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I enjoyed this short story so far and it is quite easy compared to other works. So she can actually inflict pain to the monster using her thoughts! It makes me wonder if the monster is actually a mirror of her mental state and is just an illusion.
I have some vocabulary problems in this page...
1. The monster said the following lines
> ここに這い上がつてきたたたですよ。みんなとめたですよ。
I don't understand what he meant by「みんなとめた」here. "Stopped everything"?
2. Does「お前つみたしな獣」mean「お前みたいな獣」? I assume つ is a glottal stop in monster's language. I've never seen みたし before, so I think it must be some kind of dialect for みたい judging from context.
3. I'm uncertain how イチジク works in the below sentences
> まるでイチジクみたいに顏の表面から飛び出し
> 焼けたはんだごてをそのイチジクのように盛り上がった目に思い切り突きたててみたりした。
Googling gives me that イチジク is some kind of fruit. I've never seen this kind of fruit before. So this fruit can swell and pop or something?
Good morning Jimmy, apologies for the late reply...
I think you might be on to something when you said that the monster might a reflection of her inner state of mind!
As for your questions:
1. I read this as: "everyone tried to stop me (but I could no longer control myself and had to come and see you)". Who these beings are, is never defined, but it does fit within the context here.
2. I think this is not dialect, but should be understood as the monster's speech impediment. It has a strange way of phrasing things and should be taken with a grain of salt.
3. This is a fig. Typical to Murakami's style, his metaphors often make no sense, and I don't they are supposed to.
みんなとめた, I think that means everybody tried to stopped the monster, but it doesn't say who everybody is. I also feel it is a mirror of her mental state. I think つみたしな is in my wordlist, see link, but I'm also not sure whether it's correct.
I suppose technically you can understand this as "everything tried to stop me" but in any case it means that external forces tried to hold it back but something within the monster pushed him toward the house of the woman.
This shows a good understanding of the text, well done! Again, great wordlist! I would not take 結構 and 勇気 to be one word, they are separate words and 結構 simply qualifies the extent to which 勇気 is necessary.
Your right it was all in her mind, but it feels like the image and description of the 'torture' was so vivid, it almost felt like she was experiencing it as if it were happing in real life. At least it felt like that to me, but maybe I'm wrong. With Murakami you can never be sure.
I enjoyed this short story so far and it is quite easy compared to other works. So she can actually inflict pain to the monster using her thoughts! It makes me wonder if the monster is actually a mirror of her mental state and is just an illusion.
I have some vocabulary problems in this page...
1. The monster said the following lines
> ここに這い上がつてきたたたですよ。みんなとめたですよ。
I don't understand what he meant by「みんなとめた」here. "Stopped everything"?
2. Does「お前つみたしな獣」mean「お前みたいな獣」? I assume つ is a glottal stop in monster's language. I've never seen みたし before, so I think it must be some kind of dialect for みたい judging from context.
3. I'm uncertain how イチジク works in the below sentences
> まるでイチジクみたいに顏の表面から飛び出し
> 焼けたはんだごてをそのイチジクのように盛り上がった目に思い切り突きたててみたりした。
Googling gives me that イチジク is some kind of fruit. I've never seen this kind of fruit before. So this fruit can swell and pop or something?
Good morning Jimmy, apologies for the late reply...
I think you might be on to something when you said that the monster might a reflection of her inner state of mind!
As for your questions:
1. I read this as: "everyone tried to stop me (but I could no longer control myself and had to come and see you)". Who these beings are, is never defined, but it does fit within the context here.
2. I think this is not dialect, but should be understood as the monster's speech impediment. It has a strange way of phrasing things and should be taken with a grain of salt.
3. This is a fig. Typical to Murakami's style, his metaphors often make no sense, and I don't they are supposed to.
Hope this helps!
Sorry am a bit under the weather today. I'll reply to all of your questions in the morning 👍
Could this be a Fig? https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/fig-glossary
correct!
Yes, that's the only thing I can find..
みんなとめた, I think that means everybody tried to stopped the monster, but it doesn't say who everybody is. I also feel it is a mirror of her mental state. I think つみたしな is in my wordlist, see link, but I'm also not sure whether it's correct.
I think you are correct on the みんなとめた
みんな can also mean 全て or 全部 which doesn't refer to people.
I suppose technically you can understand this as "everything tried to stop me" but in any case it means that external forces tried to hold it back but something within the monster pushed him toward the house of the woman.
Till tomorrow evening, looking forward to the zoom meeting.
Yeah very excited!
もしそうだとすれば、私にも勝ち目はある。 If so, I knew I could win. I think this is a important sentence when she feels the monster no longer has power over her.
おまけに体だってひとまわり縮んで小さくなってしまったみたいだった。The body of the monster seems to be shrinking, so he is losing his power over her?
私はもう獣を怖いとは思わなくなっていた。 Here she isn’t afraid of the monster anymore, I think, which is a good sign.
私の心がわんわんと反響するくらいの大きな声で。 I shouted in my mind’s loudest voice. So you know it happens in the mind and not in reality?
大きな重い椅子に針金で獣を縛りつけて尖ったピンセットで緑の鱗をひとつずつむしりとってみたり、よく切れるナイフの先端を火で赤くなるまで熱して、それを使ってふっくらと柔らかそうな桃色の足のふ
Does she act upon repressed anger and attacks the monster, or so it seems?
Hereby the wordlist:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1he9pMxlsa4riPPvZ96Nv64Ygb_R3flKE?usp=sharing
This shows a good understanding of the text, well done! Again, great wordlist! I would not take 結構 and 勇気 to be one word, they are separate words and 結構 simply qualifies the extent to which 勇気 is necessary.
Thank you so much, I'm so happy I made it to the end.
> Does she act upon repressed anger and attacks the monster, or so it seems?
Kind of, she was simply picturing in her mind about attacking the monster. She didn't actually act like this.
Thanks for your always reliable replies Jimmy!
Your right it was all in her mind, but it feels like the image and description of the 'torture' was so vivid, it almost felt like she was experiencing it as if it were happing in real life. At least it felt like that to me, but maybe I'm wrong. With Murakami you can never be sure.