Comparison Of Names In Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World

Shakespeare once had Juliet ask, “What's in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet” (II, ii, 46-47). In Romeo and Juliet, names bound you to a family history, but nowadays names can signify more than ancestry. Most writers have some basis or meaning behind their characters’ names, but Murakami, makes it appear as though all the characters in Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World are nameless. But he did gives names to some. The alternating story between the Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World creates an interesting narrative but it also creates a division when it comes to names. In the Hard-Boiled Wonderland section, the narrator is presented without a name causing a lack of an identity

After the Hard-Boiled Wonderland narrator’s initial visit with the “old man” (26), he later refers to him by the name of “the Professor” during a conversation with the Semiotecs (138). This, however, was not a name created by the narrator for the narrator later continues to characterize him by his old age. It was the Semiotecs who acknowledged his identity, calling him by the name of “the Professor” and this is important. The Semiotecs have a name, and because of this name, they have an identity and a sense of self of who they are so they are able to view others based on their sense of self. When the narrator met the “old man”, he introduced himself as “a biologist” (27) and later grouped himself with “scientists” (50). He viewed himself as a member of the scientific community and identified with them, giving himself a conscious awareness of who he was. The Semiotecs were able to recognize this and therefore addressed him as the “professor” but the narrator is unable to grasp this concept because he lacks a name and therefore an identity and a sense

The Gatekeeper tells him “you no longer have a name” but this is ironic for the narrator is able to identify with this name, creating an identity for himself that he accepts (39). The role of “the Dreamreader” may seem to be only a role to the Gatekeeper but it is more than that, it is a name. This name gives the Dreamreader a sense of self. He gives up “the light of day”, surrendering himself to darkness so he can take on the role and the name of the Dreamreader (40). When he learns all he must do is read old dreams from skulls, he feels there is no point in doing so, that “[dream reading] should have a purpose” (59). He is unaware, but being a “Dreamreader” gives him purpose. The name gives him the identity of a Dreamreader, he embodies his job and it is this name, which allows him to separate from his Shadow at the end of the novel. He “[surrenders] his shadow” after entering the Town and his mind is thought to be with the shadow, however, his conscious awareness of self remains with him (62). As the novel progress, he remembers aspects of his former life, such as singing and the accordion proving he did not lose the little pieces of himself, which he had before. His promise to escape with his Shadow changes because of his name. The Dreamreader is the only one who can help the Librarian find the pieces of