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The Seventh Man Murakami Analysis

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If you were in a life or death situation where you had to save yourself or your friend, what would you do? Danger is on top of you and you are paralyzed with fear, the only thought is to save yourself. Can you live with that decision for the rest of your life?
The Seventh Man should forgive himself for not saving K. Murakami writes, “Hurry K! Get out of there! The wave is coming!”(page 138). This means that the Seventh Man gave K a warning and K did not move out of the way, so the Seventh Man should not feel guilty for the death of K. Additionally in his story “The Seventh Man” Haruki Murakami writes”running full speed towards the dyke,alone. What made me do this, I’m sure, was fear, a fear so powering it took my voice and sent my legs running on their own.”(page 138). This shows that although the Seventh Man ran away alone, he was scared and did not know what else to do besides run. Others might say that this is not the case. The claim that the Seventh Man should not forgive himself is problematic. For example, it can be said that the Seventh Man could have saved K and he knows it.. …show more content…

My thoughts and reasoning are supported by “The Moral Logic of Survival Guilt” by Nancy Sherman. For example, Nancy Sherman says “To have good luck is to deprive another of it.”(page155). The Seventh Man is lucky that he survived himself he barely stayed alive himself, how could he have saved K. Additionally in her story “The Moral Logic of Survival Guilt”, Nancy Sherman writes “standing here rather than there can your life but cost a buddy his”(page 153). This shows that the Seventh Man saved himself but he could not save K. Other people might disagree with me and say he should not forgive himself. For example, some people can say that the Seventh Man knew there was a wave coming and he did not warn K. However Haruki Murakami states that in fact the Seventh Man warned K but K did not react fast

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