Love, Death, and Soba - Thomas Simmons

    Love and death in Murakami are often intertwined to tragic affect. Norwegian Wood is an example of how Murakami uses these two forces to drive his narrative exploring the ramifications of loss and betrayal on people as they try to navigate their traumas. However, unlike most authors who tend to fall into a cliche use of loss and death to define their characters, Murakami uses a more unconventional approach is almost making death seem oversaturated and redundant to the point of familiarity and even boredom to the characters in his books. In Norwegian Wood there are countless suicides and deaths within the book that it seems that after all is said and done, only two or three characters are still alive by the end: Toru, Reiko, and Midori. They don’t seem particularly affected by the plethora of death surrounding them, and speak of their lost friends in passing as if they were just dreams that have been awoken from. The last major death of the book, Naoko, is just mentioned indirectly, we are not present in her death and her last moments are only revealed to the audience through Reiko’s letters. This use of epistolary in the last chapters to reveal through Reiko’s narration what happened to Naoko shows how detached she and Toru were by the end of her life, being reduced to this distant memory that arises whenever he hears her favorite song, a faceless woman dancing through his memories. 

    The only time we ever see a character’s death actually being any emotion or reflection from the characters is when they are eating and opening up to one another. When Toru and Midori eat and chat about their lives, when Toru and Midori’s father eat cucumbers as he’s dying of cancer, and Toru and Reiko eating Soba while reflecting on Naoko’s death. This is another interesting aspect of Murakami that I have noticed in his works; his use of food as a mechanism for emotional exploration of his characters. We often learn the most of their inner thoughts and feelings as they eat and slowly open up. Thus, Murakami manages to weave together enchanting and mystical tales from the intersections of his characters traumas and the mundane such as an ordinary meal.