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Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Toru's Memories:
Norwegian Wood is told by 37-year-old Toru. He starts narrating when he hears the Beatles song “Norwegian Wood,” which transports him back to his college years. For the entire novel, Toru is remembering and recounting events that happened 18 years in the past. Strong emotions affect these memories, shaping which stories he shares and how he tells them. Additionally, Toru’s memories are influenced by the fact that he knows what will happen to the characters he’s writing about. In particular, his narration is likely affected by the fact that he knows Naoko will die.
Toru’s unreliability is especially notable in the context of his characterizations of others, especially Naoko and Midori. They are positioned as total opposites—Naoko as delicate and quiet, Midori as brash and open. It makes sense that Toru would see and describe them this way, as he was in a position of deciding between them. But readers can’t know how they would be portrayed from a neutral perspective.
In Chapter 1, Toru draws attention to the difference between experiencing something and remembering it:
And yet, as clear as the scene may be, no one is in it. No one. Naoko is not there, and neither am I. Where could we have disappeared to? How could such a thing have happened? Everything that seemed so important back then—Naoko, and the self I was then, and the world I had then: where could they have all gone? It’s true, I can’t even bring back Naoko’s face—not right away, at least. All I’m left holding is a background, sheer scenery, with no people up front.
Here, he acknowledges that his memories are faulty—he knows that he and Naoko were in the scene, but his memories have edited them both out. This acknowledgment reminds readers that Toru’s narration is not objective.
Related Themes:
