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Wind Up Bird Chronicle Individualism

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Haruki Murakami is a contemporary Japanese writer who confronts the contradictions of modern Japanese identity. Centering in the late 1960s, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle depicts the melancholic mood of many Japanese residents recovering from the aftermath of World War II. Due to the drastic decrease in population following the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, there was an overwhelming sense of identity loss and solitude. As argued by Historian Robin L. Rielly in Kamikaze Attacks of World War II, this loss of identity has resulted in countless suicides across various regions of Japan, such as the Aokigahara forest. The recurring theme of war in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is used to heavily assert the importance of individualism as a key component …show more content…

Through incorporating religion in the form of the moon god, Tsukiyomi, he allows readers to realize the strong connections that exist between meanings that can not be seen and concrete facts. By doing so, he evokes feeling on the possibility that every experience in one’s life contains deep and profound philosophical meaning. The environment individuals inhabit and the families that raise them are meant as guides; friends and family are not meant to affect the way individuals decide to live their lives. Untimely, individuals have to realize who they are as a person and what their purpose in life is. Murakami’s ultimate use of symbolism through reference of mythological creatures and common gods serve as an effective technique in heightening the meaning within The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami shows that individuals should go with the flow of life instead of attempting to live life a certain way dictated by others. Imagine life to be several uncontrollable strands of thread in which some were meant to intertwine with others and some not. Overall, Murakami writes The Wind-up Bird Chronicle in order to educate philosophical readers of being able to accept whatever lies in upcoming life events in the form of entertainment that includes hidden meaning within symbolic events and

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