The Boy Named Crow

The Boy Named Crow

By: Haruki Murakami

(Japan)

Summary of the story:

In "The Boy Named Crow," a prologue of sorts, "Kafka" Tamura is preparing to run away from his home in Tokyo. He talks about his plans with his imaginary companion, Crow. Tomorrow is Kafka's fifteenth birthday and he has taken a substantial amount of money from his father, along with his cell phone and hunting knife. Crow warns Kafka that he can expect many trials on his journey, and he must be the toughest teenager ever to withstand it.

In Chapter 1, Kafka is planning his escape. He has been planning to run away for years, and in preparation he has been working out. He now looks older than his age. He takes a picture of his sister with him. Kafka's father destroyed all the pictures of his mother when she left, taking Kafka's...

Background of the author:

Thanks for A2A. I've yet to attain a coherent impression of Kafka, as I've only read it once so far. So it's my first attempt at forming an opinion about its plot points.

When it comes to Murakami, I am a firm believer that he tells the same story in his most mystical books. A story of a person thrown out of the usual, of the habitual, clashing with the mystical, turning to the inner sanctum and re-discovering oneself, impeded by the dark but aided by unusual old men and two women, one earthly and one mysteriously afar and hard to grasp (but far more attractive for the protagonist). You can find similar points in Norwegian Wood, Hard-Boiled Wonderland, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, wherever else if you squint well enough. :)

I believe Kafka follows the same pattern - which made it only more enjoyable for me, finding the familiar checkpoints of the story but disguised in new, unusual shapes.

As such, The Boy Named Crow is Kafka's alter ego that holds his better, stronger, saner qualities. It is his projection of his desirable self, which he envisions as a 'friend' for the sake of easier communication. (Similar to the Shadow of the protagonist in Hard-Boiled Wonderland which also undergoes a stage of separation.)

Johnny Walker, like many other things and personalities in Kafka, has a role and a purpose. He has a job to do in the scheme of the events, which he acknowledges repeatedly throughout the book. (Again, I feel a strong connection here between Kafka and the Hard-Boiled, as well as the Bird Chronicles.) Yes, it is not a nice job but it must be done to keep the world wheel turning. I do not believe that Kafka/Crow, in seeing Johnny Walker for the first time, recognizes Walker's significance or spiritual connection to the whole fabric of the plot, but the important part is Kafka's own position at that moment. He has come to the point of reaching closure. He is on the brink of stepping out of the forest and finding that the entire mysterious event has reached its logical conclusion.

I believe neither the darkness inside nor the link with Nakata has anything to do with Crow's attack on Johnny Walker. His goal is to remove the last bit of the ending plot: the stone is closing, Nakata and Miss Saeki have died, Kafka has made his decision to leave the forest village and return to the normal world - Johnny Walker is the last element that clearly belongs to "THERE" and not to "HERE". All "there" elements must now be removed. The Boy Named Crow acts instinctively and does the only thing that makes sense - to clear up the finished scenario by killing Johnny Walker.

This is the best I could come up with so far. It doesn't entirely make sense to me, but I've grown to accept the fact that Murakami's books never entirely make sense and leave me hanging every time (I've read Hard-Boiled, like, ten times but it always leaves me hanging just a tiny bit.)

Appreciation of the story:

As a Filipino the attitudes of the teenagers right now is very naughty .The teenagers or "Kabataan" in this times the they're prone to technology so more of them are engaging to love stories that orient them to engage the early independent like teenage pregnancy .Now the Philippines is facing the 3rd world country because of them they're the most common or one of the problem that could make the Philippines poor .It is because when the population gets high the the budget of the government will increase too.Most of the teenagers are tried to escape because of their parents don't have a time to bond with them.

 I'd experience it one time in life my father and I, in the past years we are quarreling most of the time because I want to go in my grandmother because she said your Father can't sustain your need so if you want to avoid that kind of life that waiting at you in the future you rather to go with me. She persuade me because I want my father to feel not so tired because he want to sustain our needs as will as a good father to as.