Chapter summaries The City and Its Uncertain Walls Haruki Murakami

Chapter 68 (Chapter 67): The Dream Room and the Cooperative Reading of Old Dreams

⚠️ 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

That night, the narrator dreams of a small, windowless square room with a wooden desk and a thin candle. Yellow Submarine Boy is already there, sitting across from him. The boy explains that this room lies deep inside the narrator’s consciousness—the only place where they can meet and talk as two separate beings. The candle’s flame will last only a short while. The narrator thanks the boy for reading five old dreams in his place at the library that evening. The boy confirms that he understands the dreams’ meanings clearly, while the narrator can only catch fragments. In turn, the narrator possesses the unique ability to gently coax the old dreams out of their shells, like a butterfly from a chrysalis. They realize they complement each other perfectly: the narrator warms the dreams and leads them out, and the boy reads the stories they tell. The boy declares that reading is his life’s work and that this cooperative unit will allow them to accomplish the task. When the narrator asks how long this arrangement will last, the boy replies that time has stopped in the town—there is only an eternal present with no accumulation. The candle flares and goes out, plunging the room into darkness where time also vanishes.

Key Events

  • The narrator dreams of a small, windowless room with a candle.
  • Yellow Submarine Boy reveals they can only meet in this consciousness-space.
  • They discuss the division of labor in reading old dreams: the narrator guides them out, the boy interprets them.
  • The boy explains that time in the town is a static present with no accumulation.
  • The candle burns out, ending the dream and all sense of time.

Character Development

  • The Narrator: Gains a clearer understanding of his role in the town. He accepts his partnership with Yellow Submarine Boy and feels relieved that his limited ability to interpret dreams is supplemented.
  • Yellow Submarine Boy: Reveals his purpose: to read the old dreams as his life’s work. He is patient and articulate, acting as a guide to the laws of the town. His description of time as non-progressive reinforces his mystical, detached nature.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • The Candle as Finite Time: The flickering candle marks the limited duration of their meeting, contrasting with the town’s proclaimed timelessness. It underscores the tension between eternity and human perception of time.
  • Complementary Partnership: Two characters unite to complete a task neither can do alone. This mirrors the novel’s broader concern with identity, merging, and interdependence.
  • The Eternal Present: The town’s stopped clock suggests a world without memory, history, or personal growth. Events are overwritten, not accumulated, raising questions about meaning and change.
  • Reading as a Metaphor: The boy’s ability to “read” old dreams parallels the act of literary interpretation. The narrator’s physical touch releases stories, emphasizing embodied knowledge versus intellectual understanding.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter crystallizes the central metaphor of the novel: reading as a cooperative, almost ritual act that bridges two consciousnesses. It explicitly defines the relationship between the narrator and Yellow Submarine Boy, resolving earlier ambiguity about their “becoming one.” The exposition on time provides a crucial piece of worldbuilding—the town’s rules are laid out plainly, yet the candle’s flame hints at hidden limits. This sets up future conflicts regarding change and stagnation.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Why does Yellow Submarine Boy say “words are, after all, just words” at the start of the dream?
    He suggests that language alone cannot fully capture their experience; actions and partnership matter more. In the timeless town, verbal explanations are insufficient compared to the shared act of reading dreams.

  2. How does the description of time in the town differ from ordinary human experience?
    The town exists in an eternal present with no past or future. Events don’t accumulate; each moment overwrites the last. This contrasts with human life, where memory and progression give meaning to actions.

  3. What does the candle’s extinction signify for the narrator?
    The candle marks the end of their conscious meeting. Its flare then darkness implies that the narrator returns to his own limited perception. It may also prefigure the eventual end of their partnership or the limits of the town’s timelessness.

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