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Book 3, Chapter 5
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 looks at the cat and notices that it does not look like it has spent a year on its own. However, when he feeds it, the cat exhibits a ravenous appetite. Toru decides to rename the cat Mackerel and is immensely happy to have him in his life. Finally, there is something that might help quell his feeling of loneliness.
Toru is right to be suspicious of the cat; there is something wrong with it. It looks exactly like the cat he lost, which is a problem. After all, the cat should have undergone some changes if it was gone a full year. Its sudden reappearance carries the same strangeness as Creta’s sudden appearance in Toru’s bed.
Themes
The following day, Toru returns to his usual people-watching spot. The woman who directed him to the office the previous day (Nutmeg) shows up again. Curious, Toru follows her into a taxi. They stop at a boutique, and the woman purchases expensive suits for him. She then takes him to a luxury shoe store and buys him shoes. After this, they go to a watch store, and she selects a nice watch for him. Continuing their outing, they visit a barber, where Toru receives a much-needed haircut.
Everything about the arrangement between this woman and Toru seems like it benefits Toru more than it does the woman. At this point, everything about the arrangement is still ambiguous. In fact, the woman has yet to reveal her name to Toru.
Themes
Later, they dine at an Italian restaurant, and the woman informs Toru that she will cover his future dry-cleaning expenses. Her generosity intrigues Toru, and he asks for the reason behind it. However, she remains silent. When Toru asks if the young man he encountered in the office the previous day is her son, the woman replies that he is. She also confirms Toru’s assumption that her son cannot speak; however, she does not say why. Then, the woman properly introduces herself to Toru. Her name is Nutmeg Akasaka. Her son, she says, is called Cinnamon Akasaka.
Finally, Toru decides to ask some questions about the peculiar arrangement he has found himself in. Some of Nutmeg’s explanations make his situation appear less surreal—such as the clarification that Cinnamon cannot speak—while others only make everything stranger, such as Nutmeg and Cinnamon’s names. Still, Toru does not know what Nutmeg and Cinnamon want from him.
Themes
