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Questions for discussion
1.
1Q84
is a vast and intricate novel. What are the pleasures of reading such a long
work, of staying with the same characters over such a long period of time?
2. Murakami has said he is a fan of the mystery writer Elmore Leonard. What
elements of the mystery genre does
1Q84
employ? How does Murakami keep readers
guessing about what will happen next? What are some of the book’s most surprising
moments?
3. Why would Murakami choose to set his story in 1984, the year that would serve as
the title for George Orwell’s famous novel about the dangers of Big Brother?
4. The taxi driver in
Chapter 1
warns Aomame that things are not what they seem, but
he also tells her: “Don’t let appearances fool you. There’s always only one reality”
(
this page
). Does this statement hold true throughout the novel? Is there only one
reality, despite what appears to be a second reality that Aomame and Tengo enter?
5. Aomame tells Ayumi: “We think we’re choosing things for ourselves, but in fact
we may not be choosing anything. It could be that everything’s decided in advance
and we pretend we’re making choices. Free will may be an illusion” (
this page
). Do
the events in the novel seem fated or do the characters have free will?
6. When Tamaru bids goodbye to Aomame, he says: “If you do go somewhere far
away and I never see you again, I know I’ll feel a little sad. You’re a rare sort of
character, a type I’ve seldom come across before” (
this page
). What type of person is
Aomame? What qualities make her extraordinary?
7. The dowager insists, and Aomame agrees, that the killing they do is completely
justified, that the men whom they kill deserve to die, that the legal system can’t touch
them, and that more women will be victims if these men aren’t stopped. Is it true that
Aomame and the dowager have done nothing wrong? Or are they simply rationalizing
their anger and the desire for vengeance that arises from their own personal histories?
8. Tengo realizes that rewriting
Air Chrysalis
is highly unethical and that Komatsu is
asking him to participate in a scam that will very likely cause them both a great deal
of trouble. Why does he agree to do it?
9. How does rewriting
Air Chrysalis
change Tengo as a writer? How does it affect the
course of his life?
10. How do the events that occur on the night of the huge thunderstorm alter the fates
of Aomame, Tengo, Fuka-Eri, and the dowager? Why do Aomame and the dowager
let go of their anger after the storm?
11. At first, Ushikawa is a creepy, totally unlikable character. How does Murakami
make him more sympathetic as the novel progresses? How do you respond to his
death?
12. Near the end of the novel, Aomame declares: “From now on, things will be
different. Nobody else’s will is going to control me anymore. From now on, I’m
going to do things based on one principle alone: my own will” (
this page
). How does
Aomame arrive at such a firm resolve? In what ways is the novel about overcoming
the feeling of powerlessness that at various times paralyzes Aomame, Ayumi, Tengo,
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Fuka-Eri, and all the women who are abused by their husbands? What enables
Aomame to come into her own power?
13. What does the novel as a whole seem to say about fringe religious groups? How
does growing up in the Society of Witnesses affect Aomame? How does growing up
in Sakigake cult affect Fuka-Eri? Does Leader appear to be a true spiritual master?
14. What is the appeal of the fantastic elements in the novel—the little people,
maza
and
dohta,
the air chrysalis, two moons in the sky, alternate worlds, etc.? What do
they add to the story? In what ways does the novel question the nature of reality and
the boundaries between what is possible and not possible?
15. What makes the love story of Tengo and Aomame so compelling? What obstacles
must they overcome to be together? Why was the moment when Aomame grasped
Tengo’s hand in grade school so significant?
16. In what ways does
1Q84
question and complicate conventional ideas of
authorship? How does it blur the line between fictional reality and ordinary reality?
17. References to the song “Paper Moon” appear several times in the novel. How do
those lyrics relate to
1Q84
?
18. What role does belief play in the novel? Why does Murakami end the book with
the image of Tengo and Aomame gazing at the moon until it becomes “nothing more
than a gray paper moon, hanging in the sky” (
this page
)?
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