Mini-Commentary

In this passage, Murakami has concrete descriptions and short fragments to reinforce the image of the story for the audience. He gives the reader a good idea of the setting with the use of several visual imageries, and the listing of objects, which lay beside the character. The listing of objects with incomplete sentences applied in this passage gives the audience a sense of isolation. The writing structure of Murakami reflects upon the character itself. The description, “On her table is a coffee cup. And an ashtray. Next to the ashtray, a navy blue baseball cap with a Boston Red Sox ‘B,’” is a combination of three short fragments, which describe the setting. The isolation of the fragments alludes to the characters present state of mind. The visual imagery referred in this excerpt, “It bulges as if its contents had been thrown in on the spur of the moment,” provides the reader a better understanding of the setting. The concrete descriptions followed by visual imageries written in short fragments provides a sense of loneliness and the character sealed away from the society.