The Second Bakery Attack

"While she hunted for more fragments of food, I leaned over the edge of my boat and looked down at the peak underwater volcano. The clarity of the ocean water all around the boat gave me an unsettled feeling, as if a hollow had opened somewhere behind my solar plexus-a hermetically sealed cavern that had neither entrance nor exit. Something about this weird sense of absence-this sense of the existential reality of nonexistence-resembled the paralyzing fear you might feel when you climb to the very top of a high steeple. This connection between hunger and acrophobia was a new discovery for me." (Page 39)

First of all I had to look up acrophobia which is a pathological fear of heights. Next I realized that the author was using an allusion to relate his message to you. Overall he is trying to get you to realize how hungry he is, but he is using it by telling a story. He relates it to being sea sick, because when you are over-hungry you feel sick to your stomach. This diction is also in a childish way. The author is telling a story to get his point across, and many times that is what children do when they are trying to tell something. The narrator and his wife don't work, and are struggling for food, and they are both acting like children. They feel that they shouldn't have to work, they should just get whatever they want. This view is often taken by children with how they want everything.

The narrator looks into the ocean and sees a volcano. This symbolizes his life, because he says that there is neither an entrance nor an exit. In his life, there is no way for people to get in or out, and they are just stuck. He can't seem to fix his life, even if he wanted to because he is set in his ways. He feels as if he is too far away from ever fixing it. That relates to the acrophobia, because he is too high, or too far away from fixing things.

The Wind up Bird and Tuesday's women part 2

" Once a day the wind-up bird has to come and wind the springs of this world. Alone in this fun house, only I grow old, a pale softball of death swelling inside me. yet even as I sleep somewhere between Saturn and Uranus, wind-up birds everywhere are busy at work fulfilling their appointed rounds."

I believe that this one paragraph sums up the man's life. Throughout the story, this "wind-up bird" has been coming in and out right on its schedule because it is a kuku clock. The author using this as a symbol for human life. People go about their life like they can't do anything else but their job. They continue on the path that they have always had and don't like to change it. People are just waiting for the day they die. Many people go through life alone and have nothing better to do with their life. I also feel that this was showing the characters real feelings into his own life. The whole time he talked about how he doesn't have this job because he quit and how he is fine with that, but the sentence about alone in this fun house and growing old alone all represent how he truly feels. He feels as though he is all alone in this house to go roam and there is nothing better that he could do with his life. The diction in this paragraph is much different then in the rest of the story. It is full of metaphors that represent how he truly feels. The rest of the diction is normally just short to the point sentences, but this is intended to have a meaning behind it. The tone of this paragraph is very dark and heavy with a lot of emotion in it, compared to the rest of the story which is all very light and care free. He doesn't really care what he does, but in this paragraph it is as if he is reflecting on his own life and coming to a realization about it. He also feels like he doesn't belong. We can tell this by his comparison with Saturn and Uranus. He is making a comparison to space because that can also be compared to aliens. In the end, he is alone and has nothing really to live for. He will do the same old thing everyday, and everyone he cares about is upset with him. His life is going no where just like the wind-up birds.

The wind-up bird and tuesday's women

I'm in the kitchen cooking spaghetti when the woman calls. Another moment until the spaghetti is done; there I am, whistling the prelude to Rossini's La Gazza Ladra along with the FM radio. Perfect spaghetti-cooking music.
I hear the telephone ring but tell myself, Ignore it. Let the spaghetti finish cooking. It's almost done, and besides, Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra are coming to a crescendo. Still, on second thought, I figure I might as well turn down the flame and head into the living room, cooking chopsticks in hand, to pick up the receiver. It might be a friend, it occurs to me, possibly with word of a new job.

This section of the book The elephant vanishes by Haruki Murakami, is part of a short story. It is the opening section of "The wind-up bird and Tuesday's women." The author starts off with describing his surroundings in the kitchen. This diction brings you into the story. It makes you feel like you are cooking spaghetti right along with him. The author also adds a lot of mystery to the story. We are only in the first two paragraphs and you could have 20 questions. He keeps on adding stories along, to keep you interested in whats happening. In the second paragraph it gives you the question of who is calling him. You can also tell that he has no job at the moment.

I think this passage is important because it is the start off of the book. It leads you into so many mysteries, that you want to continue to read to see what happens though them. The author uses this as a way to get you interested in the story line.