Arevalo, Jonathan

Professor Beadle

English 115

2 November 2020

Project Text Essay

In the two stories, “The Mirror'' and “The Silence”, both by Haruki Murakami, tell the

reader about the monstrous side of the individual self and of Society. First off, “The Mirror”, is

a story based on a man who barely graduated high school and lands a job as a night watchman

for a high school. One night, everything becomes weird, and the man feels different as he goes

around to inspect the school. When he gets to the last part of his inspection, he freezes up when

he sees a mirror with a reflection of a darker, evil side of himself. From that day on, he never

owned a mirror in his house. The second story, “The Silence”, takes place in high school, from

the point of view of a man named Ozawa. Ozawa has to deal with a guy named Aoki, who goes

out of his way to make Ozawa’s life terrible. Aoki ends up blaming Ozawa for the suicide of a

student that goes to their school, which causes everyone to shun any interaction with Ozawa in

school. This action causes Ozawa to question his life and choices since he had nobody during

that time, however; he does end up proving to himself that all that Aoki says is not important and

no longer phazes him. This monstrous aspect that comes from an Individual's actions and

thoughts. Society and an individual both can be monstrous in their own ways. However, the

individual self is more monstrous than the monstrous society since a society made up of

individuals whose choices create a monstrous society.

This reality that individuals are the main cause to a society becoming monstrous

is shown throughout both stories. Individuals alone are the sole creation of a society, and when
those individuals become corrupt with a monstrous aspect, the society begins to be corrupt all

around. In “the Mirror”, this can be seen when the man encounters a mirror on the last part of his

inspection of the school, and he starts to notice a figure that looks exactly like him but the only

difference being that it is filled with darkness and hatred. This is shown when Murakami writes,”

The one thing I did understand was that this other figure loathed me. Inside it was a hatred like

an iceberg floating in a dark sea. The kind of hatred that no one could ever diminish” (59). The

reason that this quote is very important is due to the sole reason that we all have that iceberg of

hatred inside all of us, however; control ceases the progress of hatred from expanding from the

individual themself unto other people, which can convert a whole society to becoming

monstrous. In “The Silence”, the act of an individual corrupting other people to create a

monstrous society can be seen when Aoki spreads rumors about Ozawa, causing everyone

around to throw him to the side as an outsider. This can be seen when Ozawa says, “No, what

really scares me is how easily, how uncritically, people will believe the crap that slime like Aoki

deals out. How these Aoki types produce nothing themselves, don’t have an idea in the world,

and talk so nice, how this slime can sway gullible types to any opinion and get them to perform

on cue, as a group.” (Murakami, “Silence” 306). This quote is very important since it speaks

about how the individual can manipulate an entire society the way they would like to construct it.

Specifically , Aoki manipulated the students and faculty (society) at school to believe the false

claims he made about Ozawa. The individual contains so much power since their way of

persuasion can cause a whole society to deceive and fall under the corruption and influence of

one person.

The conception that individuals are more monstrous since they are able to make a whole

society monstrous is further shown through the two outside sources that were found. The first
source comes from an article called “Young People’s Societies”, which speaks about what envy

does in a person. The author writes, “It is all right to protect one’s self. It is all right to oppose a

malicious enemy. But to harbor ill-will against one who has done us no injury and who may be

more prosperous than we are is exceedingly wrong and to be condemned” (Anderson). This

quote shows how an individuals’ action of being envious towards someone else can lead to that

person becoming monstrous, thus implying the domino effect on society. A person’s envy can be

one of the many reasons for that person to eventually become monstrous, however; if they are

able to control that side of themselves by giving themself some incentive, then there would be no

problem. The second source comes from an article called, “Evil acts not evil people: their

characteristics and contexts”, which also explains more how the individual is more monstrous

than the society. The second source examines how evil should be used as an adjective rather than

a noun since it should be employed to qualify acts of persons rather than their character. This

article is specifically important since it explains how evil can describe a person's acts rather than

evil being something by itself. This can be shown when the author writes, “I will contend that

evil acts begin when an individual makes, or members of a group make, assertions about the

‘naturalness’ of their own acts and, correspondingly, the ‘unnaturalness’ of the acts of others. I

will suggest that this results from the anxiety that ensues when they cannot adequately signify

their experience of these acts” (Horne). This quote is very important to look at since it shows that

the individual creates an evil act when they say that their actions are normal and that other

people’s actions are not following what is standard. This can lead to manipulation of other

individuals, causing others to fall for the deception of that one individual, leading to a society

where everyone forces a lie on someone, thus a monstrous society.

 The counterargument of the claim that individuals are more monstrous than the society

itself would be that society influences an individual to become monstrous, thus indicating that a

society is more monstrous. This counterargument is simply not true since the base of a society

comes from an individual. That individual finds other individuals with corresponding views and

together are able to build a union together. Therefore, individuals create a society. However, if

just one of those individuals lets their thoughts become corrupt or selfish for power, the

individual can seek a way to have the entire society follow them, or the entire circle can be

influenced to do the same to other individuals, thus creating a monstrous society.

In all, the individual is more monstrous than the society since a society is made up of

individuals. The individuals themselves have the ability to manipulate other individuals which

causes a society to eventually become corrupt as the process replicates. Haruki shows how

individuals are more monstrous than a society with the realization of the monstrosity of oneself,

and the evil influence one individual can have on others to create a monstrous society, or

atmosphere in this case. The two outside sources also show how the individual craves for more

and goes out of their way to manipulate others to get closer to its goal, showing how individuals

are more monstrous. Lastly, the individual will only become monstrous if that person is not

setting themself right with goals and other motives to keep their mind sane and healthy,

preventing corruption of an individual’s mind is key to keeping everyone safe and working well

in a society.

Works Cited

“The Mirror.” Blind Window, Sleeping Woman: 25 Stories, by Haruki Murakami,

Knopf, 2006, pp. 55–60.

“The Silence .” The Elephant Vanishes, by Haruki Murakami, Vintage, 2003, pp. 291–

306.

Horne, Michael. “Evil Acts Not Evil People: Their Characteristics and Contexts.”

Access to Restricted Resources, 2008, onlinelibrary-wiley-

com.libproxy.csun.edu/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-5922.2008.00759.x.

Anderson. “Young People's Societies.: The Evil of Envy.” Access Provided by

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY - NORTHRIDGE MA, 1900, search-proquest-

com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/136011851?accountid=7285&rfr_id=info%3Axri

%2Fsid%3Aprimo.