INDIVIDUATION PROCESS AND SHADOW IN MURAKAMI HARUKI’S “DANCE DANCE DANCE”

Aytemis Depci̇,Hüseyin Can Erki̇n

doi:10.16953/deusosbil.953375

Abstract

The aim of this study is to scrutinize the individuation process of Murakami Haruki’s protagonist, who feels a stark sense of loss and lack, in the novel Dance Dance Dance. The paper also focuses on “the other side” and death motifs that frequently emerge as the story goes. Sheep Man, Kiki and Gotanda represent the shadow of the protagonist. While Gotanda and Kiki have passed away to the world of the dead, the protagonist is able to reconnect with Sheep Man, by entering his room, which symbolizes the other side created by the protagonist's unconsciousness. However, he prefers to be with Yumiyoshi in the real-world, instead of reuniting with his shadow and Kiki, his Lacanian desire object, belonging to his unconscious world. This study not only examines the protagonist’s search of “objet petit a” with Lacanian pscychoanalysis but also his strugle with his shadow during his individuation process with Jung’s shadow archetype as well as the persona archetype that emerge in the novel. This study contributes to Murakami Haruki studies to comprehend the inner self of the narrator, who experiences fragmentation utilizing both Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and Jungian psychoanalysis which provides a much more elaborate discussion on the unconscious functioning of the protagonist.

Highlights

Many of Murakami Haruki’s ( 村上春樹 ) protagonists suffer from incompleteness, loneliness, alienation, futility and loss due to the negative effects of wild capitalism and mass consumption of individuals and the excessive suppressive power of the Japanese social system
On the other side of the wall there is a different world than the real the Dolphin Hotel
The protagonist, who feels a strong sense of loss and detachment, wants to return to the Dolphin Hotel, a fantasy space to find Kiki; and to reconnect with the Sheep Man, his “shadow” figure

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Many of Murakami Haruki’s ( 村上春樹 ) protagonists suffer from incompleteness, loneliness, alienation, futility and loss due to the negative effects of wild capitalism and mass consumption of individuals and the excessive suppressive power of the Japanese social system. Murakami disapproves the group oriented society for depriving the individual of his independence which is prominent in his narrative His protagonist in Dance Dance Dance is a freelance commercial writer who is fed up with the non-artistic advertisement works. In this study, the reconciliation of the characters with their “shadows” will be examined with the help of Jung's theory, and secondly the protagonist’s desire to reach integrity and his search for “objet petit a” will be evaluated within the framework of Lacanian psychoanalysis The application of both Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and Jungian psychoanalysis provides a more elaborate discussion on the unconscious functioning of the protagonist. In Murakami’s work, one of the characters adapts the requirements of the demanded Japanese society so intensely that he eventually loses all sense of self and could not endure the conflict

Imaginary and Objet petit a

THE OTHER SIDE AND THE INDIVIDUATION PROCESS

Conclusion