The Seventh Man Haruki Mularakami Analysis

Many wise people before have said, “Life is a gift.” You never realize what you have until you lose it. How would you feel if you lost one of the most important things in your life and you could have done something to prevent it? In “The Seventh Man” by Haruki Murakami, a typhoon sweeps a boy’s hometown in Japan. After the waves settled down, the narrator and his best friend, K. decide to go down to the beach and watch the tide. K. peacefully sat where the ocean meets the earth when a gigantic wave swallows him. The narrator in the midst of it all, had the opportunity to help K.. However, as he saw the waves washing up, his instincts had him sprinting in the opposite direction. He spent almost his entire adulthood with a burden of guilt. The narrator never intended to hurt K. and thought of him as a brother. He had warned K. before, and shouted out to him while the waves crashed around him, therefore, the narrator should forgive himself.

He cared deeply for K. and even thought of him as a brother. His words show that you do not have to be blood-related to be a family. In the story, ‘The Seventh Man’ explains, “We were like brothers, walking to and from school together, and always playing together when we got home. We never once fought during our long friendship. I did have a brother, six years older, but what with the age difference and differences in our personalities, we were never very close. My real brotherly affection went to my friend K.” (Murakami 2). The narrator also proceeds to describe K. was delicate and says that “And because he was so frail, I always played his protector, whether at school or at home. I was kind of big and athletic, and the other kids all looked up to me” (Murakami 2). His goal was always to protect K., and you should hold onto the people you love while you can because you never know when they could disappear from your