A Review of "1Q84" by Haruki Murakami - Part 2
The world of 1Q84 proves to be dangerous and unpredictable, a world that lends itself to fear, hopelessness, and despair. It is no wonder that author Haruki Murakami...
...portrays the main characters of 1Q84, Aomame and Tengo, as driven to escape the uncertainty and threat it poses to them. Early in the 925-page tome, Tengo explains how he often retreated to mathematics, a realm of "infinite consistency," in order to "escape from the troublesome cage of reality." To Tengo:
"The world governed by numerical expression was, for him, a legitimate and always safe hiding place. As long as he stayed in that world, he could forget or ignore the rules and burdens forced upon him by the real world."
However, over time, Tengo discovered just as much dissatisfaction with the world of mathematics as he had experienced with the "burdens" of the real world:
"In elementary and middle school, Tengo was utterly absorbed by the world of mathematics. Its clarity and absolute freedom enthralled him, and he also needed them to survive. Once he entered adolescence, however, he began to feel increasingly that this might not be enough. There was no problem as long as he was visiting the world of math, but when he returned to the real world (as return he must), he found himself in the same miserable cage. Nothing had improved. Rather, his shackles felt even heavier. So then, what good was mathematics? Wasn't it just a temporary means of escape that made his real-life situation even worse?"
In these lines, Murakami puts his finger on a dilemma faced by so many Japanese people. On one hand, there appears to be such an attraction in the hearts and minds of Japanese people to order and predictability. These are the things that preserve harmony in a world that otherwise has so much potential for chaos. On the other hand, the chaos inherent in the Shinto and Buddhist worldviews stubbornly persists without any real solution. It is like a pair of shackles on the soul that, as Tengo indicated, "feel even heavier" when he returned to the real world.
So how does Tengo deal with this dilemma? He escapes to the world of story:
"The role of a story was, in the broadest terms, to transpose a single problem into another form. Depending on the nature and direction of the problem, a solution could be suggested in the narrative. Tengo would return to the real world with that suggestion in hand. It was like a piece of paper bearing the indecipherable text of a magic spell. At times it lacked coherence and served no immediate practical purpose. But it would contain a possibility. Somehow he might be able to decipher the spell. That possibility would gently warm his heart from within."
In other words, Tengo decided that if there were going to be any solution to the shackles on his soul, it would have to be found in some alternative way of understanding how and why the world works the way that it does, along with what place he personally has in it.
In Part 3 of this review, we will look at one of the alternatives—the worldview of biblical Christianity in contrast with the worldview of 1Q84. We will see once again that Murakami's novel opens the door to the possibility of a biblical worldview, coming closer to laying a foundation for its narrative than the author may have ever imagined.
Click here for Part 1 of this review
Click here for Part 3 of this review
Disclaimer: Although 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami may be useful for gaining insight into modern day Japanese worldview, it contains content that most Christians will find offensive. Therefore, this review should not be construed as a recommendation for the book by the Nippon Initiative.
