Mary Szot
on Love and Destruction
in Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun
 

Haruki Murakami is by no means a household name in the United States, but after reading his novel, South of the Border, West of the Sun and conducting some research on the computer, I found that he has a solid following in this country. His works are hauntingly simple while never offering a simple solution. This is no truer than in his novel South of the Border, West of the Sun. In this novel, he weaves the story of Hajime. He follows Hajime from grade school to his middle age, through first loves and beyond.

Hajime’s quest for an ideal partner takes him on a journey where he has to discover himself and the people around him. In his novel, Haruki Murakami explores the concept of the potential destruction of love that can occur when the nature of that loves turns compulsive.

First, a little background of Mr. Murakami is essential in order to understand his characters in this novel. First of all, he was born in post World War II and attended college in the 1960’s, which similar to the United States college experience during the same time was highly idealistic. According to Amy Tak-yee Lai, professor of English at Cambridge University on her website: <www.geocities.com/paris/3954/haruki8.html>, "The works of Murakami and the life he depicts fully reflect the mentality of the younger generation in the industrial countries of the 60’s, their reactionalism and rebelliousness, and those feelings of loss, emptiness, and rootlessness which continue to move our youngsters today." His character Hajime exemplifies this model. He went to the university in Tokyo, afterwards found a job editing textbooks, and just started going through the motions of his job. During this time, he reads many novels watches movies and talks about the American culture. Hajime’s life reflects that of the author all the way down to owning a jazz bar. If one did not know any better, he/she would think that Hajime is the author’s attempt to reconcile his life and work through the problems that he has encountered in his life.

One main theme I found in this novel is that you have to look back to go further forward. Hajime, entering middle ages is uncertain of himself and his life. He had an ideal life--wife, two children, and two successful jazz bars. He had a father-in-law who respected him and gave him the means by which he could start this successful life. However, in the grand scheme of things he felt like he did not have the perfect life and like there was something missing. Like Genji, he was on a search for the perfect mate. He tried to substitute things in his life and repeat a relationship he already had had. Hajime went through many women during his life, and ended up with a quiet woman. However, through the majority of the book he reflects on his past relationships and what was so good about them. Hajime is like Genji in the respect that he talks about his women and the good qualities that they had. Also, after he is married he has several affairs with women. He relates those experiences nonchalantly and they seem almost expected out of a fairly wealthy Japanese man. This aspect of his life must be a comment by the author on the nature of Japanese culture in respect to the treatment of women and marriage.

He found what he already had in Shimamoto, a friend from childhood who he had not seen since she moved away from his neighborhood when they were children. She was crippled and often times when Hajime saw crippled woman, he would hope it was Shimamoto. Hajime felt a connection with her then that lasted well into his adult life. Shimamoto was his escape from boredom with the modern city and his life that it had grown to be. Through her, he learned that human relationships are delicate. She tells him, "Day after day you watch the sun rise in the east, pass across the sky, and then sink in the west, and something breaks inside you and dies" (177). Shimamoto is trying to explain how mundane the world can really be. But with the right partner, a person does not have to feel that way. She showed him by keeping information from him, that relationships have to be cared for and not taken advantage of, and that with a little care, relationships don’t have to be so boring.

On the other hand, Murakami represents the possible destruction of love when it turns into obsession (Tak-yee Lai). Because he became completely immersed himself into the blank façade that Shimamoto put up for him to see, he jeopardized his familial relationships. Shimamoto led him into her web by being aloof and not giving him any information into her life. Hajime started to believe that the less you know about a person’s past, the better. However, although he did have a connection with Shimamoto, he could not connect with her on a personal level. She did fool him into thinking that he really knew everything about her, when in essence he knew nothing. Both the main characters, Hajime and Shimamoto, are despondent.

Another theme in the book was his use of American Culture. As Ray Sawhill points out, "Murakami relies heavily on ‘Casablanca.’" Even though the only experience I have with that movie is parodies of it on television and seeing one or two clips, I can still understand where Sawhill is coming from. From images of the smoky bar to the rainy, bleak nights, the mood evoked in the novel are very mysterious and nostalgic and make for perfect opportunities for a husband to contemplate cheating on his wife. This relation to American culture is also extended in the form of a Bing Crosby song that he and Shimamoto listened to as children and often imagined the place the song told of. The song has such an influence on Hajime, the author felt it necessary to use the title of the song as the title for his book.

Overall, this novel explores love, infatuation, and the existence of something more to life. Hajime tries to reach out to a woman he loves and who he thinks loves him back; however, he winds up at a dead end wondering if all the events had really taken place. The name Hajime means, "Beginning" and that it what he is always striving to achieve. He is always at a new beginning in his life. His marriage is always entering a new level when he talks to his wife and he never thinks the same thing twice about her. His relationship with Shimamoto is always at a beginning also. He always thinks that they are progressing but he always ends up right where they began.

Hajime’s wife Yukiko is never really fully developed in this novel. Hajime focuses his attention on Shimamoto and often pays little attention to his wife. He works long, late hours at his jazz bars and once he starts to see Shimamoto, he often drives to their house in the mountains to be by himself and to think about his life and what he is going to do. Murakami gives a very subservient role to Yukiko and she makes the decision to stay with her husband after she finds about Shimamoto. This was a very big clue into the Japanese culture and what it represents. In American culture, women usually don’t choose to stay with their husbands after they catch them cheating. But, this character reveals the nature of a culture whose traditions are very old and very strict. Hajime acts progressive towards his wife at times, but when she makes a

Hajime remains in the middle of all the events that surround his life. In that context, he seems very self-centered. He tries to mask his egoism by talking a lot about Shimamoto to himself; however, throughout the story his relationship to her is constantly being related to his life. He stops to think about his wife and kids, but then always returns to his thoughts on the situation. Also, his work ethic plays a big part in his relationships. He owns two bars and is constantly checking up on them and making changes to them. He often spends late nights going through his books and organizing his business. This characteristic of Hajime greatly reflects the work ethic of the Japanese culture.

The novel, South of the Border, West of the Sun, is a comment on Japanese culture and love. Haruki Murakami relates the story of one Japanese man and his trials and tribulations through love and marriage and keeping his life together. We see an ordinary, successful man succumb to something much larger than himself. He falls for a woman who knows how to manipulate him while at the same time make him think that he is the most interesting person in the world. Through her admiration of Hajime, he becomes reckless with every other aspect of his life.

This novel set in Japan, reflects a culture full of archaic views of relationships between men and women, as seen through the eyes of a generation who has the potential to change the tradition of the culture. Haruki Murakami explores the boundaries of love, marriage, infatuation, and obsession through his characters. Murakami fleshes out what could happen to an individual in the midst of a love affair that he wants but knows he should not have and the possibility of that love affair destroying everything. Yet, he still takes that risk.

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