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Rosemary Cruz Actual

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115

15 December 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. ​However, between the two monstrous

self is the most​ because ​you yourself are more capable to cause more harm to yourself or even to

a whole group of people depending on the situation like shown in the short story“The Mirror '' by

Murakami.

Monstrous self is 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
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Swan​ which tells the story of the character Nina who wants to 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 ​pain ​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. ​Like she lost control the main character in the short story “The

Silence” by Murakami almost lost control but was able to break free from his 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 ​both of them have 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.​ In the short story it shows how the main character can not so easily break free from his

own monstrous making it the scariest thing because it showed him if his will was not strong

enough to break himself free what would have happened to him.

Nevertheless, ​it can also be said that ​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''
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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 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'​'pg 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 ​at the​ school.

Aikio was able to make people believe him without any hesitation and excluded Ozawa for

something he did not do thereby creating monstrous society.​ Which messed with him

emotionally, mentally, and almost physically​ because he was so close to committing suiced

himself​. 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​'' pg306)​. Owaza

explains ​how society can be monstrous and hurt you in many ways for no good reasons and

believe whatever people may say about you behind your back.​He personally experienced

monstrous society for the first time in his senior year of high school and this experience​ scarred
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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

“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 ​as shown in both texts can blame someone or a group of people for

something they did not do just because people are saying they did do it. ​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 ​like shown in the short story

“The Silence” by Murakiami with the main character Ozawa when he was ostracized by
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everyone he knew for something he did not do. Thereby showing that society can be powerful

and harmful and scar someone for life like it did to Ozawa.

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

the most monstrous is monstrous ​self​. Monstrous ​self​ as shown in the short story ​“The Mirror”

by Murakami ​shows ​or leads you to believe that the protagonist is in a dream because in there he

sees a mirror and that mirror shows him a version of him filled with hatred. This mirror terrifies

him to his core because to him it seemed that the reflection was trying to take control of him. The

part that he hated of himself was trying to be in control. He released himself from this by

breaking the mirror and running to a room and locking the door. When he came out the next

morning there was no mirror never was. Showing that the most terrifying thing to him that day

was himself. Similarly like shown in the article about Black Swan the protagonist was also

facing her own mostrous self but in this case she lost her battle. Showing that the most monstrous

is monstrous self because there are times that you can lose your battle there is no guarantee that

you will be okay either way whether it be society or yourself.

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Citation

Primo by Ex Libris,​

csun-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/u60j4s/TN_cdi_crossref_primary_10_1177_1

741659015592794.

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