The Elephant Vanishes can be seen as a manifestation of modernization and homogenization of Japanese culture through the influence of westernization. Murakami is particularly interested in the way that the characters react towards the changing society. Throughout the collection, he writes about the consequence of westernization by exploring the seriousness of Japan as a vanishing culture. This idea is most profound in the beginning and the end story of the collection The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday’s Women and The Elephant Vanishes, which acts as a symbolism, suggested through stylistic elements of culture loss, which was explored through a gradual progression of the story, in which Murakami emphasizes the threat of a vanishing culture in Japan.
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Murakami often uses symbolism to represent certain ideas that indirectly encodes a deeper, more profound understanding of a hidden picture of the society he lives in. He depicts a culture in crisis presenting it through the symbolism of the missing cat in The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday’s Women, and the significance of the vanishing elephant in The Elephant Vanishes. The cat, elephant and keeper are the only characters with an identity; their disappearance implies that the culture is in danger. Moreover, the seriousness of the disappearance is clearly established in The Elephant Vanishes. In this story, Murakami uses magic realism to demonstrate culture loss. Magic realism is "an unexpected alteration of reality [. . .] an unaccustomed insight that is singularly favored by the unexpected richness of reality or an amplification of the scale and categories of reality ” The use of this technique is successful in leading the reader to expect the unexpected, thinking outside the box, even the most illogical thing can happen. This technique is applied in The Elephant Vanishes when the balance between the elephant and its keeper is disrupted. When the elephant disappears, his sense of balance and unity disappears along with it.2 The sense of unity symbolizes Japanese society as a whole entity, with its unique cultural values and …show more content…
They seemed to have lost the “Japaneseness” within themselves, which puts their cultural identity at risk. The English language has found a way into Japanese language mainly through buzzwords like “kit-chin” for kitchen. It has become a common language, thus diminishing the importance of the traditional Japanese language. In the very beginning of The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday’s Women, the scene appears to be set in a western society. “Whistling the prelude to Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra along with the FM radio ”, and “cooking spaghetti ” indicates the influence which western culture has exerted on the local Japanese, to the extent of changing their everyday practices, which poses a danger to the existence of traditional Japanese culture. The merging of values, one of which being socialization is something which the Japanese consider as an extremely important value. It appears that these cultural values have been ignored. Only three characters in the whole collection have a name; “Noboru Watanabe” which appeared in The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday’s Women, Family Affair and The Elephant Vanishes. The merging of different cultures makes identification of unique characteristics difficult. This is significant as the less significant practices will be eliminated, over time, they will vanish. As culture is largely based on customs and practices, the elimination of them
Murakami often uses symbolism to represent certain ideas that indirectly encodes a deeper, more profound understanding of a hidden picture of the society he lives in. He depicts a culture in crisis presenting it through the symbolism of the missing cat in The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday’s Women, and the significance of the vanishing elephant in The Elephant Vanishes. The cat, elephant and keeper are the only characters with an identity; their disappearance implies that the culture is in danger. Moreover, the seriousness of the disappearance is clearly established in The Elephant Vanishes. In this story, Murakami uses magic realism to demonstrate culture loss. Magic realism is "an unexpected alteration of reality [. . .] an unaccustomed insight that is singularly favored by the unexpected richness of reality or an amplification of the scale and categories of reality ” The use of this technique is successful in leading the reader to expect the unexpected, thinking outside the box, even the most illogical thing can happen. This technique is applied in The Elephant Vanishes when the balance between the elephant and its keeper is disrupted. When the elephant disappears, his sense of balance and unity disappears along with it.2 The sense of unity symbolizes Japanese society as a whole entity, with its unique cultural values and …show more content…
They seemed to have lost the “Japaneseness” within themselves, which puts their cultural identity at risk. The English language has found a way into Japanese language mainly through buzzwords like “kit-chin” for kitchen. It has become a common language, thus diminishing the importance of the traditional Japanese language. In the very beginning of The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday’s Women, the scene appears to be set in a western society. “Whistling the prelude to Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra along with the FM radio ”, and “cooking spaghetti ” indicates the influence which western culture has exerted on the local Japanese, to the extent of changing their everyday practices, which poses a danger to the existence of traditional Japanese culture. The merging of values, one of which being socialization is something which the Japanese consider as an extremely important value. It appears that these cultural values have been ignored. Only three characters in the whole collection have a name; “Noboru Watanabe” which appeared in The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday’s Women, Family Affair and The Elephant Vanishes. The merging of different cultures makes identification of unique characteristics difficult. This is significant as the less significant practices will be eliminated, over time, they will vanish. As culture is largely based on customs and practices, the elimination of them