Abstract

This thesis explores how Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood challenges conventional perceptions of memory as a linear process tied to self-understanding and reconciliation. Through the protagonist Toru Watanabe's struggle to confront his traumatic past, Murakami presents memory not as a straightforward tool for resolving the present but as an elusive, fragmented phenomenon. Toru's hesitance to release his attachment to the past, alongside his interactions with characters who embody different approaches to memory and trauma, underscores the complexity--and often the impossibility--of achieving closure. While the novel appears overwhelmed with tragedy, trauma, and loss, and offers no clear resolution for Toru, Murakami's subtle reframing of memory as non linear, as healing as nodes and fractures within a rhizomatic network. Drawing on Gilles Deleuze's theoretical concepts of time, this study proposes a novel interpretation of Norwegian Wood. Deleuze's rhizomatic model, which emphasizes multiplicity, interconnection, and non-hierarchical structures, provides a powerful framework for understanding Murakami's portrayal of memory. By analyzing the novel's characters, narrative structure, and thematic focus on trauma, this thesis argues that Murakami reframes memory not as a path to resolution but as a dynamic, nonlinear process. Toru's inability to reconcile his past ultimately highlights Murakami's assertion that memory's significance lies not in achieving closure, but in its capacity to reveal the fragmented, fluid nature of identity and selfhood. In this reframing, Murakami offers a profound, if hidden, conclusion about the act of remembering and the human condition.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Comparative Arts and Letters

Rights

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