Forgiveness is a hard idea to manage, especially if you find yourself responsible for something that wasn't necessarily your fault. In The Seventh Man by Haruki Murakami, a man tells his childhood story when his best friend was swept away by a Tsunami wave while playing on the beach. The journey one must take to overcome self blame and guilt is a long one, and the seventh man is no exception. Not only was he plagued by nightmares for years (which caused him to move to a different town eventually) but it also caused extreme sadness and depression. The ways the seventh man took to finally be at peace with himself were well deserved. During his childhood years the seventh man was very close with his best friend, K. The relationship they shared was like a brotherly bond, the seventh man even claiming it to be stronger than his and his blood brothers. My real brotherly affection went to my friend K (Murakami, 134). It seemed as if the two boys spent every fleeting moment of their childhood together, until the accident of course. The seventh man held K in such a high regard that it makes complete sense how he would feel such remorse over the loss. …show more content…
During a hurricane, when the small town rested in the eye, the seventh man decided to head to the beach while taking K with him. All seemed still until there was a loud rumble and suddenly a large wave was coming towards the shore. Filled with fear, the seventh man ran to safety before trying to warn K of the danger, but the other boy was engrossed with something on the beach. He might have been so absorbed in whatever it was he had found that my call made no impression on him (Murakami, 137). This split second decision made a huge impact on the rest of the seventh man's
I believe that the narrator of “The Seventh Man” should forgive himself for his failure to save his best friend K. it wasn't his fault that his best friend didn't see the wave and didn't move on time. So why would he feel bad about it?
It is simple to argue that the Seventh Man should not forgive himself for failing to save K. One may assert that the narrator could have physically warned K. by giving him a slight shove or patting him on the back. Although this is logical, if one were to literally put him or herself in the Seventh Man’s situation, he or she would recognize the overwhelming amount of thoughts running through his head in the moment. In “The Key to Disaster Survival? Friends and Neighbors,” Shankar Vedantam reports about a 2004
The narrator for the seventh man should forgive himself for not being able to save K because he did everything he could do to try to save him but he would not listen. In the story the seventh man a huge typhoon strikes the beach with a big boom while the narrator and his friend K were investigating the previous damage from the past wind and rain. The narrator heard the big booms and tried to warn his friend K but he just couldn't K was too interested in whatever he was looking at that he did not hear the yelling or the loud booms.
Primarily, K’s personality is described as kind, shy, yet artistic. K had such a kind personality, I feel that he would have wanted the seventh man to forgive himself, and live a long/happy life. Such kindness should have been considered when the seventh man thought of the event.
A handful of people will agree that the Seventh Man left K. intentionally and let him die. For example, (evidence). Thus, what killed K. was the “wave like a huge snake with its held wanted him to die” (138). Furthermore, it was impossible for the narrator to save K. because he was “ten yards” away from him. Therefore, if he tried to run up to him and save him both of them could’ve died. In addition, although, the narrator failed on saving K., he was traumatized and had a difficulty moving on with his life. For example, “I was burning with fever, and my mind was clouded… been asleep for three days… vomited several times, and had bouts of delirium… in my dreams, K. would hop out of his capsule in the wave and grab my waist to drag me inside him...I never married… never went to swim in a pool… wouldn’t go near deep rivers or lakes…” (139-141). Others might conclude that the seventh man deserves everything he’s been through. However, this proves that the Seventh Man was miserable and couldn’t live life to the fullest because of the
Crashing, forcing, blowing these are the characteristics of the wave that took the seventh man’s best friend. ”The Seventh Man” by Haruki Murakami is about a typhoon that swept the seventh man’s best friend. The narrator in “The Seventh Man” should forgive himself for K.’s death because K. should of been more alert of his surroundings, he wouldn’t of had enough time to get K., and the narrator's parents should of never let him go out in a storm that great. The narrator shouldn’t blame himself for K.’s death because K should of been more alert of his surroundings during the storm.
Survivor guilt is when someone feels guilty for surviving a traumatic event when somebody else didn’t. The story The Seventh Man was told by a narrator whose friend was killed by a wave from a tsunami. The narrator was at the beach with his friend K, during the eye of a tsunami when all of a sudden, the waves resume. The narrator attempts to get K’s attention, but he fails to do so. The fear begins to take over when he starts running to safety, K unfortunately didn't realize the wave until it was too late and he was engulfed. Ever since that day, the narrator has lived his whole life blaming himself for the death of his friend K.. If the narrator would have tried any harder to save K he would have died as well, which is why he should forgive himself for his failure in doing so.
The general topic of forgiveness has received a magnitude of attention and research on a conceptual level in recent years. Hall and Fincham consistently noted, however, that self-forgiveness had little to no empirical study or research documented and believe this is a critical piece to an individual’s overall emotional health. In an effort to stimulate additional research on the
“It happened one September afternoon when I was ten years old.” (Murakami, 133). This statement right here should already have you convinced. The narrator states that he was only the young age of ten when the tragic event happened, his friend, K, was taken away by the wave of a typhoon. At that age most children would have no clue what to do in a situation similar to this and that’s when they’re not under pressure. The narrator also states that he called for his friend, “Hurry K! Get
Should the narrator of “The Seventh Man’ forgive himself for his failure of saving K?
The narratorś backstory is tragic. To simplify it, his home town was undergoing a typhoon, he and his best friend K had decided to travel down to the beach while they had been in the eye of the storm. While they were scavenging the beach the narrator described it as “ strange “. “I do recall that my voice sounded strange to me, as though it belonged to someone else”( Murakami 137). As he had watched a wave start to form his first instinct was to run.
In “The Key to Disaster Survival? Friends and Neighbors,” Shankar Vedantam reports about a 2004 tsunami in which fishing boats were distributed. He says, “Fishermen who used to work together now became competitors. Trust broke down. Fights broke out.” (Vedantam 3). This situation accurately describes how one might change when trying to save or help oneself. People tend to forget about others and fend for themselves first. Consequently, the Seventh Man might have wanted to help, but he knew his life was at stake.
The narrator of “The Seventh Man,” by Haruki Murakami, struggles with the guilt of not being able to save his best friend from a horrendous wave for most of his life. His sleep is ridden with nightmares, and he chooses to never find love, so his future partner wouldn’t have to deal the constant burden of the Seventh Man’s fears. Although the Seventh Man feels strongly at fault for the death of his best friend, K, he should not blame himself for the tragic events that occured, because there was no way to prevent what happened.
The seventh man should forgive himself because if K was alive he wouldn't want the seventh man to be mad and hate himself. K would want the Seventh Man to forgive himself for his mistake. The Seventh Man did yell for K to move but K did not hear him and as a result he was eaten by a wave. Perhaps the seventh man should have tried to grab K, but he was really far out at the beach and he was probably worried that he would end up getting eaten by the wave just like K was another reason the Seventh Man should forgive himself is because he didn't create the wave to get K.
“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.