Barrett 1

Abby Barrett

Dr. Ernest Smith

ENG 200

19 November 2017

First Fiction Paper

Love for Depression

Humans can feel the purest kindness through the nerve dedicated to love; we as humans

can also feel the overwhelmingly, agonizing, pain of the same emotion without any infliction

from another source other than the idea of love. Mortals cannot turn off a switch to make their

emotions come to a halt, although most would like to, instead we must endure the stinging of our

stomachs turning knots and our tears turning into bullets crawling out of our tear ducts for the

rest of lives. Mankind can also feel the grim reaper always lurking, taking another year from our

lives to spend eternity in either happiness or darkness, alone with only death as our companion.

Death can also be related to the idea that a chapter is coming to a close so another chapter can

begin in our lives (relationships or a new version of oneself). Death and love were seen as the

only solid ground many had during the late sixties and early seventies in the areas near Tokyo,

Japan and Kobe. Time and death in the enchanting tale Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

shows readers that humans take on many different emotions but intimacy and pain are the top

themes throughout this story with Toru Watanabe and Naoko as the main characters.

Throughout the ages of history humans have physically evolved and their mentality has

grown much stronger than that of the times we cannot recall, however, as young adults we are

still very much surrounding our self in an egocentric environment. We mature through our

mistakes and learn from our past experiences, good and bad. Toru Watanabe is the starring
 Barrett 2

narrator behind his very realistic story, Norwegian Wood. The narrator begins the story with him

safely arriving to his destination in Germany, but then a familiar song begins to play that takes

him back to the reminder of his ex-lover Naoko (Murakami 3). In this part of the story, Toru

shows us that he is troubled by his past by stating, “the melody never failed to send a shudder

though me, but this time it harder than ever” (Murakami 3). In this statement Toru not shows us

his troubling past, but also lets the reader know that he has an unhealthy relationship between the

song and himself as we will later see. Toru’s character, following the plane ride, takes the

readers on a journey through his past when he and fellow lover Naoko, eighteen years ago, were

off in a meadow having what might feel like a date (Murakami 4-9). Toru and Naoko seem to be

having fun, until Naoko treats Toru to a futuristic tale of what the rest of their lives might look

like if it continues how it is going and Toru responds with “why do you have to be so rigid?

Relax, let your guard down” (Murakami 8). The narrator is full of selfish acts and insensitive

remarks/acts in the beginning of the tale, but as time goes on he begins to become more sensitive

to the idea that other people have emotions as well that do not specifically revolve around him.

Toru begins to show us that he is becoming depressed and angry with himself whenever he meets

friend Nagasawa, who introduces him to infidelity, alcohol, and the abuse of using women for

sexual encounters (Murakami 30-31). Toru’s character starts to evolve from playful jokes about

others to brutally lying to them and having a dark sense of humor once he meets Nagasawa. The

major encounter can be that by which Toru sleeps with a young girl, whom genuinely would like

to get to know him after having slept with him, but Toru lies to her and speaks unkindly towards

her, as if she were a child (Murakami 43). Then again, he shown no remorse for yelling at fellow

roommate Storm Trooper for telling him that drinking was against the rules (Murakami 42). His

outbursts and torment upon others was his way of getting through what Naoko had told him and
 Barrett 3

how she had left him (Murakami 40-41). By the end of the narrator’s dark tale we see a change

of heart for Naoko and life itself when he states, “we were alive, she and I. And all we had to

think about was continuing to live” (Murakami 293). This is the moment where he and Reiko

kiss each other goodbye and Toru is no longer running from his emotional past and feelings, he

finds peace.

Naoko’s character in the novel Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami evolves from

strange and rambling on to a more conservative, but depressing character. The narrator begins

the character analysis by showing us the fateful day of when Naoko shows to us that she has

thought a lot about the idea of death (Murakami 6). This encounter alone can reveal a deep

thought that she has a disturbing past and something is holding her back from feeling happiness.

Naoko begins with being able to say whatever she may feel like without realizing that it might

hurt the other person, but evolves into a character that becomes more self-aware of her

surroundings and care less about the opinions other may have on her. She shows us this side of

her at first when she writes her response back to Toru by stating, “…and I’m sorry this hurts you.

What I am trying to tell you is, I don’t want you to blame yourself for what happened with me. It

is something I have to take on all by myself…” (Murakami 43). This is the letter where Naoko

begins to tell him that she is finally going to handle what has been on her shoulder all these years

and finally stop taking it out on the other around her and she has started to see that it isn’t just

affecting her, but the people that she cares deeply for also. The last part where we see she has

evolved from outspoken and tense, is when Toru goes to see her and they begin to talk amongst

each other in calm voices and discuss their past without hurting someone intentionally or

defensively judging (Murakami 104). Naoko is also no longer talking of her aging and seems to

be more content with the idea, however, Naoko still commits suicide and it still remains a
 Barrett 4

mystery as to why (Murakami 271). The character, Naoko evolved into a gracious woman, but

ultimately, she felt she could not take on the task of becoming old without her dear/late Kizuki.

The main theme that can be found in the novel Norwegian Wood is that of death of time

and memory. Toru begins the story from memory and shows us his true love, Naoko, whom he

shares most of his adolescent life with. Toru helps create an image from his own memory that

provides us feedback about how each character evolves, as well as himself. When Toru

introduces Naoko to us, we can see that his memory of her will not fade because it states “I want

you to always remember me. Will you remember that I existed and that I stood next to you here

like this?” (Murakami 9). The author uses the word remember through Naoko as a reminder to

the audience that the central theme will be to remember the idea of her and other relationships

that take place throughout the story. Toru promises that he will always remember her and that he

will continue to do so for forever (Murakami 9). Toru makes this same promise to many others

throughout the story and in the midst of writing this tale he states that he is writing this to help

him remember what happened in his life and how he came to be where he is now. Naoko helps to

evolve this story into memory by using love as an act of remembrance for someone to care for

her the way everyone remembers her late Kizuki. She does not want to age, because she wants to

be remembered as young just the way she had been in the story, which is what leads to her

ultimate demise (Murakami 271). Both Naoko and Toru feel loneliness in the reminder that their

best friend and lover is long gone and will no longer continue to be make mistakes but to be

remembered as he was, which is what Naoko feeds from more so than Toru does (Murakami

271).
 Barrett 5

Work Cited

Murakami, Haruki. Norwegian Wood. Random House UK, 2013.