Interpretaties van het einde van het verhaal.

*When his friend kills himself the 'sickness', meaning depression and unability to cope with life, is passed on to Naoko. It hurts her on a fundamental level. She turns to the protagonist in hopes that he can save her, but in the end he fails.
When Naoko commits suicide the 'sickness' is passed on to him. He becomes unable to cope with life. He feels disconnected and confused and he is crying out for Midori to save him, because he can't do it on his own anymore.
This is a circle of action and reaction. A person can be hurt on such a fundamental level that no love in the world could save him/her. And a person in pain may accidentally hurt his/her loved ones in exactly that manner, without ever intending to.
So in the end the fear remains that the story will repeat itself. *



*I'd rather interpret it in a positive sense.

Watanabe is shown to be someone who cannot open up about his problems - even his friend Nagasawa comments on how he is secretive when it comes to his personal life. And because the book is in Watanabe's voice, i got the feeling that he was always struggling to be detached from the many problems in his life.

However, in the end, he finally decides to 'open' up to all the tragedy in his life - and the feeling of 'dead centre' etc comes from finally allowing all the tragedies to affect him. he's finally letting go.

We're not told if he is pulled back from this darkness by Midori, who is at the other end of the telephone line - but I'd like to believe she did. Just the fact that Watanabe chose Midori over Naoko shows that he chose life over death, i think.

another reason why i thought it all ended well is because the story begins 10 years later, when he is in the plane and he hears "Norwegian Woods" playing. He loses control for an instance, but then recovers. I think it shows that though he is scarred by his past, he has also managed to move on. *




*No, he is not inflicted with the same sickness. Remember at the beginning of the book he is reminiscing. The whole book is basically a flash back. This is a story about moving on, about making it past the grief, and the sorrow and living your life. He didn't let the sickness take him, instead he allowed himself to live for all those that didn't make it. He did I think, get with Midori. The ending is sort of Hemingway-esque, it just ends the story. Like a snapshot of a life. No happy ending, just another day that follows. I think it's more realistic that way.*