The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Analyze the significance of Toru’s character development. In what ways is this novel a bildungsroman, and how does this character development impact the novel’s themes?

Toru Okada is, by all accounts, an everyman character. He lives a rather average life until his cat goes missing. Analyze Murakami’s motivation to use an everyman narrator to explore and express the novel’s main themes. Why Toru Okada?

Why does Murakami go into such detail about the outfits and styles each character wears? What is the purpose of focusing on fashion throughout this novel?