A Critical Analysis of Haruki Murakami’s Work, “The Boy Named Crow“ By Kyla V. Yumul in Grade XII - Animation

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 The story “The Boy Named Crow” that was excerpted from “Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami, that is from Japan, was about Kafka and Crow’s interactions talking about Kafka’s plan to run away. It started with Crow asking Kafka if he has the money needed for his necessities so he is prepared for the outside world after he flee. Crow keeps interrogating him about what he haves in mind and gave an advice to him that fate is something that you cannot escape and that he should be strong in order to face it and Kafka did put this advice in heart. Eventually on Kafka’s fifteenth birthday he intended to run away from home, goes to a journey in a far away town and lives in a small library, being the strongest fifteen year old there is.

  A short story of a child dreaming to be an independent person and be free from the chains of his home and with his acquaintance offering his guidance to the boy in a dallying way. At first read it might be difficult to understand since it’s a part of a long novel and you would be confused on who the  characters are, why does the child want to run away, what is Crow’s relationship with the child and so on. Though after reading the text and understanding it, it will be clear that the short story do can stand on its own. Once you have passed this hurdle the message of the text will become quite clear for its readers and you will be able to appreciate Murakami’s way of narrating his story. 
 It is described in the text what fate is like in a metaphorical way, a sandstorm. “Sometimes, fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction” , “You change direction but the sandstorm chases you” – from this quoted texts it is easy to grasp the meaning Murakami’s trying to convey to his readers without overanalyzing his story. It is written in his work that we cannot escape and should not run away from fate or our responsibilities itself but rather we should accept it and face it so we could grow to be tough and stronger than we already are.

 Most people might have the thought of wanting to run away it could be because of their responsibilities, pressure from parents or school, having depression or stress from life. They could run away by literally leaving home or just mentally escape by smoking, drinking or spends more time with their peers rather than at home. Murakami’s “The Boy Named Crow” communicates to us people whom have this thoughts in the back of our mind. He wants us to see that we do can run away but we need to keep in mind the consequences, running away is just a temporary solution in our problems and that in the long run we will forced to face it again and again until we surely solved it because it is something we cannot escape from. 

 I have personally enjoyed this story and appreciates its value on how well-written it is and despite being extracted from a long novel the text contains a bigger message than originally thought it may. Life may be full of struggles, problems, worries and responsibilities and you might think that it is too hard for you to deal with but no matter how hard it is, running away was never a permanent solution to your problem and that for you to grow up you need to face the challenges that comes to you and that is what makes life all about.