Within The Elephant Vanishes, an anthology of short stories by Haruki Murakami, and The Outsider, a novel by Albert Camus, culture is examined and the reader is invited to see culture as following set rules and routines. Through the protagonists, the reader understands that culture observes these behaviours without question and in doing so are robotic. One of the ways this idea is reinforced through references to food. Food is shown to join people ceremoniously and who you share your food with reveals insights about the culture in which you live.
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Through the action of the texts and first person narratives the protagonist is established as different to the culture. In the short story, Sleep, the protagonist noted, ‘I went to the living room, switched on the floor lamp beside the sofa, and sat there drinking a full glass of brandy’ (page 84). Although she enjoys alcohol, she has to drink by stealth. She is restricted in her freedom to enjoy alcohol because her husband does not approve of it. Her husband’s occupation as a dentist precludes her from eating chocolates until an accidental reminder of old chocolate flakes wedged between the pages of the book ‘I found a few crumbling flakes of chocolate stuck between the pages’ (page 90). She was then inspired to free herself from the shackles of her husband’s dental fraternity norms. She shamelessly indulged herself on this pleasure impulsively, ‘I felt a tremendous urge to have the real thing’ (page 90).
In Sleep, timing for lunch is precisely at eleven forty, “… I looked at my watch. Eleven Forty. Eleven Forty!” (Page 91, Elephant Vanishes, Sleep). The typical type of food was, “…minced scallions…buckwheat noodles…dried seaweed…tofu” (page 91). The reference to the exact time and the type of lunch indicate routine. “…Cup of coffee…two slices of bread, spread them with butter and mustard, and had a cheese sandwich” (Page 89), something which the protagonist wishes to escape from. It is only when she breaks with the conventional rules that she feels as though she is living. The husband sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper shows the cultural routine of people in their everyday life, ‘While I cleared the table, my husband sat on the sofa reading the paper’ (page 92). ‘I made my husband his usual coffee’ (page 89). The protagonist is aware of cultural expectations of which her husband doggedly adhere to living through the same routine every day. ‘Anna Karenina lay there beside him, but he didn’t seem to notice. He had no interest in whether I read books’ (Page 92). The husband did not pay attention to his wife’s interests or in the fact that it was his own book, which she was reading. It is the routine and monotony that he is occupied with the protagonist lives through every day doing whatever gives her pleasure. This rarity of freedom inevitably leads her to seeking food for pleasure while the husband, so ingrained in routine, appears robotic.
Although food symbolically represents routine in The Outsider, it also establishes Meursault as an outsider of the culture. Both of Mersault’s friends, Masson and Raymond’s immoral behaviour has the culture classify them as outsiders. Due to their unusual behaviours, when these people meet to enjoy food together, it demonstrates that they encompass similar characteristics of personalities which are deemed unconventional from cultural expectations. The protagonist drinks wine to accompany food with Raymond and Masson (page 53). In this context, drinking alcohol is an acceptable practice and culture, both for men and women where it was observed by Mersault that Marie, his girlfriend “…she’d had a bit too much to drink” (page 53). However, the fact that when Marie, commented, “Do you know what time it is? It is half past eleven” (page 53 The Outsider), a fact acknowledged by Masson when he responded, “…the time to have lunch is when you are hungry” (page 53 The Outsider), indicates that for Masson, food is an individual’s choice not regulated by expectations of a fixed schedule.
At his home, Mersault appears to prefer “… smoking, and eating chocolates…” during mealtimes (page 26) The Outsider, while he watched the people below his flat from his veranda. In the text, Meursualt made contemplative observations of people that were dressed differently within the local community that went passed the street, ‘He was wearing a straw hat and a bow tie and carrying a walking-stick… I understand why local people said he was distinguished’ (page 25-26). This reveals the distinct behaviour of Meursault alongside the normal behaviours of the culture.
Similarly, Meursault was also recognised by the individuals that went passed the street, ‘The local girls, with their hair down, were walking arms in arms… I knew several of the girls and they waved to me.’ (page 27). Later in the evening Mersault “went down to buy some bread and some pasta, did my cooking and I ate standing up” (page 28, The Outsider), a posture of which is not dictated by conformist practice. Mersault’s behaviour and insights reveal how individuals within the community stand out by their mere appearance that are easily recognisable that identifies them to be ‘different’ or ‘distinguishable’.
In addition, Meursault does fix his eating schedule by a particular time. This further confirms that he is an unplanned and disorganized person unlike the ‘robot woman’ (page 45-46) The Outsider. The robot woman “…while she was waiting for her hors d’oeuvre she opened her bag…took the exact sum plus a tip…meticulous task occupied her throughout the meal” (page 46) The Outsider. The robot woman contradicts Meursault’s character, in that he would rather follow his distinctiveness with regards to most of his decisions about when, how, where and what to eat. The robot women on the other hand, showed the characteristics of order and direction when she ordered her meal, ‘She called Celeste over and ordered her whole meal at once, speaking precisely but rapidly.’ (page 46) of which afterwards she ‘dived into her bag again and took out a blue pencil and a magazine which gave the radio programmes for the week. One by one, she very carefully ticked almost every programme…’ (page 46). From this rigmarole, the robot woman’s actions seem to follow a set of routine.
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In the story, The Second Bakery Attack, the protagonists were newly married and did not pre-empt stocking food in their house, ‘Our refrigerator contains not a single item that could be technically categorized as food’ (page 37). “…a bottle of French dressing, six cans of beer, two shrivelled onions, a stick of butter, and a box refrigerator deodorizer” (page 37). This is a symbol of how empty their lives are. Although they work, go to bed at set times, conforming to the routines of work, they are metaphorically, unsatisfied. The couple’s conformist behaviour seems to set them to their ‘hunger’. In order to find a cure to break their hunger, the couple opposed convention by robbing Mc Donald’s, ‘Attack another bakery. Right away. Now. It’s the only way.’ (page 43). During the robbery, the manager of the store showed typical characteristics of conventionality by the requirements of conformation from the upper authority saying, ‘I can’t do that. I’ll be held responsible if I close up without permission’ (Page 46). From this, it shows that the larger majority of the culture such as the manager and workers are similar to the robot woman in that their lives are dictated by order and routine and only a very small proportion of people operate in a non-conformist mode.
Finally, in The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday’s Women, the protagonist cooks spaghetti for breakfast. He chooses to live outside the routine of the culture and this is reflected by his choice of cooking and eating spaghetti in the morning, ‘”Spaghetti?”…’ It’s only ten-thirty in the morning. What are you doing cooking spaghetti at ten-thirty in the morning?” (page 5, The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday’s Women) asked the woman who telephoned home for ten minutes of his time.
In both The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami and The Outsider by Albert Camus, food are focused as a symbol that represents routine or an individual’s desire to have freedom. The role of the characters is reflected in the type of food they chose to eat, where and when the repartee of food takes place. When any of these involvements of food varies, one can discern that these characters may be quirky, eccentric or stand-alone in their relationship to the larger culture.
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