Samurai's Tale Murakami Character Analysis

About two-thirds into the story, The Samurai's Tale, Murakami faces a big challenge. His lord left him and 20 men of the baggage train to be cannon fodder for the enemy. They are put there to be lure the enemy into their ruse, but there is not guarantee they will survive. Rather, there is a high chance of the enemy annihilating their group. As he solves this impending crisis, he shows a different side of him. He matures throughout the story, and the blatant changes showed up in every action and word he utters during the battle in Chapter 21. Murakami's intelligence and courage surfaces as he attempts to keep his men and himself alive.

To start off, the main character makes use of his clever mind and keen observational skills in order …show more content…
For instance, he declares, "Oh, I will stay here. These are my men, and I will share whatever happens to them." A young samurai previously told him that it is his men's duty to perish that day. However, even knowing that, Murakami is resolute in saying that he will share his men's fate. Even without any obligation to stay with them, he still does not run off and leave his men by themselves to die. It is an impressive act of gallantry. In addition, he shows another side of him, albeit reckless, but very brave through the sentence, "Now is the time we are supposed to die, I thought and grinned." Death does not agitate him, and it seems that he welcomes it in rather than cowering, as if to challenge death. Realizing that at some point in time, he will die, he does not shy away from it. Instead, he embraces it like the way of a true samurai. Very few people can follow the way diligently and honestly as him. Furthermore, he thinks, "The plan was that we were to stay and die, but I had not been informed of this plan, so I was not disobeying it." Since the young commander had advised him previously, Murakami was definitely aware about it. Because his lord did not tell him directly, he is most likely not supposed to know about the plan. He manipulates it to his full advantage and believes that if he wasn't supposed to know, he technically wasn't going against it. People from the higher-ups may consider it as an act of insubordination, and he can get punished. Nonetheless, Murakami believes that the lives of 20 men are more significant than a degrading of status or some other discipline. Not all people will save the lives of others without hesitation if they know there is a high risk going along with it. The hero of the story shows his intrepidity as he is willing to accept the risk rather than allow some brave men pass on without any