The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Change Analysis
Personal Reflection and Change
A sense of personal identity is hard to find as there is no text book directions, but change usually accompanies the journey to finding one's self, yet what enables people to change? In Haruki Murakami's novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Toru is on a quest to find his wife and better understand her as well as their marriage after she leaves him. During this time, Toru meets his neighbor, a teenage girl, named May, who he shares many conversations with. Later, she moves to work at a wig factory and writes letters to Toru as a way of therapy, but they never get to him. Throughout the novel, May's job at the wig factory enables her to change her mindset from pessimistic to optimistic as she is attempting to distinguish …show more content…
The novel ends with Toru saying, "'Goodbye, May Kasahara,' I said. Goodbye, May Kasahara: may there always be something watching over you" (607). It is clear that Toru valued their friendship and to see her change gives her hope for him to find inner peace. While the story could have ended with Kumiko, since the novel centers on his relationship with her, but instead it ended with May to inspire hope and leave a few cliff hangers. It leaves hope for those who may be struggling with their own life. Further, it ends with May as she serves the perfect example for the right balance between integrity and connection. While she connected with Toru and spent much of her time away writing him letters, she reflected on herself to enact personal change. Wrapping up the novel with her also addresses the letters she wrote Toru, which he never received, but the reader did since it revealed May's perspective and change. While the end of the novel does not answer all of the readers questions, it is adequate as it ties up loose strings and allows the audience to predict the endings for the character, such as whether Toru and Kumiko will begin a new relationship and whether May will return home or not.
At the end, May inspires hope. Leading the readers to question their own self and how personal reflection will help them. Works Cited
Murakami, Haruki, and Jay Rubin. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. New York: Vintage, 1998.
A sense of personal identity is hard to find as there is no text book directions, but change usually accompanies the journey to finding one's self, yet what enables people to change? In Haruki Murakami's novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Toru is on a quest to find his wife and better understand her as well as their marriage after she leaves him. During this time, Toru meets his neighbor, a teenage girl, named May, who he shares many conversations with. Later, she moves to work at a wig factory and writes letters to Toru as a way of therapy, but they never get to him. Throughout the novel, May's job at the wig factory enables her to change her mindset from pessimistic to optimistic as she is attempting to distinguish …show more content…
The novel ends with Toru saying, "'Goodbye, May Kasahara,' I said. Goodbye, May Kasahara: may there always be something watching over you" (607). It is clear that Toru valued their friendship and to see her change gives her hope for him to find inner peace. While the story could have ended with Kumiko, since the novel centers on his relationship with her, but instead it ended with May to inspire hope and leave a few cliff hangers. It leaves hope for those who may be struggling with their own life. Further, it ends with May as she serves the perfect example for the right balance between integrity and connection. While she connected with Toru and spent much of her time away writing him letters, she reflected on herself to enact personal change. Wrapping up the novel with her also addresses the letters she wrote Toru, which he never received, but the reader did since it revealed May's perspective and change. While the end of the novel does not answer all of the readers questions, it is adequate as it ties up loose strings and allows the audience to predict the endings for the character, such as whether Toru and Kumiko will begin a new relationship and whether May will return home or not.
At the end, May inspires hope. Leading the readers to question their own self and how personal reflection will help them. Works Cited
Murakami, Haruki, and Jay Rubin. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. New York: Vintage, 1998.