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Book 1, Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Reality and Subjective Experience
Free Will
Desire and Irrationality
The Personal Impact of War
Social Alienation
Summary
Analysis
Toru’s uncle owns the house that Toru and Kumiko live in. He charges Toru and Kumiko rent, but only enough to cover the taxes on the house. Because of his uncle’s generosity, it does not cost Toru and Kumiko much to pay for the house, which they otherwise could not afford. Toru’s uncle does not mind that he is not making money on the house because he is a wealthy man, who made a lot of money in the restaurant industry. Additionally, Toru’s uncle has no child of his own and always felt responsible for his nephew ever since the death of Toru’s mother, who died when Toru was in college.
Toru’s uncle is the opposite of Kumiko’s family; he supports his loved ones unconditionally without expecting anything in return. Kumiko’s family—who are considerably wealthy—would never support Kumiko in a similar fashion. After all, Kumiko’s parents didn’t even raise her—she spent most of her childhood away from them. Although Toru often epitomizes social alienation, his uncle is the one bright spot in his life who always has his back.
Themes
Toru spends some time on the phone with his uncle and asks him about the abandoned house across from where May lives. Toru’s uncle knows a great deal about the house’s history, and he begins sharing it with Toru. The first owner of the house was a colonel in the Japanese army. The colonel was notorious for his viciousness and cruelty during wartime. One day, a GI came to the colonel’s house. Thinking the GI came to arrest him, the colonel shoots the GI and then turns the gun around on himself. The colonel’s wife also kills herself in response to her husband’s shameful death. To make matters worse, the GI was just lost and looking for directions. He had not come to arrest the colonel.
The aftereffects of war are present throughout the novel, as many characters face consequences for their actions during wartime. The colonel kills the GI and himself because he thinks the GI is coming to arrest him for the atrocities he committed during war. Presumably, whatever crimes he committed were too horrible for him to face publicly, so he decided death by his own hand was a better fate.
Themes
After the colonel’s death, a movie star bought the house. The woman was a talented actress, but she started to lose her vision at a young age. Although she still managed to keep her movie career for some time, her vision eventually did her in because she fell and hurt herself on set. The accident ruined her mobility and her movie career. After the accident, the actress could not leave the house and had to have someone constantly looking after her. Then, one day, one of her housekeepers, whom she considered a close friend, stole of her money, leaving her penniless and without anyone to care for her. In an act of desperation, the woman killed herself.
Like many other characters in the novel, this actress suffered a misfortunate and discovered she had no one to rely on. Her plight is similar to May’s; May also had an accident that forced her to leave her typical social position. Now, she is similarly without a support system, though her life has not deteriorated to the same extent that this actress’s has.
Themes
The home’s latest owner, Mr. Miyawaki, tore down the property and rebuilt it from scratch. In doing so, he hoped to get rid of whatever curse was attached to the house. However, he, too, fell on some bad luck. Shortly after rebuilding the house, he lost almost all his money due to bad investments and had to sell it.
The novel leaves some ambiguity about whether the Miyawaki house is truly cursed. However, regardless of whether the curse is real, the possibility of its existence certainly affects how the characters interact with the property.
Themes
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After Toru’s phone call with his uncle ends, he gets a peculiar letter in the mail. The letter is from someone named Tokutaro Mamiya, whom Toru does not know. Toru reads the letter, which says that Mr. Honda recently died of a heart attack. Apparently, Mr. Honda knew his death was coming and prepared a will beforehand. In his will, he left something to Toru, and Mr. Honda tasked Tokutaro with delivering it. In the letter, Tokutaro asks if there is a time when he could stop by Toru’s house to deliver whatever Mr. Honda left for Toru. Toru writes back to Tokutaro and tells him that he would be happy to receive him whenever he is available.
Whenever Toru receives multiple phone calls in a row, they are always related, though how, specifically, they are linked is sometimes unclear. In this case, both phone calls were mainly about death. Also, both calls related to someone or something with potentially supernatural abilities. As the plot progresses, the novel will reveal more connections between the Miyawaki house and Mr. Honda.
Themes
The same evening, Kumiko gets back from work late. Toru notices that she seems perturbed and tells her that she should not work herself so hard. He also tells her about the letter from Mamiya. Kumiko is surprised that Mr. Honda cared enough about Toru to leave him something. Together the two of them speculate why Mr. Honda would leave Toru anything and what that thing could be.
Indeed, it does seem strange that Mr. Honda would leave something for Toru. After all, they did not know each other particularly well, and although Toru looks back on their meetings fondly, the two men didn’t stay in touch.
Themes
Kumiko changes the topic of conversation to Noboru. She reveals that Noboru called her earlier to tell her he is running for political office in Niigata. She says that the call was merely a courtesy because Noboru felt obligated to keep his family in the loop, given the visibility of the position. Kumiko and Toru both think that Noboru is not suited for public office because there is something off about him. Kumiko assures Toru that her brother is even more strange and disturbed than he appears.
As usual, Noboru is only concerned about himself. He does not reach out to Kumiko to catch up with her; rather, he only wants to talk about himself. If anything, his call is a veiled threat; he knows how Kumiko feels about him and wants to ensure that nothing untoward leaks to the press.
Themes
Kumiko tells Toru a story about how she once caught Noboru masturbating while sniffing their deceased sister’s clothes. Although Kumiko was just a child at the time and did not know what was going on, the memory always stuck with her. To make matters worse, Noboru knew Kumiko saw him, and continued masturbating anyway. Toru speculates that Noboru might have been in love with Kumiko’s dead sister. In response, Kumiko says that she does not know anything for certain, other than she suspects her brother has psychological problems.
Several times throughout the novel, there are mentions of Noboru doing something perverse, though the narrative never reveals the depths or origin of his depravity. Regardless, Kumiko’s description of Noboru’s behavior aligns with what Malta told Toru earlier. Seemingly, Noboru will violate any taboo to satiate his dark desires, including rape and incest.
Themes
