Chapter 47: Confrontation at the Grave and the Boy’s Reading
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The narrator begins Monday by visiting Mr. Koyasu’s grave with a bouquet on a cloudy, damp morning. He prays for the repose of Mr. Koyasu, his wife, and son—a family he never met but feels strangely close to. After praying, he sits on the stone wall and speaks aloud to Mr. Koyasu, reporting the week’s library events: a patron with food poisoning, a garden cat giving birth to five kittens. He then describes the walled town in detail—the river, unicorns, the Gatekeeper, the girl’s herbal tea—aware he may have told the story before.
While talking, he catches movement from the corner of his eye: a small figure hiding behind a gravestone. He recognizes the green parka with Yellow Submarine and realizes the boy is there, likely avoiding human contact. The narrator wonders how much of his monologue the boy overheard, given the silence and the boy’s keen hearing. He decides to leave without acknowledging the boy, pretending not to notice.
Afterward, he visits a coffee shop where the woman behind the counter smiles in a way that suggests she remembers him. Jazz plays (“Star Eyes” by a piano trio). He then goes to the library garden to see the new kittens. The mother cat is relaxed, the kittens still blind. This reminds the narrator that in the walled town there were no dogs, cats, or even worms—only necessary things existed.
At home, he eats leftover turnip soup and reflects on the boy. He suspects the boy knew Mr. Koyasu’s ghost lingers. Later, he asks Mrs. Soeda for a list of books the boy has read over two years. The list is immense and diverse, from Kant to Steve Jobs to Stephen Hawking. The narrator compares the boy’s thirst for knowledge to his own teenage hunger. Mrs. Soeda notes that the boy never abandons a book halfway and does not choose based on interest or genre. When asked about Mr. Koyasu’s thoughts on the boy, she replies in present tense: “He just folds his arms and watches him, a big smile on his face.”
Key Events
- The narrator visits Mr. Koyasu’s grave, prays for the family, and speaks aloud about the library and the walled town.
- He notices Yellow Submarine Boy hiding behind a gravestone and chooses to leave without acknowledging him.
- He stops at a coffee shop, then visits the library garden to see the cat family.
- He reflects on the absence of animals in the walled town.
- He reviews the extensive reading list of the boy with Mrs. Soeda, learning that the boy reads every book to the end without discrimination.
- Mrs. Soeda reveals Mr. Koyasu’s ghost still smiles on the boy’s reading.
Character Development
- The Narrator: Deepens his connection to the dead by performing ritualized visits and sharing personal stories. His protective instinct toward the boy grows—he pretends not to see him to spare him discomfort. His empathy emerges through comparing his own youthful reading to the boy’s obsessive intake.
- Yellow Submarine Boy: Remains a figure of mystery, but his actions (visiting the grave in winter) show genuine attachment to Mr. Koyasu. His reading list highlights his insatiable, non-judgmental approach to knowledge.
- Mrs. Soeda: Provides practical information about the boy’s reading habits. Her use of present tense when speaking of Mr. Koyasu blurs the line between life and death, suggesting she too perceives his ghost.
- Mr. Koyasu (posthumous): Still exerts influence through his ghost and through the narrator’s and boy’s continued devotion. His imagined smile reinforces his benign, watchful presence.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Graves and Communing with the Dead: The cemetery setting underscores ongoing relationships with deceased loved ones. The narrator speaks to Mr. Koyasu as if he were listening, and the boy’s hiding suggests he may have done the same.
- The Walled Town as Psychological Refuge: The narrator’s detailed retelling of the walled town indicates its importance as an inner landscape. The town’s lack of animals (only essential beings) contrasts with the earthly library garden’s new kittens, highlighting the gap between imagination and reality.
- Knowledge as Compulsion: The boy’s reading list—encyclopedic and indiscriminate—suggests a desperate need to absorb all information, reminiscent of the narrator’s own youth. This motif questions the limits of memory and the purpose of accumulated facts.
- Ghosts and Unfinished Business: Mr. Koyasu’s ghost lingering, acknowledged by both the narrator and Mrs. Soeda, reinforces that death does not sever bonds or duties. His mentoring of the boy continues beyond the grave.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter deepens the narrator’s relationship with Yellow Submarine Boy by placing them in the same space (the cemetery) without direct interaction. It reaffirms the reality of Mr. Koyasu’s ghost and the walled town’s hold on the narrator’s psyche. The long list of books the boy has read serves as a microcosm of Murakami’s own encyclopedic references and sets up a tension between boundless knowledge and human limitation. The chapter also ties together the physical library world and the mental walled town, showing how both require selective presence and absence.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does the narrator pretend not to see Yellow Submarine Boy at the cemetery?
The narrator respects the boy’s desire to avoid human contact. He also believes the boy has strong feelings for Mr. Koyasu, and does not wish to disturb his private moment of mourning or frighten him away.
2. What is the significance of the list of books the boy has read?
The list illustrates the boy’s indiscriminate, automatic reading style. He consumes information without personal preference, treating every book as a vessel of necessary data. This mirrors the narrator’s own teenage reading and raises questions about the purpose of storing such vast, unfiltered knowledge.
3. How does Mrs. Soeda’s use of the present tense when speaking of Mr. Koyasu affect the reader’s understanding of his ghost?
It blurs the boundary between life and death, suggesting that for her (and perhaps for the narrator), Mr. Koyasu remains an active presence. This reinforces the motif of unfinished business and the continued influence of the dead on the living.