In Norwegian Wood, we see Toru unable to commit himself to either Naoko or Midori throughout the story. He feels a deep connection for both of them, which makes the idea of potentially losing either seem devastating. But his indecisiveness ultimately does more harm than good, hurting both Naoko and Midori in ways that are arguably irreparable. I think a part of the reason why he’s so indecisive is that in the end, the young Toru fails to see romantic or even social relationships in a broader sense as something mutually impactful. Too absorbed in his own thoughts, past and traumas, he fails to truly grasp the depth of other’s pain, as much as he tries to support them and cares for them. Toru perceives the enormous size of Naoko’s pain but never truly understands the depth what Naoko goes through with her idealization of death and anxieties regarding sex. He completely forgets about Midori for three weeks when he moved, buried too deep in his own troubles, despite actually deeply caring for Midori as a friend. I feel like this inevitable self-absorbedness is also a theme in A Wild Sheep Chase, where Boku brings his girlfriend on an insane journey full of uncertainties with very little hesitations. Later, when the Rat (or the Sheep Man) reveals that this journey is not meant for her, it’s almost as if the universe is telling him that he should’ve taken on the burdens to uncover his own past himself. Both Toru and Boku’s love stories end in ways that are not traditionally happy. Boku never sees his girlfriend again, and Toru’s status with Midori remains uncertain despite him finally making up his mind about. In general, Murakami’s protagonists seem to live a little too much in their own heads. Because the stories are narrated from their perspectives, we as readers often don’t immediately catch the callousness or ignorance in their actions towards others.
Another self-absorbed character that comes to mind is Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. In his tragic pursuit for Daisy, he acts solely to serve his obsession and isn't concerned for the morality of his actions (bootlegging to gain his wealth, for example.) He acts this way because Daisy is literally an embodiment of his past. Although I don’t think he is entirely similar to Murakami’s protagonists, I think he does share this egocentric quality with them. Gatsby is also a man that lives in his head, forever recreating a past with Daisy that existed more in his mind than the actual reality. His world is how he perceives it and not necessarily what it is. It’s interesting that Jay Gatsby, as a symbol, reflects the moral ambiguity that comes with the extravagance of his era. I wonder if Murakami also made his characters this way as an attempt to comment on how modern capitalization has made people perhaps more self-centered than they ought to be.
This is not to say that Murakami’s characters are bad people. They never seem to have bad intentions, always seeming to genuinely care for those around them and trying to do the right thing. But the way they think and operate prevents them from being completely altruistic. They start from a place of wishing to love and connect with others properly, yet because they cannot shake free of their own pasts, they put chains around themselves that prevents them from fully doing so.
Cora
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