Murakami’s Use of Doubling in Norwegian Wood

 Doubling is a technique that spans many literary periods and has been employed by some of the greatest authors of all time. Charles Dickens used literary doubling in A Christmas Carol to demonstrate the difference in social standing and life outlook between Scrooge and characters such as Fezziwig and Bob Cratchit, and this difference prompts Scrooge to change his miserly ways. Along the way, it demonstrates to the reader Dickens’ thoughts on wealth disparity issues that plagues England in his days. It is a subtle and effective way to compare and contrast characters and make commentary about issues. 

In Norwegian Wood, there are many examples of doubling. Two of the most powerful comparisons exist between Naoko and Midori and Nagasawa and Toru. For Naoko and Midori, I came to the conclusion that they were opposites in their response to trauma, and through their respective interactions with Toru, Murakami was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of each response. For Nagasawa and Toru, I believe that their doubling shows the reader two alternative responses to finding meaning in a meaningless world. 

Both Naoko and Midori deal with trauma in Norwegian Wood, but the timing and response to the trauma differs drastically. For Naoko, she is given a picture perfect childhood. She has a comfortable home life, loving parents, a perfect sister, and found her soulmate in her childhood. Once she reaches teenage years, things turn for the worse; she finds her sister dead after committing suicide, and her love Kizuki also commits suicide without notice. Midori on the other hand is plagued with death her whole childhood. She loses her mother to brain cancer, loses numerous other relatives, attends a school where she feels out of place, and finally her father gets diagnosed with the same disease that killed her mother. Around the end of the book we see her enter a seemingly good relationship with Toru, she has some financial from the sale of her family bookstore, and it seems that her life makes a turn for the better. This dichotomy of experience, where one character’s life starts out good and turns bad around the time the other character’s hardships turn to good fortune is telling of the response to trauma. Midori grew up with hardships and learned how to persevere through tough times. She has a remarkably quick grieving period after her father’s death, and she doesn’t push any of the trauma onto Toru despite their budding relationship. When Naoko has to deal with her hardships, she doesn't have the necessary coping mechanisms and cannot process what has happened. This leaves her a fragile shell of her former self, and she pushes these issues onto Toru by instigating an odd semi-relationship. When she has a mental break, this leaves Toru confused, worried, and directionless. She doesn’t have the proper coping mechanisms developed, and this leads to her radiating her negativity over Toru and eventually taking her own life. Murakami uses the duality of these two characters' responses to make commentary about trauma response, and point out to the reader that a charmed life doesn't come without its own consequences. 

The doubling of Nagasawa and Toru is extremely interesting, as it seems close to home to Murakami himself. Both characters are intelligent, see the futility of daily actions, and search to fill the void. But it is their juxtaposing methods of which they fill that void that leads the reader to question what is right, and their own response to the same effort. For Nagasawa, he chooses to channel his intelligence and time into obtaining power through public service, and performs extremely well academically. He even uses his free time to study other languages and become widely read. He also is an extreme womanizer, and despite having a steady long term girlfriend pursues one night stands routinely. This also seems to be a pursuit of power in its own twisted way, so Nagasawa's efforts to fill the void constitute his pursuit of maximum power. For Toru, who is also bored, bright, and aimless, the attempt to fill the void is using close relationships. Though he is not a particularly social being, Toru tends to a handful of close meaningful relationships (with Naoko and Midori) with impressive vigilance. Because Nagasawa leaves a wake of burned bridges and damaged people (such as Hatsumi), and Toru actually helps individuals he comes in contact with, the reader gets the sense that Murakami condemns actions similar to Nagasawa's, and applauds Toru’s tactic to filling the void. 

Literary doubling (and tripling) is a subtle technique with big potential, and Murakami employs it masterfully in Norwegian Wood to demonstrate his opinions on a wide range of social issues to the reader. 

- Andrew