Norwegian Wood

Naoko is the beautiful and enigmatic girl that Watanabe falls in love with. Haunted by the loss of her boyfriend, Naoko represents the lasting effects of loss and trauma on an individual. Having known one another in childhood, Naoko and Watanabe reconnect in Tokyo after nearly a year without contact. They haven’t seen each other since the death of Kizuki, Naoko’s boyfriend and Watanabe’s best friend. The toll of Kizuki’s death is immediately apparent on Naoko, as Watanabe notes that she has “lost so much weight as to look like a different person” (19). The weight loss is the first indication of an attempt to hide or shrink away from the world, stepping away from who she used to be. Although Watanabe feels drawn to Naoko because of their shared loss, they never speak of Kizuki’s death and rarely mention their past in Kobe. Their relationship is based on silence and long solitary walks in each other’s company.

As Watanabe gets to know Naoko better, her mental instability and deep psychological wounds become apparent. He learns that Kizuki’s death was not the first trauma in her life; she also lost her older sister to a suicide that was identical to Kizuki’s. This early loss suggests that the emotional scars Naoko suffers from are more complex than Watanabe knows and that she has kept them hidden for many years. She often refers to herself as “deformed” and tells Watanabe she is “a far more flawed human being than [he] realize[s]” (146). She insists that he shouldn’t wait for her or allow her to “take [him] with [her]” (146). All this suggests that Naoko feels a degree of guilt or shame for her illness. She doesn’t want to burden others and worries that she will prevent Watanabe from living his life to the fullest.

There is often the sense that Naoko exists in a different world than Watanabe, as if she already belongs to the world of the dead. Their inability to communicate shows the uncrossable distance between them, but there are other indications of an ethereal detachment. Naoko is haunted by the ghost of her boyfriend, whom she often hears calling out to her to join him, and she sometimes appears unreal or out of place in the world. In one key moment, she comes to Watanabe at night and reveals her naked body to him. However, instead of being aroused, he is “astounded” by her body, which seems to have been “reborn in utter perfection beneath the light of the moon” (131). She looks like a statue rather than a living human woman.

Despite the hard work that Naoko does trying to heal, she hangs herself in the forest toward the end of the novel. Unlike Watanabe, she is unable to put her memories aside, and her death represents the sometimes insurmountable nature of trauma and mental illness. 

Midori is Watanabe’s second love interest, an outspoken and charismatic woman from his drama class. Her name means “green,” the first indication of her lively, resilient nature. Upon first meeting Midori, Watanabe notes that she has “a fresh and physical life force” (51), and he is surprised by her openness and forward way of speaking. She confidently approaches Watanabe and strikes up a conversation. Her frankness about sex and other topics contrasts with Watanabe’s more conservative personality and frequently shocks him. She loves S&M pornos and is prone to telling Watanabe about her sexually explicit fantasies in public. As Midori’s character develops, however, it is clear that she, too, has suffered loss and hardship. Her mother recently passed away from a brain tumor, and her father dies partway through the novel. She complains of a lack of love at home, and she describes her boyfriend as prone to anger and often annoyed by Midori’s curiosity and free-spiritedness.

In many respects, Midori is Naoko’s opposite. She wears a short pixie cut in contrast to Naoko’s longer, more girlish hair, and she is open and honest, whereas Naoko is detached and pensive. Midori’s vitality is often mentioned; she is “a real, live girl, with real, live blood gushing through [her] veins” (262). Midori’s strong life force serves to underline the ghostly unattainableness of Naoko, who will always belong to Kizuki no matter how much Watanabe loves her. Whereas Naoko represents Watanabe’s past, Midori represents his future. Although she has also suffered, she attacks her problems head-on instead of avoiding them and therefore shows Watanabe another option for dealing with pain and loss. She teaches him that it is possible to move on and not let grief consume the rest of his life.

Perhaps because Midori seems so confident and self-sufficient, Watanabe repeatedly prioritizes Naoko and is often oblivious to Midori’s needs. She rejects him on multiple occasions because of this but accepts Watanabe’s declaration of love and agrees to wait for him, suggesting that she has a deep need for connection despite her veneer of bravado. After Naoko’s suicide, Watanabe leaves Tokyo without telling Midori, and they don’t speak for several weeks. It seems this might be the end for Midori, but when Watanabe finally gathers the courage to call her, she seems open to talking. However, in the end, the details of his surroundings dissolve around him as he calls Midori’s name, and it is unclear if Watanabe can move on enough to build a true relationship with Midori.

Reiko is Naoko’s roommate at Ami Hostel, and she becomes friends with both Naoko and Watanabe. On the surface, Reiko seems confident and self-assured. Although she is only in her late thirties, her skin is wrinkled in a way that “transcended age.” Immediately upon meeting her, Watanabe feels comfortable, describing Reiko as “not merely a nice person but whose niceness drew you to her” (94). Despite the tranquility that she exudes, Reiko has had depression for much of her life, resulting in several breakdowns and hospitalizations. The last and worst breakdown occurred after a young student seduced her and then claimed that Reiko had assaulted her. After this incident, Reiko left her daughter and husband and admitted herself to Ami Hostel, where she has continued living for seven years, afraid of a relapse if she returns to the outside world.

Reiko teaches music at the Ami Hostel and is something of an authority figure to Naoko and Watanabe, offering both of them advice and helping them to navigate their budding relationship. Perhaps because Naoko and Watanabe’s formative experience in relationships took place in their adolescent trio with Kizuki, they feel more comfortable with Reiko around. She is the only other person who knows the details of their relationship, and she provides a grounding element to their otherwise nebulous connection.

After Naoko’s suicide, Reiko finally overcomes her fear and leaves Ami Hostel. She arrives in Tokyo wearing Naoko’s clothes, which the younger woman had asked Reiko to take after her death. Reiko and Watanabe have a night of remembrance for Naoko, playing music and drinking wine. Later, the somewhat inexplicable idea of having sex occurs to both of them, and they go to bed together. It’s possible that Reiko, who claims to be “all through as a human being” (286), has been taken over by Naoko’s spirit and is fulfilling her wish to have sex with Watanabe one final time. However, it’s also possible that their union at the end of the novel is another example of characters using sex as a way to find connection and solace in the face of pain and loss.

Nagasawa is a suave upperclassman who befriends Watanabe. They bond over their shared love of The Great Gatsby, and Nagasawa soon takes Watanabe under his wing, teaching him to pick up women in nearby bars. Nagasawa is a brilliant student, a whiz with languages, and generally something of a legend in the dorm. He dreams of an illustrious career with the Foreign Ministry and exudes the confidence necessary to make it happen. However, Nagasawa’s “uncentered morality” manifests in his womanizing tendencies as he constantly cheats on his beautiful girlfriend, Hatsumi. He is often unbearably arrogant and considers sleeping with women “a game” that has no consequences.

Watanabe and Nagasawa are opposites, and Nagasawa helps Watanabe break out of his shell. However, they never build a meaningful relationship, with Watanabe admitting that he “never once opened his heart to” Nagasawa (32). The fact that Nagasawa is Watanabe’s only friend illustrates his fear of forming new connections after the loss of Kizuki. His friendship with Nagasawa feels safe to Watanabe because he never has to open up.

While Kizuki dies before Norwegian Wood takes place, his memory looms over the story and drives the plot’s action. Kizuki was Naoko’s boyfriend and Watanabe’s best friend. He was the center of their little trio, always keeping the conversation going and making Watanabe and Naoko feel heard and loved. He was “a smart and capable talker” (22), yet never sought out other friendships. At 17, Kizuki shocked everyone by taking his own life. His death had a profound effect on both Naoko and Watanabe, who struggled to move forward in the wake of their loss. Both had few connections outside of their relationship with Kizuki, so they have trouble building new relationships and opening up to others. 

Throughout the novel, Kizuki’s absence represents the inescapable presence of death and the weight of this knowledge on the living characters.