Literary Analysis Essay on Super Frog Saves Tokyo

Introduction

Super frog saves Tokyo is a short story written by Haruki Murakami, and it presents several important themes regarding responsibilities that individuals should take irrespective of recognition or reward. Several things coerce people to be inventive. Some forms of creativity are seen in painting, sculpting, composing music, among others. Writing is also no exception and can be used to show some of the most severe things affecting people in a society. Haruki uses his writing creativity to address some of the critical stuff seen after the earthquake suffered in Japan. This paper provides an argument on the story super frog saves Tokyo by addressing some of the essential things talked about in the story.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The argument in the story is on how subterranean-ness can assist people in rediscovering their energy after a tragedy. The story reflects the suffering that occurred after the awful tragedy called great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in which more than 63434 people died and others suffering from damages of the earthquake. The tragedy caused a lot of trauma among people in Japan, and it is still fresh in their minds. Another disaster occurred in Japan, where the Tokyo subway train was attacked using sarin gas. Twelve people died in the sarin gas attack and injured a significant number of commuters and those assisting them. Some of the damages of the attack include neurological problems, post-traumatic stress disorder, and speech disorder. Murakami saw a similarity in the two disasters despite one being man-made and the other being a natural disaster. It is at this point that he decided to focus on social problems affecting people in japan. He decided to write the story super frog saves Tokyo to deconstruct the orders of this world and the other world to show the concept of underground evil.

The story begins when Katagiri, a debt collector, gets back home and meets a giant frog who identifies himself as a frog. The occurrence of Frog and his description of his gigantic enemy by the name worm distorts the difference between what is real and the unreal. Mixing the two concepts shows the role played by the unreal in the story to establish something more of a fantasy. The story occurs in Shinjuku, which is a real place, allowing the story to seem realistic. However, imagination takes Katagiri to the underground both psychologically and geographically so he can help frog fight worm. This part appears to be unreal, and it helps to show the relationship between this world and the other world and how the two worlds are connected. It allows people to reconcile with the inevitable and recover their energy to live. The setting of the story through the overthrow of "this world/the other world" allows for the presentation of something that is beyond belief, and similar to the terrorist attack and the earthquake, both of which occurred underground. It is in this story that subterranean-ness can be described as the occurrence of a different set of values due to unanticipated calamity such as the sarin attack and the earthquake.

It is through the occurrence of unpredictable tragedies that people are able to realize the presence of an alternative in the unreal time and space that is often overlooked in the underground. The aspect of subterranean-ness can be discussed under the relation between this world and the other world. Crossing the border from "this world" to "the other world" indicates the function of the fantastic. It is a representation of moving from the real world to the world of imagination or the unreal world. The story super frog saves Tokyo shows the relationship between the border crossing and subterranean-ness. The geographical crossing of the border is enhanced by the fantastic. The story represents subterranean-ness from the psychological and geographical perspective. Katagiri is used to show border crossing between the real and the unreal world. Geographical border crossing is seen when Katagiri has to bring himself to Shinjuku to collect debts. Shinjuku is an exciting place as it has kabuki-Cho, the dark side of Shinjuku city. Shinjuku is described as a city of the excluder and the excluded who both live together. In the story, office workers are excluding while the yakuza gangsters are the "excluded." Katagiri acts as the intermediary between the excluded and "the excluding."

Frog asks Katagiri to descend to the boiler room in the boiler room of the underground at midnight on 17th February, a day before the earthquake. The boiler room is supposed to be his working room. His purpose of motivating the Frog so he can defeat his enemy worm whose anger will cause the earthquake. Katagiri is, however, shot before going to the boiler room, and he ends up unconscious. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a hospital without windows. The lack of windows suggests that he is still in the underground. Katagiri acts as the mediator between the aboveground and the underground. The case of the excluder or the aboveground represents this world while the other world is represented by the excluded or the underground. Although the aboveground is familiar and ordinary to most people, several unrealistic things occur in this world. First, Frog visits Katagiri, whose shoulder is intact despite being shot. The vagueness of the relation between the real and unreal world is seen here. The fantastic mode allows for border crossing between the two worlds. Another aspect indicating the real and unreal world is when Katagiri loses his glasses after getting shot. It causes a lack of vision during his hospitalization in the underground. Lass of glasses indicates that Katagiri is visionary as he can both see and not see implying his high degree and denial of vision. He says to himself that what his eyes see is not real. These utterances show the crossing of the border between the invisible and the visible. They also show the crossing from what is real to the unreal, indicating that the fantastic mode is once again at work. The border crossing is evident once Katagiri crosses from the aboveground to the underground.

The psychological crossing of the border is also seen in the story super frog saves Tokyo through the creation of Katagiri's own time and space. It is described as a product of his imagination between the real and the unreal. Events such as the entrance of the Frog and the presence of huge bugs and worms in him and the fact that Katagiri remains intact even after being shot makes sense in the fantastic mode. It is only possible if the natural and supernatural exist together at the same time and space. The fantastic mode of the story is further reinforced when Katagiri, despite not being able to move his body and with no sensation, can talk with Frog and the nurse and scream in despair. Also, the fact that the nurse informs him that there is no injury in his body is a sign of psychological border crossing as Katagiri recalls being shot. Also frog thanks Katagiri for his intervention in stopping the earthquake, although he thinks that he missed his appointment. The hospital acts as a subterranean that helps to connect Katiagiri's real-world to the unreal world.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the subterranean-ness argument is evident throughout the story super frog saves Tokyo as it shows the connection between the real and the unreal. There is high flexibility between the borders allowing for the notion that people in this world can recognize things in the other world. The fantastic mode in the story helps to enforce geographical and psychological border crossing. Border crossing relates to the casualty seen in the siren gas attack and the earthquake disaster and shows how the Japanese government was unprepared to deal with unexpected tragedies.