In
the story, the main character Watanabe’s daily lives are depicted. What struck
my mind was that the life of Watanabe is the life of most students in real
life. Of course, the death of one’s friend at a relatively young age is not
what occurs to most people but other aspects of Watanabe represents the life of
most students. Watanabe does not have a real close friend that he can really
rely on or trust. He makes friends with people just by one common point such as
having read The Great Gatsby. The notion of real friend kept coming up in my
mind after reading the book to chapter 3.
The
book somewhat shows the reality of many high school students if not at least in
KMLA. Students are busy focusing on their own lives. Of course since life is
one’s own, one’s action of focusing on oneself first is natural. However, as
many people say, the phenomenon of caring only oneself is becoming more
serious. People are becoming ‘oblivious’ of neighbors. In the book, Watanabe
notices something different of his friend Kizuki. However, Watanabe does not
give much thought into Kizuki and that night Kizuki dies. Although not to this
extent, many students go through same experience at some point in Watanabe’s or
Kizuki’s point. Students might just go over friends’ hardships or concerns. Or
friends might just act as if they do not notice your hardships.
In
the story, love is also an important theme. Toru Watanabe makes promises to
Naoko that he will never forget her. At that scene, they were having a talk.
Toru tries to relax Naoko by telling her to relax a bit letting go some
rigidity in life but is replied with Naoko’s anger. Naoko is angry at Watanabe
that he is telling the words that is so obvious and cliché. After the anger,
Naoko apologizes to Watanabe and he says that he does not understand her that
much right now but will if he has time. Watanabe understands her purpose for
making him to say he will never forget her later on as he reflects upon his
experience. She knew that he would eventually forget her as time passes. Maybe
this is what happens to most of the experiences. As time passes, people’s
memories fade away. Also, people make promises that we might not understand at
that time but later find out the purpose.
I
enjoyed reading the book since the book made me to reflect upon my past
experiences and throw questions at myself. I had time to look back and somewhat
think about how I lived and how I want to live from now on.
Great job. Very sincere and pointed observations without adornment. I like that about your style of writing and thinking, and it is clear you enjoy this book.
답글삭제I find it interesting that there is very little time spent on the "death of Kizuki." In a few paragraphs, Toru reflects on it, moves past it, and admits he had no idea why it happened. And then, we move on.
But have we "moved on." Clearly, the death of Kizuki is the reason why Naoko and Toru are where they are, and their state of emptiness is part of that. Later in the book, I think the feelings we have to those who take their own lives in examined, and although Kizuki isn't focused on explicitly, he is definitely in the subtext of every page.
Nice writing and observing.