The people in a person's life are often more important in shaping their future than the choices of that person themselves. In Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, the protagonist, Toru Watanabe, meets various women who influence him and change his outlook on life as he progresses in his relationship with his girlfriend, Naoko. Naoko herself is a reminder of adolescence and death for Watanabe; his mental instability reminds him of his best friend's suicide and he can therefore only associate it with his past. Hatsumi, the girlfriend of Watanabe's profitable roommate, is the image of what Watanabe believes he wants as an adult; she lives a comfortable and well-adjusted life, but she is disappointed by her boyfriend's frivolous behavior while she lives in profit and prosperity. Reiko, Naoko's guardian, is the reflection of what Watanabe can be; she proves that even those with broken lives can heal after accepting their own failures and losses. Finally, Midori, with whom Watanabe ends up falling in love, represents his future; she has gotten rid of all the regrets of her past and only lives for each passing moment. The women of Norwegian Wood each represent a different era in Watanabe's life and shape his transition from adolescence to adulthood; Under their influence, Watanabe finally learns to cut ties with his past and look toward his future. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Naoko is still part of Watanabe's past; she becomes a living ghost, acting as an emotional weight on his shoulders and haunting his memories when he desires to break free and live independently. When Watanabe visits her at Ami, the sanitarium where she is confined, Naoko tells him, "Kizuki may be dead, but you are still my only connection to the outside world. And just like Kizuki loved you, I love you. We never meant to hurt you, but we probably did; we probably ended up making a deep wound in your heart” (129). Here, Naoko recognizes the sentimental scars she leaves for Watanabe. By saying that he is her "only connection to the outside world", she forces Watanabe to stay with her, thus emotionally dragging him down with his depression. The constant reminder that Kizuki's death is what brings the couple together continues to be a painful prevalence in their relationship, and Naoko emphasizes that she realizes that their relationship is a burden on Watanabe. Despite this, she takes no initiative to help Watanabe or ease his struggle. Instead, even after her death, Naoko continues to remain a psychological barrier for Watanabe as he attempts to reconnect with reality. Several years after Naoko's suicide, when Watanabe hears "Norwegian Wood" playing on the radio, he remembers the girl he loved. Reflecting on this moment, he thinks: "The more the memories of Naoko in me fade, the more deeply I am able to understand her... she begged me to never forget her, to remember that she had existed. This thought fills me with an almost unbearable sorrow Because Naoko never loved me" (10). Watanabe is forced to remember his promise to Naoko and her existence – it is immortalized as a memory of Watanabe: something that will live with him forever. However, Naoko's perpetuity in Watanabe's memories creates even more pain for him as he is forced to recognize that Naoko's relationship with him was based more on emotional dependence than romantic love. Therefore, the more Watanabe thinks about Naoko,the more regrets about her and Kizuki's suicide pile up, the more he dwells on the past. Naoko will live forever as an embodiment of Watanabe's past; it encompasses most of his memories from his college years and becomes a weight he will carry for the rest of his life. Hatsumi represents adulthood and the future that Watanabe is striving toward, but her frustrations with her relationship with Watanabe's roommate, Nagasawa, and her eventual suicide reveal to Watanabe that adulthood is not necessarily an easy escape of his past. When Nagasawa hosts a dinner to celebrate finding a high-ranking job, Watanabe remembers an argument that took place between Nagasawa and Hatsumi; "'You can't even call what I'm doing stupid. It's just a game. No one is hurt,' Nagasawa said. 'I'm hurt,' Hatsumi said. 'Why am I not enough for you?’” (208). Watanabe considers Nagasawa and Hatsumi the ideal couple and the image of success: beautiful, profitable and steadfast. However, Nagasawa takes out his stress from pursuing success by being unfaithful, meaning that there are aspects of adult life that are inherently unattractive. Beneath its glittering exteriors, adulthood is actually a constant feeling of inadequacy and a flood of feelings that cannot be conveyed. Hatsumi's disillusionment becomes more evident as the scene unfolds and she directly confronts her boyfriend: "'You don't care if I understand you or not?'...'So is it a mistake to my part in feeling that I want to be understood by someone?' – by you, for example? It was the first and last time I heard him scream” (210). As Watanabe watches this moment happen, he realizes that in adulthood, there is no honesty; As people get older, they become more and more jaded, so much so that they barely recognize themselves or show their true personalities. By raising her voice, Hatsumi breaks away from the subservient girlfriend persona she had been playing all along; it's as if Hatsumi and Nagasawa are putting on a play, as if all of adulthood is just a theatrical facade. Despite this, as Watanabe reflects on the times he spent with the older couple, he describes that "the image of Hatsumi came to my mind... It was a kind of childhood longing which had always remained - and would remain forever". -- dissatisfied... What Hatsumi stirred in me was a part of myself that had lain dormant for a long time... Someone should have done something -- anything -- to save her" (211 -212).Watanabe realizes that Hatsumi reminds him of a life that was wasted waiting for Nagasawa to settle down instead of living a fulfilling adult life and doing what is expected of successful adults. , Hatsumi waits with dreams that will never come true and a lover who will never marry her. Hatsumi's eventual suicide ends the vicious cycle, revealing that even the most perfect couples are secretly corrupt, with both parties incapable of healing. emerging from the mess they have created is a reflection of what Watanabe can become; she is healing after a crippling loss and failure, but she eventually learns to let go of her past and start again. to Reiko's letter about Naoko's death, Watanabe is able to see the parallels between him and Reiko when he remarks: "And just as Naoko and I had shared the dead Kizuki, Reiko and I shared the dead Naoko" ( 279). Here, Watanabe implies that death, or loss, is what brings people together, and although Naoko's death will be another weight on their shoulders, it has bonded Watanabe and Reiko on a personal level. By sharing their grief, they can help each other come to terms with death. While Watanabecries Naoko, Reiko tells her: "That's why you must take any chance you have of happiness wherever you find it, and not worry too much about others. My experience tells me that we don't have any more than two or three." such chances in a lifetime, and if we let them pass, we will regret it for the rest of our lives" (269). Reiko speaks from experience; she has experienced the same regret that she tells Watanabe to avoid, and she wants to help Watanabe overcome his grief and mourning by asking him to let go of his past and start a new life. Reiko continues to give Watanabe life advice until finally, they part ways at a train station. after Reiko leaves Ami Watanabe reflects, "We were alive, she and I. And all we had to think about was continuing to live... 'Be happy,' Reiko told me as we boarded the train. 'I gave you all the advice I had to give. There's nothing left for me to say. Just be happy, take my part and Naoko’s part and combine them for you” (293). Reiko's final advice is for Watanabe to find happiness, which she was unable to do, thus sending him to Ami in the first place. She asks Watanabe to take Naoko's happiness and his own, which was lost while living in Ami, and take it for himself. From this advice, Reiko teaches Watanabe how to abandon Naoko and his obligations to her and Kizuki, as well as how to accept their deaths. In this moment, Watanabe is truly alive, having learned to free himself from his memories of Naoko; Reiko shows Watanabe that he has a whole life ahead of him and that he can live normally, and therefore, he still has a chance to live his life to the fullest. Midori represents freedom and a break with the past for Watanabe; having been plagued by death in her past, she rejects the social expectations that bind her and savors every moment she experiences there. Midori never seems to hold on to regrets or mourn the things she has lost – when Watanabe expresses concern for Midori after her father's death, she simply ignores him; "No, funerals are a piece of cake. We had a lot of practice... My sister and I were exhausted. We couldn't even cry. We had no more tears. Except when you cry . that, they start whispering about you... The bastards! The more they wanted to see us cry, the more we were determined not to give them satisfaction” (221). She no longer cares: she stops dwelling on the people who existed in her past and focuses only on her relationships in the present. She considers death and funerals a mere formality and looks down on those who do. criticize her lack of sympathy. Midori refuses to conform to the expectations that her father's death is something she is supposed to mourn, and in order to continue to defy these expectations, she stops herself from grieving. Midori can also be seen when Watanabe visits her at home and says to her father's shrine, "Good night, Dad...I'm sure you're not in pain." If so, you better complain to the gods. . Tell them it's just too cruel. I hope you meet Mom and that the two of you really do it... So give it all you've got" (230). Midori's light-hearted approach when speaking to her father, even after his death, shows that she no longer worries about her loss. Instead, she makes sexual jokes about her father in heaven, which shows how quickly she is able to let go of what happened in. the past She does not linger and mourn the death of her father; rather she is relieved by the end of his suffering. These examples reveal the way Midori learned to cope with grief.,.