UFO in Kushiro

In general, why do we tell and listen to stories in which bad things happen? I think that we tell and listen to stories where bad things happen for a number of reasons. First, I think that there’s a certain safety in reading about bad things happening rather an actually experiencing them. I think there is a certain draw and curiosity of delving into the emotions and issues that we ourselves try to avoid at all costs. Second, I think that it simply reflects reality. Bad things happen in the real world. From the earliest fairytales told to children to the holy texts of various religions, negative experiences are essential. Part of this is because bad things are an essential part of the human experience, and what is a story but an extrapolation of the human experience. It is virtually necessarily so as it is people who create, listen to, and tell stories. Finally, bad things simply make stories more interesting. I think the easiest way to create a plot, and add tension to a story, is to inject some bad experiences for your characters. It would be a pretty boring story is everything simply went well and there was little conflict. Some degree conflict is what necessarily drives a story, generates interest, and makes the reader feel connected to story being told.

How does mystery drive this Murakami story? I think that there are two strands of mystery running through this story. The first mystery deals with why his wife actually leaves him. This is never really answered in the story. I think that the image that the narrator paints of Komura’s wife is much more hollow and empty than the image that he paints of Komura himself. However, Komura’s cold and emptiness are the professed reasons of why she leaves him. Maybe I’m reading some of my own conceptions into the story more than the author’s actual intentions, but it seems to me that there’s a constant wondering within Komura of why she chose to leave him. I think that his wondering of why his wife followed the earthquake so closely is really him wondering why she had left him.

            Second I think there’s the mystery of what’s in the box that he’s given to carry on the plane. There’s a certain reveal of character accomplished by the author in the way that Komura is easily convinced to carry the package as well as the relative indifference that he displays in accomplishing the mission. We are never told what was in the box, while I believe the author had to know that the readers would place some object in the box themselves. Maybe each reader put a different item in the box, which would perhaps alter the way that we thought about the subsequent events in the story. Thus, maybe the continued and unanswered mysteries serve to force the reader to have their own unique experience with the story.