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Rosemary Cruz Actual

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115

2 November 2020

Monstrous Self vs. Monstrous Society

In the short stories “The Mirror'' and “The Silence” by Haruki Murakami it presents two

ideas of monstrous, monstrous self and monstrous society. We will decide which one is more

monstrous by comparing and contrasting society with self. Between the two monstrous society is

the most monstrous because society can be harsh and ruin someone emotionally, mentally, and

almost psychically like in the short story “ The Silence” by Murakami.

However monstrous self can be said to be even more monstrous than monstrous society

because a single person can be even more monstrous to themselves than society can be to them

like shown in the short story “The Mirror” by Murakami. Where a man works as a night

watchman at a school in Niigata Prefecture where he encounters a mirror during one of the nights

he was working. This mirror’s reflection showed him his monstrous self; the protagonist

encounters internal conflict within himself when he sees what he has become through the

reflection in the mirror. In the short story the protagonist says, “It was me, of course, but another

me. Another me that should have never been. I don’t know how to put it. It’s hard to explain

what it felt like”(Marukami, “Mirror” 59). Showing he saw someone within himself that should

have never been there which was his monstrous self. He says, “The most frightening thing in the

world is our own self.”(Murakami, “Silence” 60). By doing so he explains how you yourself can

be the scariest thing in the world. For example in the article, “Steps to destruction” by Deborah

Ross she analyzes the movie Black Swan which tells the story of the character Nina who wants to
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be perfect but inorder to get a part she wanted she had to lose control of herself. She had to find

her inner black swan or in other word her monstrous self. In the article Ross says, “Like

Aronofsky's previous film The Wrestler , this is about sacrificing everything for your 'art',

whatever the price, and Nina pays with her sanity”(Ross). Showing that monstrous self can be

more monstrous because an individual can sometimes cause themselves more than society can.

For example in the article Ross says, “As the pressure builds up, Nina begins to fall apart, helped

on her way by Lily (Mila Kunis), the newly arrived dancer who has villainous sensuality in

spades and is now a dangerous rival.”(Ross). This is an example of a monstrous self because she

has control of herself but as soon as she is told to lose control she does and she lets out the black

swan within her or in other words her monstrous self. Monstrous self can be seen as more

monstrous than society because a person can bring more harm to themselves than society can do

to them. This is shown by both the short story when the main character becomes terrified of what

he has become and has a hard time breaking free of what he has seen within himself. This is

supported by the article by giving another example of how one self can be more monstrous when

you try to find and see your inner monsters. Nevertheless, monstrous society is more monstrous

than one’s self because we are able to control our own monstrous but we can’t control others

monsters making monstrous society the most monstrous out of the two. As shown by the short

story “The Silence” where the protagonist is accused of something he did not do and society

pushed him harshly by making him feel invisible and leading into a dark place where he could

have not come back from if he had kept on going like he was.

In the short story “The Silence” by Murakami it presents us with monstrous society and

how it affected Ozawa mentally, emotionally, and almost physically.Ozawa is a student in

highschool when he experiences monstrous society for the first time. In the last year of
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highschool his senior year his classmates Mostunmoto had committed suicide. Ozawa was

framed by his classmate Aiko for being the reason why Mostumoto killed himself. When Akio

decides to take his revenge on Ozawa for punching him he tells the headmaster Ozawa was the

cause for Mostumoto’s death. Aiko twisted the truth and bent it to his benefit. In the short story it

says, “Nothing that could easily be exposed as a lie. He was careful that way. Coloring plain

facts just enough, shaping this undeniable atmosphere of implication.”(Murakami,

“Silence”301). By doing this Akio was able to successfully frame Ozawa for Mostumoto’s death

and was able to successfully ostracize him from his classmates and the staff in the school. Aiko

was able to create monstrous society successfully by making people believe him without any

hesitation and excluded Ozawa even though he did nothing wrong. Which messed with him

emotionally, mentally, and almost physically. Ozawa explains what exactly made the people so

monstrous in the short story it says, , “And the group never entertains even a sliver of doubt that

they can be wrong. They think nothing of hurting someone, senselessly,

permanently.”(Murakami, “Silence”306). Owaza explains why society can be monstrous and

hurt you for no good reason just because they believe what other people have said about you. He

personally experienced monstrous society for the first time in his senior year of high school and

this experience scared him because he is unable to trust people and is scared of those who are

gouble enough to believe whatever people like Aoki say.

Monstrous society as shown in the short story “The Silence” by Murakami showed how it

ruined someone’s life because they were wrongfully accused of something they did not do. This

article will help support why monstrous society is monstrous because like in the short story in

this article five people were wrongfully accused of a crime they did not commit just because they

fit the description given to them like in the short story “The Silence”. In the article
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“Transforming the Central Park jogger into the Central Park Five: Shifting narratives of

innocence and changing media discourse in the attack on the Central Park jogger, 1989–2014”

by Greg Stratton who wrote about five men convicted of a crime they didn't commit and the only

reason they were released was because the real criminal turned himself in. In the article it says,

“Instead, the framing of the men as co-victims of Reyes’ attack and police incompetence allows

the audience to identify with the randomness of the error. Thus, rather than ‘expected’ victims of

crime based on racial characteristics and public prejudice, the five are framed as ‘ideal victims’

that extend their vulnerability and innocence” (Christie, 1986; Smolej, 2010). Showing that

society can be monstrous because it convicted five people of a crime they did not convicted

because of racial characteristics and public prejudice. Monstrous society has shown the monsters

are the public, the people who believe whatever they are told and then later make you feel like

nothing. This article helped support why monstrous society is monstros by supporting the short

story and helping prove that people can be very cruel when they are influenced by certain people

who present them with false evidence. Thereby destroying these innocent people emotionally,

mentally, and almost even physically.

We are presented with two ideas monstrous self and monstrous society and out of the two

the most monstrous is monstrous society. Monstrous society as shown in the short story “The

Silence” by Murakami shows how the protagonist was ostracized because the people in his life at

school believed a kid named Aiko that he was the reason for Mostumoto’s death. Monstrous

soceity hurt Ozawa emotionally, mentally and alomst pysically becuase also almost came to the

point of suicide. He was driven to this point because his life was made missariable everyone

ignored and saw him with hate for something he did not do. This was also shown in the article by

Greg Stratton which helps prove that society can be monstrous because there are people who are
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gullible and believe what the person or people say about someone without any hesitation and

don’t even question them they just believe them without taking into concentration who the ends

up getting hurting or who’s life end up ruin by they action.

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Citation

Primo by Ex Libris, csun-

primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/u60j4s/TN_cdi_crossref_primary_10_1177_174165

9015592794.

Ross, Deborah. "Steps to destruction." Spectator, vol. 314, no. 9517, 22 Jan. 2011, p. 42. Gale

Academic OneFile Select, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A247340572/EAIM?

u=csunorthridge&sid=EAIM&xid=4f988452. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.

“The Mirror” by Haruki Murakami. Copied from Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Published by

Vintage Books in 2006.

“The Silence” by Haruki Murakami. Copied From The Elephant Vanishes, Published by Vintage

Books in 1993