Haruki Murakami, I
think, is a brilliant writer. His works were introduced to me by my
Philosophy master only recently, and just a week or two ago, I
finished reading one of his firsts and my first HM work, Norwegian
Wood. Now, I am halfway finished
in reading 1Q84. That
is why, I was delighted when I found out that one of his short
stories is going to be tackled in our HUMALIT class – and that is,
Super-frog Saves Tokyo.
First,
I would say that this short story, just like Norwegian
Wood, really affected me and
made me feel sad after reading. (Although, I must say that Norwegian
Wood is way more depressing. I
spaced out for a day after reading the book.) However, in the case of
Super-frog,
I was able to look at the situation in a positive way as well. More
to that later in the blog.
I
must say that I really appreciate Sir's explanation of the story. I
would like to share in this paper, however, the impression that the
story has left me. The most important question that I find myself
asking after reading the story is, “WHAT IS REALITY?”. I think
that it is a question that almost everyone takes for granted. People
are so consumed by this material, physical world that we do not stop
to think, is this life real? People have been so accustomed to what
their routines that they simply accept that this really is life.
However, I find myself doubting this reality sometimes, and just like
in the story, this is because of DREAMS. When we dream, we do not
actually know that we are dreaming. We see all the weirdness and what
we would normally call 'unreal' when we are awake as totally NORMAL
while we are dreaming. We only recognize their weirdness when we are
finally awake. It leads me to the questions: What if this life I am
dreaming right now is not actually real? What if every one I
encountering and every thing I am experiencing right now are just
figments of my mind?
In
reading Katagiri's story, the question is rephrased, but the sense is
quite similar. What if I am actually a crazy person, and this life I
consider right now is only made up by my mind, when in fact, I am
only lying down a bed in a mental hospital somewhere? The vagueness
and fluidity of 'reality' is so great that I cannot really think of a
way to be very sure and to have concrete answers to my questions.
Even the answers of the philosophers that I constantly read and study
and all the efforts and hardwork of my rationality are not enough for
me to answer this simple answer that many people do not even bother
asking.
What
I can only do, just like Katagiri, is focus on making the most of
whatever there is now. Since I cannot really be sure whether this
life is actually reality or not, I would just do what I can to make a
sense of it. This may not be the same for others, but I think that
the way I, personally, can do this is to shape this 'reality' as my
own. It brings to a mind a story told in Paulo Coehlo's Veronika
Decides to Die. In the story, there was a peaceful kingdom ruled by great King and
Queen until a traveler poisons the well of the common people. This
particular poison affects the minds of its victims and drives them
crazy. The King and Queen, drinking from their private well, were the
only ones who remained sane, while the whole kingdom went crazy.
Since the King and Queen wanted to rule still the Kingdom they love,
they decided to drink from the public well. Of course, they go insane
as well like the common people, but then, they went on ruling the
kingdom for many more years. The same kingdom was very odd and
different in the eyes of the other kingdoms surrounding them, but the
kingdom was able to live in peace , anyways. What this tells me is
that sanity, which can signify reality, is not based on perception.
It bases on what works. And for Katagiri, his happy dreams were what
worked, not this everyday 'reality' that drove him crazy in the first
place. And to be honest, I guess that's not too bad.
Lastly,
I would like to quote Dumbledore from JK Rowling's Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hollows. This is one of the most impressive things that
the wise old man said in the totality of the series:
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
