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  Hard Boiled: ending

  I started this thread in the murakami zone but, so far, no takers...anyone?
  
  I just finished rereading 'hard boiled wonderland' and was struck by the ending again --don't want to ruin it for whoever hasn't read it, but any thoughts on the main character's ultimate choice and the exact meaning of it?

  ms. rose started this discussion 2 years ago. ( reply )

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  teobesta 

  SPOILER
  well, it's been so long since i read it that it's a bit vague in my mind but i found this review on the net and it's more or less how i felt end of the at the end of the book
  "By the end of the story, the reader along with the protagonist eventually realize that "the end of the world" is a creation from the narrator's consciousness that theorectically can last forever, except for his own sneaky subconscious and id lurking around in the background... The protagonist in "Hard" ultimately also chose the sweet-bitterness of reality over the imaginary kingdom where he reigned. I remember the protagonist had a difficult time choosing because he had grown to love the strange world his mind had created. He also felt responsible for the people that his mind had conceived, he was torn by the realization that these people that he had come to care about are all going to cease to exist once he leaves."

  posted 2 years ago. ( reply )

  show 3 replies

  • 

    ms. rose 

    SPOILERS
    
    -]The protagonist in "Hard" ultimately also chose the sweet-bitterness of reality over the imaginary kingdom where he reigned.
    
    did you feel the character in 'hard' actually made that choice? i felt he was merely accepting what was about to happen to his mind. and anyway, since he 'loses consciousness' in the end, doesn't that mean he ends up in the end of the world?
    
    as for the character in 'the end of the world', his choice was interesting to me: he didn't choose to escape with his shadow back to reality, where he would have a mind. but he refused to let his shadow die and become like the other inhabitants of the town. not taking into account the role of the librarian or the fact that he didn't want the inhabitants to stop existing, i wondered if the ultimate message was something along the lines of striking a balance between rationality and subconscious:
    
    the character chooses not to live a mindless life (where he would be content, but without the highs and lows that come with having a mind), but without losing awareness of his subconscious (because, had he gone back, he would have lost that). so is his plan to try and integrate the two?
    
    i'm probably asking the impossible of you, right? since it's been so long since you've read it. i'm contemplating forcing this book on the people around me over here, i so desperately want to discuss the ending with someone...^^

    posted 2 years ago. ( reply )

  • 

    teobesta 

    ya, it's been too long and too many books since
    i think it was the 2nd or 3rd murakami i had read
    and that must have been in 2003 or 2004
    but reading all these comments i'm really tempted to reread some of them
    though i'd have to find them
    and we're trying to get that jlit discussion going ;^)

    posted 2 years ago. ( reply )

  • 

    Emily H 

    (SPOILERS continued...)
    I only read this a few months ago and I'm already having difficulty remembering quite how I interpreted this ending. On the whole, I just enjoyed reading the story so much, that I didn't dwell massively on the ending, although now you make me think of it, it was hard to make sense of....
    
    I guess the character in 'the end of the world' did make a choice (whereas I don't think the character in the real world *had* a choice) - he chose to stay there, although to keep his mind as well. I found this quite a surprising choice, since he, like all Murakami characters, loved his food and music and women that he couldn't enjoy in this world.
    
    I had been hoping that somehow, if he and his shadow escaped, they would keep the guy in the real world alive - though I know according to the Doctor this wasn't possible.
    
    It seems kind of hellish what he's going to end up with - living in a world of mindless people who have no taste, or love, ear for music, and no mind to care. But then didn't he somehow think he could get some feeling out of the librarian by taking her into the woods, closer to her mother?

    posted 2 years ago. ( reply )

• daredevilrash removed this reply 1 year ago.

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  daredevilrash 

  I believe the ending portrays a complete rejection of the real world from both sides.
  
  Looking from the perspective of the end of the world character is easy enough. It decided to stay in the made-up world. As simple as that. The confusion lies then, within the wonderland character. We have to remember that the persona in the end of the world is one and the same with that of wonderland's. Some might say the wonderland persona chose real life. However, if anyone has read the book, I suggest rereading just the last part of wonderland. In this part, The character does state that he loves everything in the real world. He even goes into details of what he likes. But that doesn't mean he strives to stick to that world. It was merely a reverie of what his life has become. At this point in the story (or even earlier) he has come to accept his fate -that this life has ended and he is to live in the end of the world. This is proven by the fact that he has done what he wants (or that of what is readily available), has plotted his day (well, as much as he could have), spent his time with the librarian and has said his goodbye to the pink chubby.
  
  And THAT...
  
  ..leaves me to wonder what the ending would be if the wonderland fella did not accept that fact. Consequently, the end of the world guy would've jumped in the pool with his shadow..
  
  t'would be interesting.

  posted 1 year ago. ( reply )

  show 1 reply

  • 

    ms. rose 

    ---]Consequently, the end of the world guy would've jumped in the pool with his shadow..
    
    not necessarily, i think, though the two couldn't have continued co existing. i agree with you, would have been interesting to see murakami solve that one ^^

    posted 1 year ago. ( reply )

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