Suicide of Naoko: A Psycho-Social Study of Murakami’s Norwegian Wood (Published)
The idea of death is being thought as an incorrigible essence in the portrayal of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood (2000). Individualistic values nonconforming (not aware of social norms, ethics or morals) to societal values, weak social restrains, the desire for meaning of life which is attainable only by social attachment, dichotomy between nonconforming values and unconscious wish for sympathy lead an individual to depression and melancholy as well as schizophrenic conditions which are the reinforces for committing suicide. Naoko’s rejection of coming back to the engraved and stereotype societal norms and dystopian society (Naoko’s viewpoint), as well as Kizuki’s unprecedented suicide and her childhood fallacies, are intermingled for producing psychological dysfunction in the psyche which ultimately lead her towards committing suicide at the Sanatorium. Naoko’s Kizuki complex and making herself alien from the suffocating and afflicted societal values can be judged by Durkheim’s egoistic suicidal drive and Freudian Psychoanalysis. The paper discusses how Durkheim’s egoistic suicidal drive is associated with Naoko’s psychological trauma or PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) that drives her towards committing suicide who is an impeccable embodiment of psycho-social dystopia in Japanese youth. The first section of this paper scrutinizes Durkheim’s suicidal drive and connects with Norwegian Wood and Japanese contemporary society during post-Second World War specially 1960s. The rest of the part consults with Freudian psychoanalysis on Naoko’s repressed thoughts and memories of childhood, where both phenomena are possibly responsible for Naoko’s abrupt decision of killing herself.
Keywords: Durkheim, Freud, PTSD, dystopia, non-conforming