A Caring Person The Description of Toru Watanabe

36 Toru is unable to leave Storm Trooper alone with his severe fever. He decides to nurse his roommate by himself and cancels his appointment he has already made with Naoko although he has gone some problems to get free tickets. Toru knows that the other dormitory residents are unwilling to take care of his sick roommate. Thus, Toru passionately nurses his sick roommate by giving a hot compress, taking his temperature even changing the undershirt. What he has done for Storm Trooper proves that Toru cares for Storm Trooper although his roommate is an annoying and weird person. Toru has a good friend since senior high school; she is Naoko, Kizu ki’s ex-girlfriend who he falls in love with. Once they move to Tokyo, Toru and Naoko stumble into each other on a crowded Tokyo train and quickly revive their friendship. Since then, Toru subsequently accompanies Naoko to have an afternoon stroll every Sunday . When it comes to Naoko’s twentieth birthday, Toru manages to have a little birthday celebration for her. It rained on her birthday. After classes, I bought a cake nearby and took the streetcar to her apartment. We ought to have a celebration, I had said. I probably would have wanted the same thing if our position had been reversed. It must be hard to pass your twentieth birthday alone. p. 50 The excerpt presents that Toru knows how it feels to spend and celebrate birthday alone because Toru tries to put himself in Naoko’s shoes and understand what Naoko feels. Therefore , Toru comes to Naoko’s apartment, brings a birthday cake with twenty candles and they have a little birthday party together. From his reactions, it proves that Toru is a caring person, despite his feeling towards Naoko. 37 Toru also cares about Nagasawa’s girlfriend named Hatsumi. The way Toru reacts towards the situation proves that Toru cares about Hatsumi after she has a fight with Nagasawa. Toru shows his caring by accompanying and comforting Hatsumi. I flagged down a cab and let Hatsumi in first. “Anyhow,” I said to Nagasawa, “I’ll make sure she gets home.” “Sorry to put you through this,” said Nagasawa, but I could see that he was already thinking about something else. Once inside the cab, I asked Hatsumi, “Where do you want to go? Back to Ebisu?” Her apartment was in Ebisu. She shook her head. “O.K. Want to go for a drink somewhere?” “Yes,” she said with a nod. “Shibuya,” I told the driver. p. 279 The conversation shows that Toru wants to help Hatsumi by accompanying her. It happens when Nagasawa invites Toru to have a celebration dinner with him and Hatsumi, in which Nagasawa and Hatsumi end up in a fight because Nagasawa does not care enough for Hatsumi. The talk, more or less, is about Nagasawa’s habit of sleeping with random girls and sometimes taking Toru along and it raises the fight between Hatsumi and Nagasawa. Since Hatsumi is angry with Nagasawa, she asks Toru, instead of Nagasawa, to see her home. Therefore, Toru tries to comfort Hatsumi by accompanying her to have some drinks in a bar and shoot a game of pool to cheer her up. Toru also promises Nagasawa to make sure that Hatsumi will get home safely. Toru does not only care towards Storm Trooper, Naoko, and Hatsumi but also to his classmate named Midori. In drama class, Toru meets Midori, a friendly and outgoing girl who falls in love with him. He finds himself attracted to Midori as well and their friendship grows during Naoko’s absence. Midori and her sister 38 help their hospitalized father to run a small family book store after their mother’s death. One day, Midori asks Toru to accompany her to visit her sick father in the hospital. He knows that Midori becomes busier since her father is hospitalized. She comes to the hospital four days in a week, and on the other days she watches the bookstore and goes to the class as well. Thus, Toru asks Midori to take a walk and relax by herself. “Get out of here for a couple of hours and go take a walk,” I said. “I’ll take care of your father for a while.” “Why?” “You need to get away from the hospital and relax by yourself – not talk to anybody, just clear your mind out.” Midori thought about it for a minute and nodded. “Hmm, you may be right. But do you know what to do? How to take care of him?” “I’ve been watching. I’ve pretty much got it. You check the intravenous thing, give him water, wipe the sweat off, and help him spit phlegm. The bedpan’s under the bed, and if he gets hungry I feed him the rest of his lunch. Anything I can’t figure out I’ll ask the nurse.” p. 248 The previous conversation between Toru and Midori proves Toru’s characteristic as a caring person. It is supported by Murphy 1972, who states that the authors can give the readers direct knowledge about a person’s character from what he or she is saying p. 164. In the conversation, Toru asks Midori to take a walk and relax by herself because he knows that Midori has been busy and she needs some time to be alone. Toru also cares about Midori by offering himself to take care of Midori’s father while she is out. Although Toru has not met Midori’s father before, Toru is willing to take care of him. Besides, Toru has already known what he should do since he has already watched the nurse who takes care of Midori’s father. 39 Toru’s characteristic as a caring person is also depicted from his acts to Midori’s father. After Midori has left, Toru tries to speak with Midori’s father when he does not sleep or ask some questions to make sure whether he is hungry or thirsty. Toru is very successful at taking care of Midori’s father, including getting him to eat a fresh cucumber. Midori is surprised knowing that her father eats much since everyone has tried hard to get him to eat anything and Toru easily gets him to eat a whole cucumber p. 256. Furthermore, Toru also offers some helps for Midori by saying “If I can be of any help, I’ll come next week, too. I’d like to see your father again.” p. 260. All that Toru has done for Midori and her father shows that he cares to others and he has done a good job while taking care of Midori’s father. Several days after Toru’s visit in the hospital, Midori’s father has passed away. Toru meets Midori after she is back from her trip and accompanies her to have some drinks until Midori gets drunk. “Sorry,” she said. “I fell asleep on the toilet.” “Are you O.K.?” I asked, putting my coat over her shoulders. “Not really,” she said. “I’ll take you home. You just have to get home, take a nice, long bath, and go to bed. You’re exhausted.” p. 299 The conversation between Toru and Midori proves that Toru cares for Midori. Toru does not only accompany Midori but also makes sure that Midori is alright since he knows that Midori has bad times after her father has passed away. His anxiety and suggestion for Midori shows that he really cares of his friend. In Norwegian Wood, Toru is also described as a caring person from a remark of other characters as well, that is Hatsumi. Murphy 1972 also states that 40 the author can describe the character indirectly through the eyes and opinions of other characters p. 162. It can be seen through the conversation of others and the things they say about him or her. Hatsumi says that Toru is a sincere and caring person pp. 272- 273. Hatsumi is a steady girlfriend of Nagasawa, Toru’s friend in the dormitory. She is a kind and charming person who sticks by Nagasawa despite his callousness towards herself. Toru resents the way Nagasawa treats Hatsumi because Toru feels Nagasawa is unkind and Nagasawa takes her for granted by sleeping around with other girls From the previous analyses, the conclusion which can be drawn is that Toru is a caring person. Toru’s caring towards other characters can be seen from his reaction, his speech, and opinion from other characters. All things that Toru has done for Naoko, Storm Trooper, Midori, Mi dori’s father, and Hatsumi proves that Toru cares about those people. He is willing to help them although most of them are new people in his life.

4. A Self-Doubted Person

Toru is a self-doubted person who often shows the acts of doubting his capability. The description of Toru as a self-doubted person can be seen from his thought. It is supported by Murphy who states that the way a person thinks gives the readers information about a person’s character 1972, p. 173. Toru’s self- doubted characteristic is depicted from his thought in the following quotation “The others in the dorm thought I wanted to be a writer because I was always alone with a book but I had no such ambition. There was nothing I wanted to be” 41 p. 39. Since Toru is interested in spending his spare time by reading books, his friends in dormitory think that he wants to be a writer. However, Toru says that there is nothing he wants to be. Unlike other students in his age, Toru does not have main goals nor does have intentions of becoming successful. As a college student, Toru decides to major in drama. However, Toru does not have any particular passion for the subject itself. When Toru is asked by Storm Trooper whether he likes plays or not, he says that he does not really like it and he majors drama because he has curiosity than passion for the subject. Toru’s answer makes Storm Trooper confuse but Toru does not have some convincing explanation to answer Storm Trooper’s question p. 21. In addition, during the college time, Toru thinks that college education is meaningless and he has nothing to accomplish in society that would require him to quit school right away pp. 65- 66. His thoughts explain that he does not have any goals to accomplish and intention to do something that leads him into pessimism. Back to senior high school time, Toru has met Kizuki who becomes his best friend. For Kizuki, Toru is the one and only real friend at school and vice versa. However, Toru feels that he does not deserve to be considered as a best friend. The following excerpt tells that Toru doubts himself why such a smart and popular guy like Kizuki chooses him as a best friend. I was his only real friends at school. I could never understand why such a smart and capable talker did not turn his talents to the broader world around him but remained satisfied to concentrate on our little trio. Nor could I understand why he picked me to be his friend. I was just an ordinary kid who liked to read books and listen to music and didn’t stand out in any way that would prompt someone like Kizuki to pay attention to me. p. 30