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Book 3, Chapter 32
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 watches as the waiter delivers a bottle of Cutty Sark to Room 208. Rather than go into the room, Toru decides to follow the waiter’s path. As he walks, he uses a pen to trace lines along the wall so he can find his way back to Room 208. The waiter walks all the way back to the lobby and Toru follows closely on his heels.
Finally, Toru figures out how to make his way through the hotel without having to rely on someone else. This development demonstrates that he is gaining more control over his unconscious mind, as he is no longer lost when he wanders around it.
Themes
The televisions in the lobby are broadcasting a news report about Noboru. According to the broadcast, a man with a baseball bat assaulted Noboru, putting him in critical condition. Toru listens to the broadcast and realizes that the description of the assailant closely matches him, including the mysterious mark on his face. Toru is confused; he did not assault Noboru, but the description matches him perfectly.
Although Toru did assault someone with a baseball bat, that person was not Noboru. Here, in the hotel that is an extension of his mind, he feels someone is framing him for a crime he did not commit. However, this time, the mastermind behind the plan cannot be Noboru because Noboru was the victim of the attack.
Themes
Toru retreats from the lobby. The eyes of the other people watching the broadcast turn to him. Toru sees that they recognize him. As their eyes meet Toru’s, all the lights go off in the hotel. Instinctually, Toru senses that there is someone on his side controlling the lights and trying to keep him safe.
The other people in the hotel increase Toru’s feeling of fear and confusion. However, apparently, there is some sort of higher power—perhaps a level of his unconscious he is not aware of—that wants to save him.
Themes
In the darkness, Toru hears a voice, which he knows emanates from the man with no face. The man warns Toru that soon the lights will turn back on and, when they do, Toru will be in danger. The man pulls out a small light and asks Toru to stay close to him, so he can help Toru escape.
As it turns out, Toru still cannot make it through the hotel on his own. He needs his guide, the man with no face, to lead him through the darkness.
Themes
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As they walk, Toru mentions the waiter he followed to Room 208. The man with no face warns Toru that there are no waiters in the hotel. If he saw someone who looks like a waiter, it was only someone pretending to be a waiter. Eventually, the man with no face leads Toru back to Room 208 and hands him the small light. Toru enters Room 208 and sees that it looks just as he remembered it. When he walks into the room, he hears the mysterious woman’s voice coming from within. She asks him not to shine the light at her.
Here, the man with no face implies that the waiter Toru saw is dangerous. If that is the case, then the waiter could be the same entity that always bangs on the door of Room 208, making him an alternate version of Noboru. Here, at the end of the chapter, Toru has a choice—he can shine a light on the mysterious woman and reveal her identity once and for all, or he can respect her wish and continue to stay in the dark.
Themes
