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Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart

Decent Essays

The book ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ is a novel by Haruki Murakami, the book is about a love triangle and the difficulties, internally and externally, the characters have within this love triangle. Furthermore, the characters in the book seek for happiness, love, and companionship where they cannot find it. Miu, the main character is very much involved to seek happiness, but challenges come her way through various conflicts with Sumire—a woman who has fallen in love with her. Thus, creating psychological struggles with the character in their way of thinking, and way of reacting to certain actions. According to Sigmund Freud, father of psychology, the superego and ego create the complex behavior of human beings. Nonetheless, that can be seen throughout …show more content…

Miu does her decision making based on the morals in which her conscious believes. The superego is based on morals and judgments about right and wrong. Even though the superego and the ego may reach the same decision about something, the superego’s reason for that decision is more based on moral values, while the ego’s decision is based more on reasoning (Freud). “By my body and my mind are two different things. A part of me was happy that Sumire was caressing me so lovingly. But no matter how happy my mind was, my body couldn’t resist. My body wouldn’t yield to her. My heart and my head were aroused but the rest of me was like a hard, dry stone. It’s sad, but I couldn’t help it (Murakami 116).” Mui brings herself to make this decision, again due to the fact that she is married. Although Mui and her husband do not have a healthy relationship. In Miu’s conscious she knows she does not love him but even then respects him causing her to punish her ego. Thus, bringing her decision to not be sexually attracted to Sumire. Miu also creates an image of her ideal self, which can also be interpreted as the imagine in which she pictures herself to be, that also could have caused her to make such

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