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Book 3, Chapter 10
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
The young boy (later revealed to be Cinnamon) starts to believe that he exists within a dream. He excavates the hole the tall man dug in the ground. To his astonishment, the young boy discovers a human heart pulsating within the hole. Strangely, the heart beats in perfect synchronization with his own heartbeat, as if they are connected. The boy carefully fills the hole, burying the heart once more. Returning to his room, he becomes frustrated when he finds another person sleeping in his bed. Peeling back the covers, he comes face to face with his own sleeping form.
The young boy is either dreaming or experiencing an alternate reality. If he is experiencing an alternate reality, his experience is unique in the book because he is the only one who sees a different version of himself. Of course, nothing in this section seems like it could be real, especially the still-beating heart the young boy pulls out of the ground.
Themes
Despite the young boy’s (Cinnamon) efforts to awaken himself, the sleeping version of him remains unresponsive. He attempts to make space by nudging himself aside and ultimately decides to sleep alongside his slumbering form. The next morning, there is only one little boy occupying the bed. Although everything appears outwardly normal, there are subtle variations and sensations that alert the boy to the fact that this is not the same bedroom he fell asleep in. Unfortunately, he finds himself unable to call out for his mother.
The implication here is that there is a possibility that another child—or perhaps an alternate version of this boy—replaced him while he was sleeping. The best evidence for this interpretation is that when the young boy woke up, he was fundamentally different and could no longer talk. If this is the case, then it strongly implies that this young boy is Cinnamon. If this is true, it has massive implications for other unexplained elements of the plot. For instance, Kumiko’s disappearance corresponds with Creta’s sudden appearance; in some sense, then, Creta replaces Kumiko much like Cinnamon and this unnamed boy have replaced each other.
Themes
