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man with a normal life, but having bad childhood experiences. Here, he is described as a husband of Yoko, a father of a daughter named Little Rie and
worked as a graphic designer. In this story, there are several characteristics of Kawashima Masayuki. The
writer analyzes those characteristics using the theory of characterization by M. J. Murphy. In this theory, there are nine ways that can be used to find the
characteristics of the main character. But, in this analysis, only four ways are used. They are speech, past life, reactions, and thoughts. These four ways are
considered the most significant ones that will support the analysis of the characteristics of the main character. They will help to analyze the characteristics
of the main character seen from the mental or personality point of view. Based on the analysis, there are six characteristics that are appropriate to
describe Kawashima Masayuki. The six characteristics are suspicious, anxious, fearful, spiteful, violent and in doubt. To understand further about Kawashima
Masayuki’s characteristics, the explanation is as follows.
1. Suspicious
In Piercing, Kawashima is described as a suspicious man. He became suspicious toward something that tried to hurt him, although it only appeared in
his mind. Things that triggered his suspicion are feeling that someone knew his wicked plan to stab a woman, someone would ignore and leave him, and so on.
Here, Kawashima’s feeling comes as a product of his childhood life, when his mother used to treat him badly. That is why when he felt comfortable with
someone, he would easily get suspicious if he found that person was not like what
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he wanted to be. For him, it could be a threat. Below is the evidence that shows the reason that caused Kawashima to be suspicious toward his daughter, Little
Rie. “Ten nights ago. He was in the bathtub with the baby, having just finished
washing her. He handed her over to Yoko, who was waiting with a fluffy bath towel, and then he leaned back in the tub, leaving the pebbled-glass
shower door partially open. Yoko was murmuring to the baby as she dried her, and he was aware of himself smiling at them. And then, with no
prelude or warning, a thought came percolating up into his brain and he felt the muscles of his cheeks twitch and freeze” Murakami, 2007: 16.
After he saw Yoko murmuring something to his baby, Kawashima smiled.
Actually behind his smile, he hid fear and suspicion. As the writer already explained in the previous page, Kawashima was always afraid of losing someone
he loved, liked and cared about. Kawashima became suspicious because he thought that Yoko was getting closer to his baby. In Kawashima’s mind, what he
had just seen between his wife and his baby was something that terrified him. That is why he became suspicious toward his baby.
In the story, he thought that his baby could take Yoko away from him. Actually, Yoko only did what she must do as a mother, but Kawashima thought
the opposite. Looking back to Kawashima’s background and his bad experience, the writer assumes that the reason he became suspicious is his fear of losing
Yoko’s attention and love. Here, he found Yoko very kind and patient. For him, Yoko was the only one who could comfort him, while his baby could not. That is
why Kawashima thought that Little Rie was a threat that could decrease Yoko’s attention to him.
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Other evidence that also shows his suspicious characteristic can be read when he thought that Sanada Chiaki had already read his notes, the note that
contained his planned to stab someone in order to release his fear of stabbing his baby.
“Kawashima grunted agreement and stood up. It was then that he noticed his overnight bag lying on its side against the opposite wall, and his open
notebook beside it. His blood turned ice. She must have read the notes, he thought, and a shiver emanating from his bitten finger rippled through
every cell in his body. He experienced a surge of nausea and looked over at the girl, who had turned her back to him and was climbing into her slip.
I have no choice now, he thought, and the chill and the nausea merged with a peculiar, bubbling excitement. I have no choice but to kill her”
Murakami, 2007: 117.
From the quotation above, Kawashima Masayuki thought that Sanada had already read his plan. He was afraid that she would go away after she read it. Here,
Kawashima was suspicious toward things that he did not know whether it was right or not. He played with questions and suspicions in his mind until that feeling
made him feel insecure and led him to one choice, that was to kill her. At that time, he believed that Sanada would tell all his plans to stab a woman to anyone.
Facing that situation, he became suspicious and it drove him to stab her before she left him or turned against him.
Same as the previous paragraph, and still in the same situation, between the conversation of Sanada and Kawashima, below is the quotation that the writer
finds as other evidence that proves Kawashima as a suspicious person. “Hey,’she said softly, smiling up at him. ‘What hotel are you staying at
really? Kawashima’s body stiffened.
I knew it, Chiaki said to herself – he’s a secret rich man. Sure enough, thought Kawashima – she read the notes” Murakami, 2007:
121.
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2. Anxious
In the story, Murakami described Kawashima Masayuki as an anxious person. The following quotation will prove that he is anxious. His anxiety began
when he saw his wife murmuring something to his baby. “The mental and emotion torment of the old cycle of anxiety – unable to
bear being alone, wanting someone always near but growing anxious when someone does get close, fearing that if they get any closer there’s no
telling what might happen, until the fear itself becomes unbearable and solitude seems the only solution – had seemed to be fast becoming a thing
of the past” Murakami, 2007: 14-15.
In the story, seeing Yoko murmuring something to the baby made Kawashima anxious. According to Murphy, the appropriate way to describe
Kawashima Masayuki’s anxiety is reaction. From the quotation above, the writer concludes that the reaction when he saw his wife murmuring something to his
baby is the evidence that shows he was anxious. Here, it also can be summarized that at the time he became closer to someone, or when someone got closer to him,
he would feel anxious. His fear made him anxious, and his anxiety disturbed his thought and emotion.
In this novel, the writer sees that what Yoko did to Little Rie made Kawashima afraid. He felt that there was a strong tension in him. In this case,
Kawashima did not want to be alone but he could not let someone get closer to him, either. The writer sees that there is a trauma left from his past life in
Kawashima’s self. Whether he realized it or not, he became insecure and that feeling made him aware of and suspicious toward everything that happened to
him. The reaction that appeared from the quotation above is one of the effects from his childhood’s past life when he was rejected and abused. Here, he was
