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Analysis Of The Seventh Man By Haruki Murakami

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“The Seventh Man” by Haruki Murakami is a passage where a man tells a story of how his friend, K., lost his life in a hurricane, causing the narrator to have to face his fear of water later in his life. The Seventh Man gave context of how his friend had gotten swept up into a wave in the eye of a hurricane. When K. didn’t hear the man calling out to him, the man blamed himself for his friends death. After his dreadful experience, the Seventh man was constantly followed by the thought of K., how he died, and how he could have stopped it. The Sevenths Man's feelings could be considered to be survivors guilt. The fact that The Seventh Man tried to save his friend but couldn’t shows why he should forgive himself for K,’s death. Survivor's guilt occurs when one blames themself for not saving another in a life or death experience. “The guilt begins an endless loop of counterfactuals-thoughts out could have or should have done otherwise, though in fact you did nothing wrong.” (Sherman, 153). What the Seventh Man feels throughout Murakami’s story is guilt for surviving when K. did not. Even if the narrator couldn’t have helped K. anymore than what he accomplished by calling out to him. “‘I’m getting out of here!’ I yelled to K. … my voice did not seem to reach him. He might have been so absorbed in whatever it was he had found that my call made no impression on him. K. was like that.” (Murakami, 137). K. wouldn’t have been able to be saved because even just calling to him

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