Throughout human civilization, sexual exploitation and political vice have been part of the human condition. Writers, such as Haruki Murakami, created social commentary on this condition using literary inventions such as spiritual violation and mind control. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has represented this trend of sexual and political deviance through the psychic politician and antagonist of the novel, Noboru Wataya. To achieve this, Murakami has intertwined Wataya’s sexual exploitation, his invasion of people’s souls, and his desire to control the minds of the general population in order to represent his desire to obtain power.
What does it mean to violate a person’s soul? Why does it even matter? Murakami’s depiction of “violating a soul” can be traced back to the idea of opening a spirit. By opening the spirit, or the consciousness of another person, Murakami’s characters have access to that person’s thoughts, their feelings, and even control over that person’s actions. This opening of the spirit is a violation of free will. Another term appropriate for violation that Murakami repeatedly uses is ‘defilement’. The most important way defilement occurs throughout the story is through rape or sexual abuse of women. A critical aspect of Murakami’s interpretation of defilement comes from the following quote stated in an interview: “Sex is a key to enter a spirit” (Murakami 5). Sexual Activity (in this case, rape) puts a person in touch with his partner’s emotions. The opposite is just as true. Because rape distorts and damages a victim’s personality, Murakami demonstrates that rape is a violation of the spirit. Because heterosexual rape involves forcing a woman to become sexually involved with a man against her will, rape can be interpreted as a masculine struggle for power.
Rape is depicted as a psychological need for men to get power. In the article “Four Theories of Rape: A Macrosociological Analysis,” psychologists Barron and Straus define rapists’ relationship to power in the following way: “According to feminist theory, rape functions as a mechanism of social control in patriarchal societies” (Barron and Straus 467). Using this definition, rape can be perceived as a struggle of male dominance over the female sex. Murakami takes this idea of rape being a struggle for dominance and fuses it with the idea of entering the spirit through sexual union. Murakami uses defilement, through rape and mind control, as a tool to depict the escalation of power of Noboru Wataya.
To gain control over an individual, Murakami has demonstrated that a person must defile that individual either mentally or sexually. As an example, Wataya defiled his sister (Kumiko Okada) using rape and and mind control. He forced her to sexually exploit herself with numerous men by taking over her mind. After she broke free from his psychic powers, she confessed her multiple affairs to Toru Okada, the protagonist of the novel and Kumiko’s husband, through an e-mail:
I had lost the right to go back to you – not just because I had been defiled by my brother, Noboru Wataya, but because, even before that, I had defiled myself irreparably…I told you in my letter that I had slept with a man, but in that letter I was not telling the truth. I must confess the truth to you here. I did not sleep with just one man. I slept with many other men. Too many to count. I myself have no idea what caused me to do such a thing. Looking back upon it now, I think it may have been my brother’s influence. He may have opened some kind of drawer inside me, taken out some kind of incomprehensible something, and made me give myself to one man after another. (Murakami 602)
Using his psychic interference, Wataya created a sexual lust in her spirit. Then Kumiko became addicted to sex by seeking out one man after another. When she went to her brother seeking advice, Wataya seized the moment he was looking for: to be in contact with her long enough to curse his sister; he took away her free will by locking her mind away. During this interval of imprisonment, Kumiko desperately sought out her husband’s help in a small part of her consciousness that was still under her control. Wataya’s mind control is a violation of the spirit because he is taking away Kumiko’s free will. Because free will is an inalienable right of human beings, The Wataya’s defilement of his sister demonstrates his despicable and corrupt morality. However, Wataya is corrupt in more than one way. Wataya is portrayed as a thoroughly contemptible person not only because he raped his sister, but because he used his psychic powers to gain power over the masses. Wataya’s defilement of his sister’s mind is analogous to his increasing power in the political realm.
As an up-and-coming politician, Noboru Wataya exercised increasing power in the sense that he influenced the opinions and beliefs of millions of Japanese citizens. Because politicians are known to gain power through deceit and manipulation, Wataya’s lust for power over people’s minds is symbolized through his profession. Okada even speculated on Wataya’s ultimate goal of dominating the whole world through political power: “‘How he managed to do it and what the occasion was I have no idea, but at some point Noboru Wataya increased his power geometrically. Through television and the other media, he gained the ability to train his magnified power on society at large’” (Murakami 579). Murakami portrays Wataya as a politician that manifests his psychic powers in the real world in order to control people. Murakami also uses Wataya’s political campaign as a way to demonstrate that corrupt individuals have a desire to accumulate power.
Wataya’s desire for political power has led him to gain control over the minds of the general population. By persuading the citizens of Japan to believe his opinion without question, Wataya has defiled the minds of the general population. His persuasion is similar to mind control because he is changing their opinions for his own benefit and not to the advantage of the Japanese public. Okada reflects on Wataya’s manipulation of the public through the media:
The Noboru Wataya we saw on television wore expensive suits with perfectly matching ties, and eyeglass frames of fine tortoiseshell…Whenever the debate heated up and everyone else was shouting, he kept his cool. When challenged, he would hold back, let his opponent have his say, and then demolish the person’s argument with a single phrase. He had mastered the art of delivering the fatal blow with a purr and a smile…But if you paid close attention to what he was saying or what he had written, you knew that his words lacked consistency. They reflected no single worldview based on profound conviction. His was a world that he had fabricated by combining several one-dimensional systems of thought. (Murakami 75)
Although the general population of Japan believes whatever Wataya says, he never gives answers that reveal a consistent set of values. Murakami portrays Wataya as a politician to represent highly influential individuals in the real world who abuse their power. From CEOs who give themselves payraises; to cops who degrade minorities on the job, powerful individuals abuse their influence because power corrupts. However, the reason why power corrupts individuals is not only because they seek and have experienced influence, but because powerful individuals are motivated through their worldview to gain more power.
The reason why Wataya is constantly looking for ways to oppress and control people is because of the way he was raised. Born to parents with questionable philosophies, he developed a warped world viewpoint that led him to begin his quest for world domination. Okada describes in detail the influence Wataya’s parents had on him:
[Noboru Wataya’s] father was convinced that the only way to live a full life in Japanese society was to earn the highest possible marks and to shove aside anyone and everyone standing in your path to the top. He believed this with absolute conviction…[Noboru Wataya’s mother] possessed neither the opinions nor the character to oppose her husband’s opinions. As far as I could see, she had no opinion at all about anything not set directly in front of her…Whenever an occasion arose in which she needed an opinion on something in the wider world, she borrowed her husband’s…And so the parents pounded their questionable philosophy and their warped view of the world into the head of young Noboru Wataya. (Murakami 73)
Wataya’s goals of exerting physical and mental control over all people stem from the way he was raised. From controlling the mind of his sister; to manipulating the general public through fallacious opinions, Wataya desires to become a politically immune and all powerful ruler. Although Murakami paints Wataya in a completely negative light, Wataya’s tactics of gaining power are successful. He can manipulate the minds of individuals, rape them for his own pleasure, and convince a crowd of people that his opinion is always right. However, Murakami demonstrates that Wataya’s behavior is completely malevolent, and therefore, contemptible.
Works Cited
Baron, Larry, and Murray A. Straus. "Four Theories of Rape: A Macrosociological Analysis." Social Problems 34.5 (1987): 467-89. Print.
Thompson, Matt. "World Press Review - Books Japanese Literature - Haruki Murakami." Worldpress.org - World News From World Newspapers. Web. 06 Dec. 2010.
Murakami, Haruki. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. New York: Vintage International, 1997. Print.
