After reading the excerpt from Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland, I started paying attention to descriptions of sounds when reading his work. In The City and its Uncertain Walls, I noticed that mentions of sounds are not only recurring, but also prominent in the distinctions between the real and the imagined self. Many of Boku’s remarks of how something sounds often conflict with his expectations. In other words, the tangible truth conflicts with his perception. For instance, he observes that a knife “made a dry scratching sound, but didn’t make a single white line” (Ch. 7). The sound conflicts with his vision. This discrepancy even manifests into people as Boku questions “how could such a crude, coarse-looking man produce such a soft, charming sound?” (Ch. 3). A certain voice ultimately belongs to a certain person, a certain soul belongs to a certain body. Exemplifying one's possession of a certain voice, Boku notes that the girl’s “voice didn’t sound like your voice” (Ch. 5). Boku even undergoes this dissonance himself as his voice “didn’t sound like my own voice” (Ch. 14). In failing to recognize the girl and even himself, sounds are depicted as producing a sense of estrangement from the self, perhaps the real self. In that vein, sounds can be a means of transformation, a sentiment consistent with Boku’s new eyes when he becomes the Dream Reader.
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