The Seventh Man Summary

The narrator of the story, The Seventh Man, should forgive himself because all people that have gone through a tragedy will feel guilt and like they could’ve done something to prevent the incident. Everyone would feel some kind of guilt in the situation that the man was in. It came down to a life long decision of whether or not risk both lives or one. The man did the best he could to prevent the tragedy. The man went through rough years after K died. He felt as if his world had came crashing down and he would never forgive himself. “At the end of the year, I pleaded my parents to let me move to another town. I couldn’t go on living in sight of the beach where K. had been swept away and my nightmares wouldn’t stop”, (Murakami, paragraph 45). This event caused long term difficulties such as he stayed away from his hometown for over 40 years, he stayed far from any seashore, and he avoided taking boats and planes.

Once he returned he went to the old shed at his house. He found an old box full of pictures of him and K. “My parents probably put them away as a keepsake of K., but the pictures did nothing but reawaken the old terror,” (Murakami, paragraph 50). After a week or so of being back in town, the man knew it was time to go back to the seashore where K. was swept away. Once he returned to the shore he was relaxed. “I lowered my bag to the sand and sat down next to it in silent appreciation of the gentle seascape,” (Murakami, paragraph 59). Then the sorrowness inside of the man was uplifted and he rose up from the sand and went to the