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Julia Spaulding

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115

15 December 2020

The Monstrosity of Society

Demons, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, ogres, and are usually the

type of words people associate the term monster with. The term monsters allude to the

grotesque creatures found in horror movies and scary bedtime stories. As children, we go to

sleep scared, thinking of an imaginary monster hiding under the bed or in the closet when, in

reality, the real monsters are the ones hiding in plain sight. In Haruki Murakami’s short stories,

“The Mirror” presents a monster birthed from the unknown part of oneself while “The Silence”

conveys a monster from the malicious acts of others and society. Society rejects that which it

does not understand out of fear. Its ignorance gives way to manipulation of the innocent and

gullible and makes the whole society more monstrous than the individual.

Throughout Murakami’s short story, “The Silence,” society is illustrated as more

monstrous than oneself. For instance, The leading character, Murukami’s friend Ozawa, is

depicted as the villain who caused their classmate to commit suicide by the manipulation of

another peer, Aoki: “he found out that I went to a boxing gym...then when he heard about

someone beating up Matsumoto...just put one and one together” (Murakami “Silence” 301).

The reader sees a painful demonstration of one using their social status to gain the benefit of

the doubt-with Aoki making spiteful use of his own popularity in order to persuade others to be

suspicious of Ozawa. Society made a narrative out of their ignorance, making Ozawa out to be
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the monster. The school needed a scapegoat for the suicide, and Aoki used that to advance his

credibility in creating a rumor that the whole school blindly followed. Furthermore, because

the entire school believed Aoki’s lies, students and teachers ignored Ozawa: “...it dawned on

me how lonely I was...plus, to the very end, I didn’t make one honest friend” (Murakami

“Silence” 299). By avoiding Ozawa, his classmates made him feel as if he did not exist and that

he had no purpose or companionship in the world. It enhanced the level of solitude he felt,

further excluding him from feeling as though he had any place in the societal hierarchy. At first

glance, Aoki would be perceived as the real villain, but it is his classmates’ and teachers’ visions

of obliviousness, accepting fabrications, and rejecting him that make them demonstrate evident

cruelty. With the faculty showcasing that they do not prioritize what their careers have taught

them, they are encouraging such ill behavior-forgetting their own role in guiding and aiding the

youth as faculty of education. Because of this, they are helping fuel the fire and encourage the

students to ostracize Ozawa. Society’s way of immediately believing baseless accusations and

rumors makes for a heinously perilous environment.

As presented in “The Silence,” bullying is a societal problem that is ubiquitous

everywhere in schools and workplaces, making society more monstrous. As reported by the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Members of racial, ethnic, and religious

minorities, as well as LGBTQ students and students with disabilities, are more likely to

experience bullying than their peers” (Gale). Bullying is frequent and more likely to happen

when you are seen as an outcast or not following a bandwagon mentality that a majority might

be. Since students of the LGBT populace and others who are POC are already minorities

themselves, it enforces the majority to ostracize them. Because Ozawa in “The Silence” was a
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boxer and a lot more reserved than the rest of his peers, he was an easy target for rumors to

spread about. Moreover, because of the preconceived notion everyone had about Ozawa, no

one would believe him if he chose to defend himself from the malicious statements, leaving

him hopeless to face the unwanted segregation. Ozawa was made a victim of the bystander

effect, wherein “a bystander is understood to be someone who is aware that bullying is taking

place, but takes no action to stop it, chooses not to report it, or ignores it altogether” (Gale). It

is unlikely that the entire school believed the rumors against Ozawa, but because of pluralistic

ignorance and bystander effect, they went along with it because they thought everyone else

believed them. By thinking that everyone else at their school believed Owaza was responsible

for a classmate’s death, everyone failed to step in and help Ozawa. As Ozawa was isolated and

ignored by all of his classmates and teachers, in the end, it was him who was bullied. In society,

anything that isn’t immediately understood is ridiculed and rejected. No one in society is born

with prejudice or with any harmful intentions; it’s a learnt behavior pattern that causes

humanity to be monstrous.

The feeling of loneliness is a familiar feeling that comes with being rejected in society

that is prevalent in bullying and “The Silence.” The need to belong is one of the primary

motivations for humans. Being ignored by others and feeling as if you don’t belong, similarly to

Ozawa, can cause many adverse physical and mental health problems. For example, a study

published from the Public Library of Science confirms, “loneliness is robustly associated with

physical health problems, including risk for cardiovascular disease, malnutrition, poor sleep

quality, increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical activity, and cognitive decline”

(Shovestul). As Ozawa in “The Silence” was socially isolated, he displayed many of these
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physical risks. His weight loss, stopping gym routines, and sleep deprivation were all a result of

his classmates’ ostracization. Additionally, as there are many adverse health problems caused

by solitude, there are also declines in mental health, “lonely individuals report feelings of

emptiness, alienation, anxiety, heightened vigilance in suspected threatening situations, hold

negative perceptions of others, and develop lower self-regard” (Shovestul). Ozawa experienced

all these mental risks from loneliness as he became depressed and even felt like he was not

human from the cruel way society outcast him. Many don’t know how important human

interaction is until it is absent. Without communication with others, people become irrational,

feel at a loss, and endure their mental and physical health deteriorating. A sense of belonging is

extremely vital for humans-so much so that without it, people begin to question their own

livelihoods. It is society’s manner in allowing people to face loneliness because of people’s

ignorance and all of its detrimental effects that make society more monstrous.

Some may argue that one’s self is more monstrous compared to society because

individuals are the ones that create the society. In Murakami’s short story, “The Mirror,” the

protagonist experiences being unable to look away from a mirror with an evil reflection of

himself: “My reflection in the mirror wasn’t me. It looked exactly like me on the outside, but it

definitely wasn’t me...this other figure loathed me” (Murakami, “Mirror” 59). The protagonist’s

experience is monstrous not because his reflection appeared frightening as a monster would

look but because he came face to face with an immensely evil part of himself. A portion of

himself that he has never seen before and fears. This part of himself, filled with hatred, has the

ability to cause havoc in society that some may perceive as oneself being more monstrous than

society, but why does the protagonist have a repressed side of himself? It is a direct result of
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society’s expectations, many feelings and thoughts individuals hold are suppressed until they

face them. Still, when people ask for help or want to talk about their feelings, society labels

them as insane or crazy. It’s the stigma and unconscious societal pressure that causes the

protagonist of “The Mirror” and other individuals to repress that dark side of themselves.

Society’s monstrousness is not as apparent in “The Mirror” as it is in “The Silence,” but it is

tangible as the cause for self-loathing and deprecation. Society fosters a judgemental

environment, therefore creating products of that environment within individuals. In other

words, society is the unseen monster that drives the individual to run away from the unknown

part of his or herself instead of reaching out and developing an integrated sense of identity.

In the end, society is the real monster in the world. Compared to the individual, society

holds more evil through its ignorance and manipulation. The lack of compassion and

understanding makes a hostile environment and allows for the greatest atrocities. As displayed

in Murukami’s stories, society is the heart of manipulation, gossip, and the tyrants that

influence the insensible and make society fearsome. Especially in the age of technology and

social media, anyone can hide behind a screen, torment others, and portray a false sense of

happiness to feel superior. Everyone is online, and everyone has access to the negative

comments that push them to compare themselves to what other people have. If society were

less judgemental and competitive, more people would not resort to deception in order to have

the advantage. People would be willing to convey their true selves without the fear of shame

from society. Because manipulative people are everywhere, it’s crucial for people to be more

aware of others’ intentions, so no one falls prey to the real monsters. The truly dangerous

people in the world are the deceitful and those who are easily manipulated by them.
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Works Cited
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"Bullying." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2019. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999030/OVIC?

u=csunorthridge&sid=OVIC&xid=7a1871ef. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.

Murakami, Haruki. “The Mirror.” Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, by Haruki Murakami, Vintage

Books, 2006. Pp. 55-60.

Murakami, Haruki. “The Silence.” The Elephant Vanishes, by Haruki Murakami, Vintage Books,

1993, pp. 291–306.

Shovestul, Bridget, et al. "Risk factors for loneliness: The high relative importance of age versus

other factors." PLoS ONE, vol. 15, no. 2, 2020, p. e0229087. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A613690597/OVIC?

u=csunorthridge&sid=OVIC&xid=615cd313. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.