Previous
Book 3, Chapter 4
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
May reaches out to Toru through a letter, sharing an update on her current situation. She tells him that she initially left home to attend a boarding school but left after completing only one semester. Now, May is somewhere new, and although she does not explicitly say so, her description of the place implies that it resembles a psychiatric institution.
At this point, several different voices begin narrating chapters. Over the course of Book 3, May writes letters to Toru, and the novel presents the chapters as though they are the letters themselves. Although May tries to sound hopeful, clearly, her time at school did not go well. It sounds like there was an incident that landed her in a psych ward.
Themes
Despite her circumstances, May expresses her longing for Toru and confesses that she often desires to see him again. She admits to having irrational worries in the past, including concerns about Toru potentially harming her—possibly even raping her—although she acknowledges that such thoughts are unfounded given her knowledge of Toru’s character. Additionally, May expresses her uncertainty about being emotionally ready for a romantic relationship at this point in her life.
Now that Toru is no longer a part of May’s life, she misses him. Although May and Toru do not understand each other on a fundamental level, they still find value in each other’s friendship. Perhaps part of May’s initial decision to distance herself from Toru stemmed from the fact that she thought he could hurt her.
Themes
