Previous
Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Norwegian Wood, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory, Nostalgia, and Regret
Sex and Love
Death, Suicide, Grief, and Existentialism
Truth, Lies, and Communication
Education
Summary
Analysis
Toru sits down on his bed and lets a wave of emotions wash over him as he reads Naoko’s seven-page letter. In the lengthy missive, she writes that she has been at a sanatorium in the mountains for nearly four months. She has been thinking a lot about Toru and has decided that she treated him unfairly. Her poor judgement has hurt both of them, and the therapy she’s been receiving at the sanatorium has helped her to see how her flaws affect others. Naoko believes she is much closer to recovery than when she arrived.
Even though Naoko is writing from a sanatorium—a place that carries negative connotations—the actual content of her letter is positive and hopeful. She’s learning how to recognize her own mistakes, feeling more like herself, and has not abandoned or forgotten her feelings for Toru.
Themes
Naoko describes life at the sanatorium, which is called the Ami Hostel. It is quiet and calm in the forested mountains, and patients are ensconced in nature. Naoko plays sports, harvests fruits and vegetables, and enjoys music and knitting in her leisure time. The problem with the hostel, Naoko says, is that it’s so peaceful that no one wants to leave. Naoko’s doctor, however, believes it’s time for her to resume her relationships with people from the “outside” world. Naoko encloses a map of the route to the sanatorium and invites Toru to visit any time. After reading Naoko’s letter a couple times, Toru calls the Ami Hostel and asks if he can visit the following day. A receptionist gives him the go-ahead, and Toru packs a bag right away.
This passage introduces the Ami Hostel as a kind of metaphor for the tug-of-war between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The sanatorium is surrounded by forests, a symbol of death throughout the novel, and is so calming that people don’t want to leave. The realm of death is represented similarly throughout the novel: an alluring place which offers solace from the pain, suffering, and simple inconveniences of everyday life.
Themes
