I really enjoy Murakami’s writing style and I believe that his intriguing way of writing is deeply rooted in his excellent use of figurative language. He uses many similes and lots of imagery. I would like to focus on these two elements because I find that they are what make his writing so juicy. Some examples of his great writing are:
“The car door opened and the waning light of a summer afternoon fell across my face. Thousands of cicadas were singing at a high pitch like the winding of a clockspring. There was the rich smell of earth.” (page 78)-This is one of my favorite examples of imagery and simile because when I read this I can feel myself sitting in the limo, opening the door, and experiencing the nature around me.
“Mid-thirties to forty in age, five foot ten plus in height, trimmed of every last ounce of fat, slender hands without telltale wrinkles.” (page 61)- I can picture this exact man standing before me.
These are only two examples of the many lavish sentences he writes. If you think about it, the beginning of the book actually has quite a simple plotline, but Murakami’s use of figurative language makes the book hard to put down. This story also has elements of symbolism in it. When I was reading, I found that the café seemed to resemble the main character’s old lifestyle and the wild sheep chase resembled his new experiences and change of lifestyle. The café used to be his old, boring routine, but the wild sheep chase offers many twists and turns in his life. I envy Murakami’s talented ability to use figurative language in a way that makes me feel as though I am living within the pages of the book.
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I have to agree that the imagery concerning the setting is very good. That passage of the description of the man doesn't really work for me though. People can't be very well described by age or stature. We're all so similar when you think about it. I had trouble putting a face on any of the characters in this book actually. Did anyone else feel that way?
ReplyDeleteI agree, thinking about it now I can't really picture any of the characters. From your quote, I can envision a genre of person, but I can't put a face on him. I still think that that is a good quote, showing his imagery. It just isn't the classic imagery where you can fully imagine the character.
ReplyDeleteThats a good point Athena...I feel that this quote gives physical description but doesn't say much about the man's personality. Now that you mention it, this is actually quite different form the rest of the book because Murakami usually describes a character's personality traits, but not their physical traits. I like that he does this, because it leaves a certain portion of the book up to your imagination.
ReplyDeleteBut is it that he's leaving it up to the reader? Or could it be that he's suggesting something about physical appearance. Maybe he thinks that it’s irrelevant to concentrate on physical traits.
ReplyDeleteWhat y'all have to realize in the context of character development is that Murakami is framing the main character as fluid, not static. The attributes do not matter because the character is not filling an archetypal role - instead, he makes a development throughout the wild sheep chase. This is done so that instead of focusing on all these irrelevant details, we can focus on the larger message of the work as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI also had issues imagining people because the descriptions about people keep changing in my mind because they do not seem important enough to the plot except for that girls ears which I have not enough imagination to figure out what they would look like and the description of the man which started to turn darker as the description continued until he was sitting in a dark room staring at a clock unmoving like death.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone about how hard it is to put a face to these characters. I think that the reason Murakami doesn't describe their personality might be the same reason that he doesn't name them. I think, like Hannah said, that he does this so we can focus on the main message but to me it's just distracting.
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