56 pages • 1 hour read
Haruki MurakamiA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
“The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday’s Women”
“The Second Bakery Attack”
“The Kangaroo Communiqué”
“On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning”
“Sleep”
“The Fall of the Roman Empire, the 1881 Indian Uprising, Hitler’s Invasion of Poland, and the Realm of Raging Winds”
“Lederhosen”
“Barn Burning”
“The Little Green Monster”
“Family Affair”
“A Window”
“TV People”
“A Slow Boat to China”
“The Dancing Dwarf”
“The Last Lawn of the Afternoon”
“The Silence”
“The Elephant Vanishes”
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
While waiting for a plane at the airport, the narrator asks his business friend Ozawa, an amateur boxer, if he has ever punched somebody. Ozawa finally admits that he did hit somebody in eighth grade, soon after he had started boxing. Though he wishes he could “wipe the story out of [his] mind entirely” (295), he tells the narrator about his fight and its far-reaching consequences.
The boy Ozawa hit was a classmate named Aoki. Aoki was a model student who was extremely popular, though Ozawa never liked him. When Ozawa earned the top score on one English test in eighth grade, however, Aoki became jealous and accused him of cheating. Ozawa confronted Aoki about this and finally punched him in the jaw. This led Aoki to hate and resent Ozawa throughout high school. Meanwhile, Ozawa began boxing at his uncle’s gym.
A few years later, during their final year of high school, a student named Matsumoto ended his life. A police investigation uncovered that Matsumoto had been bullied by his classmates, though the identities of the bullies was unknown. Ozawa was soon suspected of bullying Matsumoto, apparently because of his boxing background and because he had once hit Aoki; Ozawa believes that Aoki himself spread the rumor.
By Haruki Murakami
1Q84
Haruki Murakami
After Dark
Haruki Murakami
A Wild Sheep Chase
Haruki Murakami
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Haruki Murakami
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Haruki Murakami
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami
Killing Commendatore
Haruki Murakami
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Haruki Murakami
Sputnik Sweetheart
Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami, Transl. Jay Rubin
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Haruki Murakami