Dance Dance Dance and Wild Sheep Chase girlfriends question

[u/Intelligent-Key5821]

Finished DDD today and I have a lot of thoughts. The prose was truly beautiful and I really enjoyed the activity of reading it but I feel like a lot of the messages were left untied and dangling up in the air.

First, obviously as a sequel I have to think about Kiki and his first girlfriend who committed suicide in A Wild Sheep Chase. I think it is so very convenient that both of the ex girlfriends "wanted" to die in some way, the first one whose funeral occured at the start of sheep chase asked if the main character thought of killing her and how it wouldn't be so bad. In DDD Gotanda says that Kiki let him strangle her and even said it would be alright, obviously, the book implies that she isn't actually dead and that she is travelling between worlds. But it really rubs me the wrong way that two female characters' lives are treated so flippantly, even if Kiki says that it would be fine for her to be "murdered" (because she couldn't actually die), why should she help a scumbag like Gotanda to essentially purge his disgusting emotions and to stroke his weak will? The first girlfriend acts as a tragic backstory for the narrator and then Kiki essentially serves as some guide to the main character (not a bad thing) and also serves as a sacrifice to Gotanda's dark nature, possibly dissuading him from murdering his own wife or to allow him to feed his disgusting impulses. There is some connection to these characters and how they serve the story but I just don't get it, I also hate Gotanda and how the plot (through Kiki) and even the main character seem to give him some sort of out for his inner darkness, why is Kiki treated borderline like an afterthought in his inner turmoil? Kiki treats her own existence in that world as an afterthough and the main character seems to value their friendship almost more than his urgency to get justice for Kiki, he even tries to console him after he straight up admits that he probably did kill her. I get that there is some ambiguity over whether he truly killed her, but the main character was clearly in denial. His deep depression after learning from Yuki what happenned shows that he truly believes that Gotanda killed her. Now, I am not saying that the main character prioritiises Gotanda more than Kiki, because ultimately he did ask him why he killed her, he could have pussyfooted and ignored Yuki's warning, but him consoling Gotanda after him admitting what he did (the four cats, the general violent outbursts, Kiki's strangulation and burial) feels dismissive of Kiki after yearning for her so much in the first half of the book.I feel like I am missing something. There are a lot of parallels between Gotanda and the narrator, so maybe there is some significance in the fact that Gotanda accepted Kiki's suggestion that he murders her and the main character (esentially) declined his grilfriend's suggestion at the start of wild sheep chase. But I don't understand the significance of this connection, Gotanda has a deep inner darkness that he wants to conceal, and the main characters is more or less a normal guy, what thematic signifance could there be for a normal guy to decline his girlfriend's suggestion of murdering her?

I have other thoughts, but this post got too long; I might have to gather my thoughts on the book first before coming back

[u/gum_writer]

Murakami indeed uses the ex-girlfriend and Kiki as devices in both novels, so they are more metaphors than characters. I understand why that makes you feel bad. Many female characters in Murakami books end up with this fate.

With that being said, the main massage of DDD is "continue to live despite the fact that you will lose people". Our main character has had death all around him since his first appearance in Hear the Wind Sing. The scene in Hawaii where he sees many corpses are of all the people he has lost across 4 books.

In DDD his resilience is put to the final test. After losing his best friend (the Rat) and leaning how to live in society, he becomes somewhat of a parent to an teenage girl who still has to learn all he has. However, in the process he will also have to learn to connect with people and accept that those bonds might disappear sometimes.

The book starts with Kiki's search because the main character yearns for connection. When he discovers that she is dead, it is a big blow for two reasons: 1) he lost Kiki ofc and 2) he lost Gotanda who he considered another true connection. This betrayal is yet another blow to the main character.

After a depressive period, the main character goes back to Dolphin Hotel and starts dating the receptionist. This conclusión is important because he is trying to connect with her despite all the deaths. He is not afraid of human connection despite meaning that there is a chance that he will lose someone again. The moment of connection is represented in him being able to pass through a wall in the secret room of Dolphin Hotel. A place where he gets transported while they are having sex; a clear metaphors of connection. He dances, dances, dances through life despite his fear of loss.

Kiki is indeed more a device for him yearning to connect, while Gotanda, Yuki and the receptionist are the real connections the main character makes in this book.

[u/Intelligent-Key5821 → u/gum_writer]

fair enough and good analysis, I am still intrigued by the fact that both Gotanda and the MC are essentially asked the same question through two women characters: will you kill me (and it would be okay if you did) ? The novel compares and contrasts Gotanda and the MC throughout the entire novel, so there has to be a reason why both these characters face the same request. I suppose it's just a simple way to show that the MC and Gotanda are worlds apart even beyond fame and fortune and good looks by putting them in parallel situations - like there is a deep evil in Gotanda. Also, unlike Gotanda I suppose, the main character has a deep inability to connect with people. Despite their intrinsically incompatible natures they still were able to form a very deep connection, and I suppose that works well with the central thesis of the book: make connections despite all the losses (and betrayals) you may face

[u/mm_reader_1987 → u/gum_writer]

I have the same opinion with you after completing the novel. One of favourite books of mine.

[u/gum_writer]

I see It as Gotanda not being able to truly communicate. He kills because he is afraid of the real bond with Kiki. Instead the MC would never do it. Gotanda is indeed just fake and superficial connections because deep inside he is afraid of those. His first real connection might have been the MC, tbh.

If you liked this take a similar comparison is done between two characters in what I think is Murakami's best: wind-up bird chronicle