Blog Post 4

 Hi all, 

I wanted to use this weeks blog post to further elaborate upon an idea brought up in class today: the faceless man. In the context of today's class, we spoke about Watashi being unable to remember the structure of her husband's face, rendering him faceless in a sense. In some additional Murakami stories I have read over the course of the semester, there also appears a faceless man. This faceless man is not explained, however, but he often appears in the other world. After today's class, I am convinced that the "faceless man" represents the constraints of Japanese society. In both The Wind Up-Bird Chronicle and After Dark, the faceless man appears in the other world as an object of fear and apprehension. In both of these contexts, a character is transported unwillingly to the other world and is seemingly kept hostage there by the faceless man, or by his will.

This brings me to Sleep, in which I believe Watashi being unable to recall her husband's face becomes a trope that Murakami later expands in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and After Dark. Chronologically, Sleep comes before either of the novels, and it therefore makes sense that he would expand upon the faceless idea afterwards. I believe that Murakami uses the often suit-clad, faceless man as a representation of the typical salary man, an individual that often times represents elements of Japanese society that Murakami finds particular issue with. A great example of this is the inherently misogynistic culture that seems to confine women to the role of housekeeper. This idea is supported by the fact that in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the roles are reversed, and the main character ends up as a "stay-at home husband," and it is him that must encounter the faceless man. The same could be said about After Dark, in which a character named Eri Asai is confined to the other world by a faceless man after having fallen into an unending sleep that seems to have been brought upon her by the pressures of her family, her role, and her identity as a woman. I believe that Murakami chooses to leave his other worldly antagonists faceless to convey the idea that this antagonist could be anyone and is everywhere in Japan. 

- Sam Soares