The Seventh Man Short Story

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Imagine you were only 10 or so years old, you and your best friend were outside in the middle of a storm. Your best friend got swept away in a wave under your watch, you would never forgive you self, but should you? The narrator of a short story “The Seventh Man” was doing this exact thing. He was watching his friend K whilst out in the middle of a storm, and the narrator had said that he was leaving to his friend. His friend couldn't hear him. Towards the end of the book, K had been swallowed up by the waves, and the narrator was felt it was him fault. Should he? No, he shouldn't. He was young and his father allowed him to go outside, K never asked his parents. Plus K was on the other side of the beach their was no way he (the narrator) could reach him in time to save him. The young boy shouldn't be put to fault (which he wasn't) for his actions so he shouldn't feel it was his fault. It said that all through the narrators life he felt guilty about K, the thought it had always been his fault. He never got married or never had a life, he was too upset about K.”this is probably why i never married. I didn't want to wake someone sleeping next to me with my screams in the middle of the night.” (Murakami, 141) Something like this can haunt someone for the rest of their life, especially if it happened to them when they were just a …show more content…

had drowned and died because the narrator was the older one there and he should be more responsible but, that is not the truth. This was a 10 year old boy, “it always seemed to me that i could make it. As i said before, though, overcome with fear, I abandon him there and saved only myself.” (Murakami, 140) the poor young child was scared almost to death and it made him upset that K’s parents didn't blame him for K’s death, “It pained me all the more the K’s parents failed to blame me and everyone else was so careful never to say anything to me about what had happened.” (Murakami,

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