Shadows Blog Post 5

Throughout this course and my reading of Murakami something I have noticed is his focus on people who don't have shadows. When a person doesn't have a shadow, this entails them having some kind of quirk or difference that sets them apart from a "normal" human. I first noticed this reading, Kafka on the Shore where Nagata, one of the dual protagonists, who does not have a shadow. He once did have a shadow, but due to a random event, he lost it as a child. When he had his shadow he was normal, when he lost it he became "stupid," but also gained supernatural powers. He could call fish from the sky, see things others can't, and has an intrinsic understanding of magical events. Due to losing his shadow he can no longer exist in society as a normal member, but lives on the outskirts. 

Not all shadowless people have magical powers, but they all can no longer live in normal society. We can see this in A City and Its Uncertain Walls. In ACAIUW all residents of the City are shadowless. It is described in detail how they differ form normal human societies. They don't use clocks, they eat on a different schedule, are less social, among others. We see another shadowless person in part 2 of ACAIUW, with Mr. Kayasu. He does not have a shadow because he is dead. 

In both cases someone not having a shadow represents them no longer being just human. There is something special about them and should be regarded as such. They could have magical powers, be a ghost, or live in a magical place, but none-the-less they are no longer the same "species" as a person with a shadow. Therefore, I would say that shadows represent something distinctly human. When someone loses it they lose a bit of their ability to connect with other humans. A shadow is an intrinsic and necessary aspect of living in human society. 

One could further this and say that shadows don't just represent an aspect of humanity, but of being apart of the normal world itself. After-all animals still have shadows and so do the trees. Shadows could represent being a cog in the machine of "normal" society. A place without shadows would then be a "non-normal" society, such as the city in ACAIUW. 

-Cam Hoff