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Book 3, Chapter 36
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 awakens to the soothing sound of Nutmeg’s voice. She explains that Cinnamon managed to rescue him from the well and treat his knife wounds. Nutmeg informs Toru that he must now part ways with the Residence. She tells Toru that she will take over the care of the women while Toru moves on with his life. She also reveals that Noboru, in a tragic turn of events, collapsed in the street and is currently in the hospital, unconscious and unlikely to recover. The doctors suspect it was a stroke.
Toru’s knife wounds, as well as Noboru’s sudden collapse, suggests that the events in the alternate reality had lasting effects in the real world. The only other explanation is that Toru actually died in the well, and these final chapters are a projection of his dying mind.
Themes
Although Toru didn’t directly cause Noboru’s condition, he realizes that whatever transpired in that hotel room must have deeply damaged something within his brother-in-law. He wonders if Kumiko finally liberated herself from him. Exhausted, Toru drifts off to sleep and has a dream featuring Creta and her baby. In the dream, Creta resides in Hiroshima with Mamiya. When Toru asks about Malta, Creta becomes sad and then vanishes.
Almost as soon as Toru reenters the waking world, he slips right back into the dream world again. Creta’s response regarding Malta suggests that something bad has happened to her, perhaps as a result of what Toru did in the alternate reality. However, Malta’s fate ultimately remains unclear, as does Creta’s.
Themes
When Toru wakes up, Nutmeg informs him that she will likely sell the Residence within the next month. However, she promises to give him some of the money as a thank you for his work. Then, she encourages Toru to go back to living a normal life and start thinking normal thoughts. Toru gets up and shaves his face, carefully avoiding the stitches on his cheek. To his surprise, he discovers that his mark has vanished.
The disappearance of Toru’s mark, as well as Nutmeg’s advice, suggests that he is a new man. Just like at the beginning of the novel, Toru will have to find a new place for himself in the world. Nutmeg’s phrasing suggests that the alternate world will be closed off to him from now on.
Themes
Later that week, Toru wakes up to the jingling sound of sleigh bells. He heads to Cinnamon’s office and is surprised to find that the computer is on once more. On the screen is “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” documents 1-17. Toru walks over to the computer and opens file 17.
However, before returning to the real world, the surreal world has one more surprise for him: another installment of the wind-up bird chronicle. Before, there were only 16 documents, meaning that Cinnamon, or whoever controls the chronicle, recently created a new one.
Themes
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