Japanese Buddhist or Shintoist philosophy, at other times a reference to the writer’s “flow” of ideas. What do you think?
Coey
I like your ideas on water, it gave me a better understanding
Very good interpretation of water. your thoughts and ideas helped me get a better understanding of water. Good Job!
The recently finished Interactive Oral Presentations were eye-opening and informative, because of that several of the ideas mentioned were made easier to understand. I now understand the concept researched by Chris and Ersa on Japanese culture and how it relates to Murakami’s writing. I learned that Kotodama is religion of language and that Shinto is a religion that believes in a god named Kami. What caught my interest was when Ersa began to explain Seppuku, the act of honorable suicide, usually acted upon by warriors or emperors. Within their wonderful presentation, one of many examples that came to mind and was mentioned is the suicide of the Colonel officer. He was an army superelite who killed five hundred people and forced slave labor on some tens of thousand of farmers. He was dispatched home when he realized that all his generals and field officers were being tried as war criminals and he definitely did not want to be put on trial. So one day when a lost GI parks outside his house he shot himself in the head “he would have preferred to slit his stomach open the old fashioned samurai way but there was no time for that” so his wife killed herself also to “’accompany’ her husband in death” (117). Turns out he was just a lost GI trying to make his way around Japan trying to ask for directions.
Murakami makes choices with characters such as Malta Kano and Creta Kano informed as people who are seen as mediums of some kind, for example. He defines the spiritual beliefs of the Japanese culture through them and the influence that the audience receives works as its own filter, a way in which the story is read with different perspectives. According to Murakami’s choice of characters and their details he doesn’t give one much to build on and I believe the author specializes in a Writerly text oblivious to specificity, however is more focused on details. I only have two questions left about Murakami my first is, “ What significance is the name of the main character, Toru?” And second, “Noboru Wataya, the cat, considered a Kami of Toru and Kumikos’ love?”
Cassidy to try and answer your second question, I would say yes. You know when Kumiko and Toru first found the cat she said that it was important to her because they found it together after the got married. And know that the cat she lost she is lost too and so is Toru.
After reading chapters 9-10, I’ve come to the conclusion with my second question about Noboru Wataya. Remembering that in the beginning Toru was sent to look for the missing cat because Kumiko told him to and instead he met May. And in the end of chapter ten May tells Toru about her curiosity about death and how it influences alot of things. So my point is that if curiosity killed the cat then May Kasahara killed the cat (Kami of Toru’s marriage) and took May’s form. May is the cat (Noboru Wataya).
Hey Cassidy !
Your reflection was outstanding ! I appreciate how you state your understanding and what you learned from the Interactive Oral . As an audience , I’ve gain more understanding to Murakami’s writing technique . From your mention of “spiritual belief of the Japanese culture ” , I need to pay my fully attention on that topic . And I would like to know the answer to your question too . 🙂 Thanks Yaj Yuam .
Throughout the Interactive Oral Presentation of The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, I was able to understand the concept of Psychological Criticism and Physical and Spiritual relationships. Murakami uses Psychological Criticism for the readers to understand the protagonist Toru Okada’s mind by slowly initiating the methods: Freudian Psychoanalysis, Sublimation, Eros, and Repression. He also includes Physical and Spiritual relationships that creates the Psychological Criticism. However, out of the four methods of the psychological criticism, I will explain my understanding of Eros and the Physical and Spiritual relationships.
In the The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, the protagonist, Toru Okada had sexual events that were mostly spiritually with other females. For example, when Toru answered a called from an unknown woman, “‘Then let me help you,’ she said. ‘I’m in bed. I just got out of the shower, and I’m not wearing a thing’” (11). The unknown woman claims to know and met Toru many times before but Toru has no clue to who this woman is. After giving proof that she knows Toru, she wanted him to have phone sex with her. However, in this scene, the conversation was done over the telephone meaning it wasn’t physical; it was more of a spiritual relationship. In this scene, it was lead to a psychological criticism of Eros. Hence, when the unknown woman explain her position on the other side of the telephone, “‘Naked is fine.’ ‘Well, good. You want me naked.’… her sex warm and moist” (11). Since Toru didn’t want to guess who the unknown woman was, she decided to describing what she was doing. She asked many questions whether Toru prefer what she should wear or not. This scene shows the psychological criticism of Eros because when she ask if Toru prefer her naked or not, he chose her naked. Also the fact that he did not immediately end the end when she described herself in a sexual way.
Murakami uses the physical and spiritual relationships to initial a psychological criticism for the readers to interpret the scenes of Toru’s experience and mind and to get better understanding of these concept. I think his choice in doing so is helpful throughout the novel.
Somehow Murakami’s story always resolve around ww2, what significant was the war in Murakami’s life that it’s always thematic in his stories?
In response to your idea that “Murakami uses Psychological Criticism” I would suggest the following: Murakami’s use of symbolism and his chosen styles of magical realism and surrealism suggest the need to apply a psychoanalytic critical lens as a reader so that we can understand the relationship between the conscious and subconscious parts of the mind as represented in Murakami’s characters and imagery.
Coey
Throughout Murakami’s terrific novel, we’ve discussed a lot about many concepts. The concepts were Historical, Philosophical, Biological, and Psychological. After many amazing interactive oral presentations, I got a better understanding of the Psychological criticism, which is my own presentation that my partner and I worked on. Although Murakami’s novel was really mysteries, I was able to understand some parts by the Psychological lens. Throughout the novel so far, Toru’s been showing the Psychological context with his partner.
In the novel, Toru and Kumiko have never physically interacted with one another sexually, and after many years of marriage, it came to a “repressive” thing. For instance, “..but soon I realized that she had nothing on underneath. Almost automatically, this gave me an erection, and she seemed to be aware of it. I could feel her warm breath on my neck.” (pg.107). This demonstrated Toru showing his sexual instincts, which is Eros, a part of the psychological criticism. Because they have never done anything like sexual interacting, Toru repressed his ego, which is the Ego-defense in order to prevent complications.
In addition, because Toru doesn’t get enough attention or “love” from his own partner, when he is with another woman, he gets the feelings of attention and satisfactions. For example, “Having just had a wet dream over another woman, I felt a little tense speaking with her.” “I looked at the receiver for a few seconds.” (pg.103). This shows that after Toru having a wet dream over Creta, he feels strange, it’s the feelings that he hasn’t felt in years. As he mentioned before in the book that he couldn’t recall when was the last time he had a wet dream, it was too long. Obviously he would get tense and feel a little excitement, which cause him to look at the receiver for a while. This shows the excitement, but he repressed it, convincing himself that he will only be loyal to Kumiko.
Murakami addressed this concept so that we, the readers see deeper into the characters personality or wishes they want. Like Toru, always repressing his feelings and thoughts, in order to protect his marriage. We don’t really noticed it, but it is obvious since there’s psychological criticism.
Because of the “Interactive Oral Presentation”, the concept that I understand more is medium and the spiritual and physical world.
In The Wind-Bird Chronicle, the medium is Creta Kano. Creta comes to Toru in his dream where they have “relations”. Creta admits that she is the the “prostitute of mind” and “things pass through her”. Another medium can also be the telephone woman. During the second dream that Toru and Creta were having “relations”, she interrupted Creta. Creta went out of the dream to tell Toru that the telephone lady must’ve “suggested something” (212).
Regarding the spiritual and physical world, Creta is the spiritual world through Toru’s dream, and May Kasahara is the reality world. For example, after Kumiko had gone missing, May visited Toru. Before she left she asked if Toru “do love” (193) Kumiko and would “take” her back again if she did ran off with a lover (194). In the midst of questioning where Kumiko had gone, May Kasahara helps pull Toru back to the real world by asking him the serious questions. These Toru doesn’t have definite answers to.
Both of these concept are motifs that Murakami incorporate in his novels and pertains to his female characters. The medium’s significance is to pass a message to the protagonist and the spiritual and physical world represent the two women the protagonist is involved with. The choice Murakami make in order to influence the readers to think about the concept medium is through Toru’s dreams that are full of ambiguous and vague images, motifs, and symbols. And the concept spiritual and physical world through the female’s timing, appearances and events throughout the novel to help the readers identify which one they are.
Questions that I am left with after the “Interactive Oral Presentation” are:
What is the shadow? I’ve read Murakami’s interview about how it’s related to the strangeness he felt while living in America, however I still can’t quite grasp it yet.
Kumiko is the reality world and will be even with her absent, but will she ever appear as the spiritual world?
I never thought of the women as mediums and how Creta Kano is the spiritual one while May is the reality world. Awesome idea!
Me too !!
Isn’t the shadow like the faceless man that appeared in Toru’s dream, the sexual dream of Creta Kano, i was thinking that the faceless man may be Toru’s doppelganger because the faceless man seems to always come up when Toru is involved with another girl at certain times.
This made me think more about how Kumiko can appear as the spiritual world some time in the book even now that she is gone.
Jennifer,
Great analysis and examples! I wonder if “shadow” is that sense of being in your body but not feeling like yourself. I’ve noticed this especially when someone gives me tragic news or when I step off a plane in a foreign country. Isn’t it strange to be in your body, but feel like you are out of it at the same time?
Coey
Reflective Statement
Throughout the novel The Wind up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, one of the concepts that I understand more about is 1 Japanese Spiritual beliefs, and the author himself Haruki Murakami. Throughout the novel we see many examples of these topics and these examples have helped me get a better understanding of not only the work but the author too.
On page 96 of the novel we can see an example of seppuku which was under the topic of Japanese Spiritual beliefs. The quote was “I thought again about killing myself. This time I would do a proper job.” This quote connects to seppuku because back in the old day’s seppuku was a form of ritual practiced by samurais. The way it worked was that samurai which had committed a serious offense or that they had brought shame upon themselves would grab a knife and cut their stomach open because they believed that by doing this they were releasing their spirit immediately into the afterlife. I also learned from one of my peers that seppuku was also associated with the Hmong culture.
The other topic that helped me get a better understanding of the work was learning about the author Haruki Murakami. I learned that some of the themes he tends to focus on are detective, surrealism, and magical realism. Critics have called his writing “un-Japanese “because he blends western style writing with Japanese style writing. Some critics have also considered him to be “among the world’s greatest novelist.” In the Interactive Oral Presentations my peers have pointed out that he likes to write in a physical and spiritual world. What I mean by this is that the physical would be considered reality while the spiritual would be his imagination. An example of this would be when Toru had a “wet dream”. In this dream some sexual things were going on. The ideas I connected with the physical and spiritual was that Kumiko, his wife was connected to the physical and the lady in his dream that he was having sex with was the spiritual because in reality he wouldn’t cheat on his wife.
Some questions that I have as a reader are: What was the purpose of writing this novel? Why does Toru let the girls control him? Why did he write a novel that is full of sex scenes?
Toru probably let the girls control him because he doesn’t get the same attention or even any from his wife Kumiko.
Sex is an instinct. The sole purpose of sex is to reproduce, however human is different from animal. We are conscious and doesn’t act according to our animal instinct. Thus we build and have this idea that sex is exclusive, sacred, and a way to express “love”, Something that you would do with your other significant. So when Murakami easily includes intimate scenes and topics and use it as a motif, it seems like he’s degrading the divinity of sex which makes us uncomfortable. I think that Murakami includes sex scenes as a way of communication. For example, Kumiko and Toru’s sex life is dull and they haven’t have intimacy for a while. The message this sent is that they’re not as interested in each other as they used to before, they’re not in love anymore. (Okay, I’ll stop here or else this comment is going to turn into an essay)
After the Interactive Oral Presentations, Haruki Murakami usage of symbol helped me better understand the character, Toru, and the psychoanalytical lens. In the novel, it begans with the act of looking for the cat, which is meaningful to Kumiko. Toru is now involved with talking to multiple women. He encounters them to find out more about the cat because of Kumiko. He meets May Kasahara when he goes into an alley-like way, he meets Malta Kano through Kumiko, who believes there’s information on the cat, and lastly, Creta Kano, sister of Malta. While he’s back and forth with these women, he was never sexually in involved with them, there were instances where he would have to speak to them alone, but never involved in that way. Then, he finds out that Kumiko is cheating on with a man, for 2 months, which Toru was unaware of. Although it show scenes where Toru meets with the women, he didn’t cheat. There were no scenes of Kumiko meeting with a guy or the novel being told in her perspective, so it gives the readers their own interpretation of the novel by having it seem like a feminist perspective. Readers may have thought that the cat symbolized Kumiko losing Toru, but in fact, it was vice versa and Toru unable to realize it.
As for the psychoanalytical lens, there’s a scene where Toru meets May and he’s relaxing on her porch on the look out for the cat. “Can I talk?…you don’t have to answer.”(20). May has Toru close his eyes and listen to her, its as if she was a therapist and he was the patient. She prevents him from talking and she tells him what she is thinking, yet it gives out a sexual image. She touches him to help demonstrate what she wants to do to “death”, but explains it in a sexual way, “…the deeper you go inside, the harder it gets.”(20). Murakami successfully shows the psychological lens through a literal image and a sexual description of “death”.
Interactive Orals helped me better understand Murakami’s style and be able to connect and understand his novel.
I like how you pointed out that losing the cat wasn’t symbolized as Kumiko losing Toru, but as Toru losing Kumiko. I wasn’t aware of this until now because when the cat disappeared, that’s when all the women starts appearing in his life, but turns out it was a sign about Kumiko leaving.
From the presentation about Japanese’s spiritual beliefs, I was able to understand and know more of Japan’s language.
I learned that some of Japanese’s beliefs: Kotodama, belief that a person’s name or the words they use can affects a person’s lifestyle positively or negatively. Shinto, belief that an inanimate or animated object has the power source of ancestors and spirits. Seppuku, a suicide ritual carried out by samurais after they failed or have disobeyed a mission.
From the book, when Malta Kano meets with Toru and told him of how she got her name, “Malta is not my real name… Malta is a professional name I took from the island of Malta”(39). At this moment, Malta explains to Toru of how she changed her name based on an island she saw that has spiritual water. This is an example of Kotodama because Malta believes that the water of the island have a powerful source, if she changed her name, it would match and flow more with her abilities. I can relate to this name-changing because, although I’m Hmong, I’ve been through this. When I was still a newborn, I had a different name, but I kept crying nonstop and would always be sick until my parents asked a Shaman to see what’s wrong, and found out that it was because my energy/spirit doesn’t like the name I was given, so my parents changed it. After changing my name, it also changes me; I stopped crying and was able to grow healthily.
Murakami included this concept probably to make the readers understand Japan’s beliefs and inform that names and words can affect a person’s life.
My question would by, are there going to be more of Japan’s beliefs being added more further into the story, or are these 3 beliefs the only ones included?
I’m really impress that you brought the idea of the Hmong belief into your writing. Since I was in charge of the Japanese Spiritual beliefs, I never once thought about how Hmong people can relates to Kotodama. I thought it matches pretty well with this concept because I do agree with you.
Great job Yer! Hopefully you will find how much Murakami’s novel and his beliefs compare to Hmong beliefs.. 🙂
Due to the Interactive Oral Presentations on The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami, I was able to much better understand the concept of Japanese Spiritual Beliefs used throughout the novel.
Throughout the novel, the concept of Japanese Spiritual Beliefs is seen shaping the most unexpected of events and even people. For example, Japanese Mysticism, or the connection between man and God, is seen quite a few times. Mr. Honda is an example of such belief, “He had sensed that the Mongols were coming for us that night, slipped out of the tent, and remained in hiding all that time.” (167). I found Mr. Honda to be a direct example of Japanese Mysticism, as he clearly sensed danger coming and taking all the necessary actions in making sure that the events were not altered in any way, as any “God” would do, as it would scare them, and even make them start to question him. He was smart as to not reveal any solid detail of the events to come, as that would be an abuse of power, something that a god should not ever do. The role of Japanese Mysticism also helped me to figure out as to why Mr. Honda was created the way he was. It was due to the Spiritual Beliefs of the Japanese.
Murakami makes some unusual, yet useful, decisions in the addressing of this concept. He was sure to not make Mr. Honda give too much information away when answering questions that had to do with his powers. This gave the readers a hint of satisfaction of what was to come, whilst also preserving the idea of godlike humbleness in Mr. Honda. It left the readers wanting to know what was going to actually happen in the unraveling of the story because a simple hit of what was to come was not enough. I believe this was the hook that Murakami had been intending to incorporate into his novel.
However, the concept of Japanese Spiritual Beliefs also left me with some questions about Murakami’s intentions with the novel. Did he incorporate the concept Japanese Spiritual Beliefs just because of the fact that he was a Japanese writer? Is the vagueness of Japanese Mysticism intentional? What was the true purpose of including the Spiritual Beliefs of the Japanese in the novel?
This made me think more about the author and his intentions on Japanese Spiritual Beliefs and Mysticism that are shown through out the book. I think that the authors vagueness could be intentional because it can make the reader think about various interpretations using these beliefs.
To answer your first question, Murakami incorporate the concept of Japanese Spiritual Beliefs because his novel was directed toward the Japanese readers. There may be a chance that he also incorporated the concept of Japanese Spiritual Beliefs because Murakami himself is Japanese. As Mr. Cody had said, The Wind-Up Bird was first written in Japanese, then translated for a wider audience.
good job david! 🙂
Throughout Murakami’s novel “The Wind Up Bird” the most interesting idea that i got is the psychological role of water in transferring main character’s (Toru Okada) conscious into un-conscious.In the language of converting known facts into doubtful thinking, water is influencing character’s conscious.
Toru’s wife “Kumiko” left him without saying a single word last thing that he remember about his wife is her Cologne Perfume smell he was thinking about that smell when Malta Kano called and told him that his cat could never be found
“I must tell you, Mr.Okada, I believe that the cat will almost certainly never be found (p-178)”
After hearing about the accident from a beer delivery man Toru ran towards the station to look for any sign of his wife but he got nothing and suddenly he felt thirsty and he became unable to think of anything.
“But I was confused and very thirsty. What I most wanted was to sit down somewhere and have a cold drink. That was the only way I would be able to think about anything again,I felt(p-182)”
Both examples are psychologically connected to the role of water in the life of main character in The novel. As he was thinking about smell of a perfume (water involved) he got call from Malta Kano who told him about his cat and his cat was closely connected to his wife so Malta Kano might meant that he would never found his wife then he went to look for his wife at accident spot and he felt thirsty means when the water gone away from him, he was unable to think about anything so he decided to have a cold drink (water involved) so that he could think.
The Author Murakami used the flow of water in a extremely sunny day. As a person wants to go inside water in sunny day to relax and then he flow with water flow and try to think of anything and relax his mind then if he do something un-imaginable he can get drowned in water.
Murakami used this technique to make reader think that how a person comes in contact with water in life and then which choices he made and what changes in his life and then how his life ends.
this idea is also connected with religious thoughts that a person comes in this world with a flow of blood and then after his death in some religions his relatives gives him bath before burying him.
Which things of the cat reminds them of Noburu Wataya that made them give cat the same name?
Is it possible that if Kumiko come back in Toru’s life then the empty box that Mr.Honda left for Toru could have something in it?
I’d like to add onto your idea of Toru flowing “with” water and “drowning”. In Chapter 2, Toru encounter May Kasahara for the first time in front of the abandoned house. Toru eventually settles down and closed his eyes as May had ordered. While he sat and listen, May would touch him in a sensual way and talk very disturbing talk like her “scalpel” (20) desire. No matter what May do or say, Toru doesn’t respond as he just flow with what May is doing. In this scene, Toru is very calm, he’s almost like water. Afterward, he envision an image of the cat until he gets sucks into the darkness and eventually drown in his sleep.
I appreciate the fact that you use the idea of water to describe the unconscious mind and how it influences Toru’s action. The reason why the cat was named Noburu Wataya, “I don’t know. Just in general. The way it walks. And it has this blank stare.” (15) In a way, the cat was named after Noburu Wataya because it represented Noburu, like how several culture name their kids after something (god, sun, water, person, etc.) because their behavior are similar to that something. Something to think about is, what was the significant of this water that is repeated throughout the novel?
Reflective Statement
Throughout the book “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami, we have discussed the historical, philosophical, biological, and psychological context of the book by interactive oral presentations. By these presentations I got a better comprehension of the psychological context of the novel. This psychological context is mostly shown through the character Toru by the roles of women and having confusion of this “cat” throughout the book.
In Murakami’s writing it expresses confusion and symbolism in different scenes. For example, the roles of women play a big part of this book because these women intend to be there when it is needed. “Can I get closer? It’ll be … easier if my voice is low.” (20) This suggests the idea of women being very seductive with Toru. This is said by a 16 year old girl named May Kasahara. This young girl can be very intimate in this scene, can seem more mature, and imaginative in the way she acts and thinks. In this scene Toru is trying to find this “cat” that his wife, Kumiko, has sent him to do because it’s mostly important to her, but ends up encountering May instead. Toru intends to encounter a few women and there are some sexual actions that come from it. These sexual actions can consist of Toru not receiving the same attention from Kumiko or can be imaginary women in a way so that he gets the attention he wants and needs. Also, the idea of this “cat” causes confusion. In my opinion, this “cat” symbolizes either the marriage of Toru and Kumiko or Kumiko in general. “That cat is very important to me. Or should I say us. We found it the week after we got married. Together. You remember?” (47) This suggests the idea that Kumiko can be possibly feel lost. As if a part of her is missing and there is this need to find it because if they don’t then their marriage can fall apart and if it is found then their marriage wouldn’t be so dull as it is now. This is the reason why the role of women come off with sexual actions.
Murakami addresses the use of psychological criticism so that the reader can develop his or her own interpretation of the book itself rather than looking through the eyes of the writer.
Appreciate your thinking about the cat as a symbol of their marriage but I would like to add one more thing in that idea that as long as they had cat with them their personal and economical life was seductive and comfortable respectively. But as the cat left them alone with their life and went away Toru left his job and their sexual life also afftected by the absence of cat.
I think the cat is a psychological idea of a bond between Toru and Kumiku for a happy marriage life.
I have a question for you
Does cat symbolise the relation between just Toru and kumiko or it has to do something with the relations of Toru with other women’s like May Kashahara , Malta Kano , Creta Kano and the women on phone… because all relations started after the loss of cat? If yes then how?
Throughout the The Wind-Up Bird by Haruki Murakami, one of several concepts that I understood was the how different Murakami’s novels are compared to traditional Japanese writing. Although Murakami’s writing may be different from traditional Japanese writing, there are several traditional Japanese beliefs in the novel. However, since I haven’t read much of Japanese novels, I’ll be comparing Murakami’s writing with Japanese manga since Japanese novels and mangas are similar.
The biggest difference between Murakami’s writing and Japanese traditional writing is the fact that Murakami adds these unpleasant sexual images in his novels, whereas Japanese mangas and several Japanese traditional writing don’t usually have a lot of sexual images or scenes. When they do have sexual images or scenes, they would be considered ero or hentai. “Something round and squishy, like a softball, with a hard little core of dead nerves. I want to take it out of a dead person and cut it open and look inside. I always wonder what’s it like. Maybe it’s all hard, like toothpaste dried up inside the tube. That’s it, don’t you think? No, don’t answer. It’s squishy on the outside, and the deeper you go inside, the harder it gets. I want to cut open the skin and take out the squishy stuff, use a scalpel and some kind of spatula to get through it, and the closer you get the center, the harder the squishy stuff gets, until you reach this tiny core.” On page 20, May describe this thing that she wants to dissect, in which is similar to a man’s genitals. Toothpaste is described as sperm and the tube is described as the phallus. When it talks about the deeper you go inside, it’s described as a woman’s vagina, the harder it gets, which suggests the male getting harder after entering the vagina. Then May continues on talking about the phallus. To be honest, its sexual thinking about it, but when described in words, it got more and more sexual, and it’s unpleasant thinking about how May wants to dissect this specific part of human anatomy.
Murakami decided to do something different compare to the Japanese traditional writing. This is true in animes which adapted from mangas, in which violent scenes are replaced or deleted because it would then be rated M. I personally think Murakami did this on purpose to change the Japanese society on allowing young readers to face the reality of the world. In my view, I personally find Murakami’s writing to be realistic and one that I can really connect to. In a way, Murakami is trying to influence young writers to change the Japanese society’s view on these sexual scene and expose the younger reader to see how the real world is and how much conflict you can experience.
Several questions I have is: Why did Murakami decide to write a novel full of sexual scenes? Has this novel influenced writers worldwide? What was the purpose of this novel?
i have an answer for your first question: The purpose for Murakami to put the sexual scenes in the novel is to draw our attention to keep reading the novel.