“Telling people her name was always a bother. As soon as the name left her lips, the other person looked puzzled or confused.”
In this quote, Haruki Murakami captures the frustration and discomfort that comes with constantly having to explain or clarify one's name. The protagonist's experience highlights the common struggle many individuals face when their names are perceived as unfamiliar or difficult to pronounce. This quote speaks to a broader theme of identity and the challenges of communication in a diverse and multi-cultural world.
In the quote by Haruki Murakami, the protagonist expresses her frustration with constantly having to explain and clarify her unusual name to others. In today's society, many individuals still face this challenge of having names that are unfamiliar or difficult to pronounce. This can lead to feelings of alienation or otherness, highlighting the importance of embracing diversity and celebrating individuality in our interactions with others.
"Telling people her name was always a bother. As soon as the name left her lips, the other person looked puzzled or confused." - Haruki Murakami
This quote from Haruki Murakami's writing raises questions about identity and communication. Consider the following reflection questions:
“How many times in her thirty years had she heard the same remarks, the same feeble jokes about her name?”
“Whenever an occasion arose in which she needed an opinion on something in the wider world, she borrowed her husband's. If this had been all there was to her, she wouldn't have bothered anyone, but as is so often the case with such women, she suffered from an incurable case of of pretentiousness. Lacking any internalized values of her own, such people can arrive at a standpoint only by adopting other people's standards or views. The only principle that governs their minds is the question "How do I look?”
“In the name of God, they stole her time and her freedom, putting shackles on her heart. They preached about God's kindness, but preached twice as much about his wrath and intolerance.”
“Becoming a different person might be hard, but taking on a different name is a cinch.”
“Her partially open lips now opened wide, and her soft, fragrant tongue entered his mouth, where it began a relentless search for unformed words, for a secret code engraved there. Tengo's own tongue responded unconsciously to this movement and soon their tongues were like two young snakes in a spring meadow, newly wakened from their hibernation and hungrily intertwining, each led on by the other's scent.”
“She's always polite and kind, but her words lack the kind of curiosity and excitement you'd normally expect. Her true feelings- assuming such things exist- remain hidden away. Except for when a practical sort of decision has to be made, she never gives her personal opinion about anything. She seldom talks about herself, instead letting others talk, nodding warmly as she listens. But most people start to feel vaguely uneasy when talking with her, as if they suspect they're wasting her time, trampling on her private, graceful, dignified world. And that impression is, for the most part, correct.”