Meeting Love at its Infancy : Thoughts after reading 'Samsa in Love' by Haruki Murakami

 

Picture credit: The Time



Samsa in love is a short story written by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami and is translated by Ted Goossen. It is a part of Murakami's collection of short stories called 'Desire' published by Vintage Minis.

In his story, the character of Samsa is based on the character known as Gregor Samsa, the protagonist of Franz Kafka's very popular novel Metamorphosis. Kafka's novel revolves around a man (Gregor Samsa) who wakes up one day to find out that he has turned into a moth. It is a brilliant work around the idea of existentialism. However, in Murakami's story, Samsa wakes up to find out that he has turned into a human from a moth. It's the other way around. The initial sensations of both these Samsas are the same. They both find it difficult to adjust to a foreign body, taking in the consciousness of a totally different being. Both know nothing of how they come to be in this way. Gregor Samsa had his own set of ordeals which ended in his perpetual doom but Murakami's Samsa has a sense of hope to him.

Samsa, the moth-turned-man, wakes up to find that it has gotten itself into a male human body. His past is not mentioned, we assume that he was a moth. The human psyche is totally alien to him. He learns his movements slowly, climbing the staircase is a humongous task, and wearing clothes is impossible. Slowly, he takes onto things as it comes to him. Suddenly, there's a knock on his door. He opens it to find out there is a young hunchbacked woman standing there. Someone made a call to fix some lock on some door. He has no idea. Both get into a conversation to solve this puzzle and are equally chaotic. 

Love and Samsa


"Just thinking about her made him warm inside. No longer did he wish to be a fish or a sunflower - or anything else for that matter. For sure, it was a great inconvenience to have to walk on two legs, and wear clothes and  eat with a knife and fork. There were so many things he didn't know. Yet had he been a fish or sunflower , and not a human being, he might never have experienced this emotion. So he felt." - Murakami  


Samsa had no prior knowledge of comprehension of the human world. The first woman he sees at this so-called 'infant' consciousness, there happens some physiological changes in his body that he couldn't decipher (truthfully this part of the story was equally weird and hilarious). The girl was shocked to see this young man behaving so off and childlike. She assumed that he is deranged and has been probably left behind by his family (as the city they lived in was in a sort of civil-war like situation). As she was a hunchback, she empathised with his condition. Had Samsa not been Samsa, there would have been no chance of them interacting this much with each other. He came from an influential family (as it was suggested by his belongings) and she was just a menial worker living with her callous family in the outskirts of the city.

I love the different stand this story takes from the original one of Gregor Samsa. Murakami's Samsa is an infant, trying to make a sense out of this world, and feeling without any notions. He is hopeful even when the world around him is burning and his hope is not something big and ideal. He hopes to learn a few things more, like how to dress better. That's it. Gregor Samsa died in his own remorse, killed by his own mind, but, this Samsa wants to live because he has something to look forward to. The girl promised that she would come to meet him again. In this short period of time, everything is sorted out. Everything is clear. Everything is at peace. Chaos will surely come but after a while.






 

 


 



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