THE BOY NAMED CROW

           "The Boy Named Crow" is an excerpt from the famous novel "Kafka on the Shore"  written by a Japanese author,  Haruki Murukami in 2002.This novel is one of the most inspiring novels in the 21st century that's why it is not surprising that this novel was recognized by many big titles in the world. In 2005, the novel was recognize as one of the The 10 Best Books of 2005 by The New York  Times newspaper and recieved the World Fantasy Award in 2006.  In an excerpt of the Kafka on the Shore “The Boy Named Crow”,Haruki Murukami introduces the readers to a new world combining the reality and imagination wherein he gave an important message to the readers for them to become responsible and stronger in every challenges that they face in their lives.
               The story is about a boy named Kafka and Crow talking about Kafka’s plan to run away from their home. Crow asks Kafka if he has the money for his needs when he will go fly for his freedom, but Kafka seems so hopeless when he answers Crow. Crow repeatedly reminding Kafka what he has and give him an advice that the fate is something that he can’t escape whatever he’ll do, he just need to be strong and brave enough to face his problems in life. Kafka holds this advice to his mind and heart that he should be the strongest 15 year old boy in order for him to live and survive his life.

               At first, it is hard to understand, because I don’t have any idea who is Kafka, why he wants to run away from his home and who is Crow. But through reading and discussing the text I clearly understand the confusions I had. Crow only refers to Kafka himself. Crow is just his own thoughts, his mind probably wants him to remind himself what will possibly happen when he do it without thinking. It shows that every conversations that Crow and Kafka has is just an imagination to Kafka's mind because he is just talking to himself alone by analyzing things before he do what he wants to do.
                   In the text, the fate is compared to a sandstorm in a metaphorical way “Fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction”, “You change direction but the storm chases you” it shows that the author, Haruki Murukami wants us to understand that we can’t escape the reality of challenges and problems but don’t ever give up. We need to face our responsibilities in our lives for us to grow and be stronger than we are before. We people, tend to run away from our problems in our life by simply giving up and losing hope for ourselves, but Haruki Murukami wants us to understand that running away from those problems will only cause us regrets and consequences in our lives.

                This text leaves a mark on my heart. I really appreciated this text even though it is confusing at first because it’s just an excerpt from a novel, it still has a deep meaning that can change a man’s perception in life. As a student who read this text,  what I'd learned from this excerpt is not to give up on the life that I'm living because everything happens for a reason, and that reason can make me the better person than what I am before. Even if life is very difficult and unfair sometimes, running away from the problems is not the answer and solution for it, facing those problems and responsibilities leads us to the good fate that we want in growing and becoming stronger in the future.