Wounds That Never Healed in Haruki Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood”
Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood caught my attention when I looked up a list of the best novels to read this past summer. I cannot remember why, but I felt tempted to read it. To be honest, I wanted to know how the title, derived from The Beatles' famous song, fit in with a narrative set in 1960s Japan.
The story begins with Toru Watanabe hearing the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" as he is landing in Hamburg, Germany. The song strikes him hard with memories of his college days in the '60s, and the narrative takes us, the readers, back in time to explore the heartbreaking days of Toru’s youth. Toru, Naoko, and Kizuki were always together in high school. Although Naoko and Kizuki were a couple, Toru never found it bothersome to hang out with them. But, Kizuki's sudden suicide changes everything. It affects Toru and Naoko's lives forever, pulling them into the tragic cycle of fate.
“I want you always to remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?” - Haruki Murakami
Life and death are presented throughout the narrative as embracing Toru and Naoko. It will be quite shocking to readers that death is always present in the story; it comes suddenly and is always tragic. Death functions to crumble the characters and culminates in vastly different psychological paths for them.
After Kizuki’s death, Toru begins to understand death as a way to move forward and to find life. Especially with Midori, the girl he meets in college. Toru hears Midori’s father's last wish before passing away, asking him to take care of Midori. Naoko, in contrast, cannot overcome Kizuki’s death. Naoko chose to abandon the outside world to cope, and found it impossible to move on.
"Death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life." - Haruki Murakami
Toru loves Naoko, but, tragically, their perceptions of life and death differ too greatly. Toru is able to move on, his wounds slowly healing from everything that has happened around him. Midori shows up as a representation of life to Toru; she has been through so much, but always stays optimistic toward love. Sadly, death can't be "a part of life" for Naoko; she cannot endure the harshness of growing up with losses. In the end, Naoko remains 21 years old forever. She is bound between life and death, which makes it difficult to be around Toru, and eventually impossible, as death takes her away. Naoko's death could have started the cycle all over again for Toru, but he has chosen life over death. In spite of this, Toru will carry that wound forever. Yes, it did heal, but the scar will always be visible to him. The whole narrative is told by the grown-up Toru; he does not want to forget Naoko, but he has to move forward, even though the pain will always be a part of him. He could have let the memory of Naoko slowly fade away, but he chooses to write about her, to remember her as he’d promised to.
“Despite your best efforts, people are going to be hurt when it's time for them to be hurt.” - Haruki Murakami
Norwegian Wood is undoubtedly a representation of the sorrows found in romantic affairs. Love is bound by life and death. Ironically, the more suffering love endures, the stronger it will become. Haruki Murakami has inspired many young people out there, myself included, to consider the meaning of love through Toru's relationship with Midori and Naoko. To find happiness, we must overcome hardship, but we also run the risk of it breaking us apart.
“What happens when people open their hearts?" "They get better.” - Haruki Murakami