The Seventh Man Summary

In the story “The Seventh Man” a young boy loses a friend referred to only as “K” in an accident where he gets sucked in in a tidal wave. When this event happened in the book the man had a small chance to save K, so it is debated whether or not he should feel guilty for not saving K. The Seventh Man should not feel guilty for the loss of his friend K and he should not be held responsible for it. Due to basic fight or flight responses, the seventh man could have died along with K and the fact that nobody but the seventh man saw the wave coming. For those reasons the seventh man should not be at fault for the death of K.

You don’t think that something is ever going to happen to you or your loved ones, but what if it did and someone you were closed to lost their life? The feeling of guilt from not being able to do anything because he/she is already gone weighing down on you. Some people just make bad decisions and some just happen to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time, but should people in life or death situations be held responsible for the cost of their actions?

“In war, standing here rather than there can save your life but cost a buddy his. It’s flukish luck, but you feel responsible.” (Sherman 153). In “The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt,” Nancy Sherman uses this quote to explain the basis of survivor guilt in war. In “The Seventh Man” by Haruki Murakami, the narrator failed to save his closest friend from a wave. As Sherman said in her quote, people often feel guilty when they survive a situation that others didn’t. The narrator’s situation in “The Seventh Man” is a perfect example of this. Despite his failure to save K., the narrator should still forgive himself.

Fear has been the subject of a lot of literary works throughout history. Hamlet’s soliloquy “ To be or not to be” reveals the fear of death for example. Also, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” has become a famous maxim yet hollow rhetoric from President Franklin Roosevelt’s inaugural address in 1933. Different people have different lessons to take from fear. Haruki Murakami, a popular Japanese experimental novelist explores this topic in his short story “The Seventh Man”. Set in twentieth-century Japan, it is about an unnamed protagonist (referred to by the title name and the narrator in first person narrative point of view) narrating his life’s story to a group concerning how the death of his best friend to whom he referred to as K adversely affected his life. Murakami develops his message of fear through the character development of the protagonist, from his childhood to adulthood.

“Don’t waste the life I’d sacrificed my own for on feeling bad about yourself. We might as well have both lost our lives at this rate. Go see the things I never got to see. Do the things I never got to do.  Life is spent in hesitation and fear is no life at all.” is something along the lines of how I think K would have felt about the situation, given the personality described. In “The Seventh Man”, a short story by Haruki Murakami, the seventh man tells a story about a natural disaster he survived: in which his best friend did not. He summarizes this event and reminisces on how he could have saved K; that is followed by a third person point of view describing the effects this survivor’s guilt has had on the seventh man. Despite his failure to save his best friend, should he forgive himself? The answer is a clear, and obvious yes because by never forgiving himself, not only is he hurting himself and allowing K to die in vain, but he also spreads pain to those who love him like friends, family, and acquaintances. I’m sure by that present point in time; K, his parents, K’s parents, and everyone but himself had succumbed to forgiveness. The only one left to move on is the seventh man himself.

The narrator of “The Seventh Man,” by Haruki Murakami, struggles with the guilt of not being able to save his best friend from a horrendous wave for most of his life. His sleep is ridden with nightmares, and he chooses to never find love, so his future partner wouldn’t have to deal the constant burden of the Seventh Man’s fears. Although the Seventh Man feels strongly at fault for the death of his best friend, K, he should not blame himself for the tragic events that occured, because there was no way to prevent what happened.

In addition, the short story, The Seventh Man, the narrator fails to save his friend because he was overcome with fear. This is shown through the thoughts of the narrator when the wave is about to hit a small beach with him and his friend on it “ I found myself running the other way-running full speed

In this essay i will be making a argumentative essay on three stories “The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt”, “The Seventh Man” and “The Key to Disaster Survival” I will go through each story and say some key events of what happened and how they affected the reader and what the author was trying to get the reader to experience it. The author is trying to get the reader to understand the point of view in first hand and know what is happening right in the story. The first story that we are talking about is “The Moral Logic of Survival Guilt”. Some key events that happen in the story, What it is like to be a survivor and all the feeling and the quilt that they have after the war is over and some of the events that the soldiers have to go through and witness is just terribly. The soldiers have to go through some terrible things and those things stick with those people forever and they have flashbacks on things that have happened to them during the war.

During his childhood years the seventh man was very close with his best friend, K. The relationship they shared was like a brotherly bond, the seventh man even claiming it to be stronger than his and his blood brothers. My real brotherly affection went to my friend K (Murakami, 134). It seemed as if the two boys spent every fleeting moment of their childhood together, until the accident of course. The seventh man held K in such a high regard that it makes complete sense how he would feel such remorse over the loss.

After I read the story The Seventh Man I have determined that the narrator should no longer feel guilt for not retrieving his best friend K. My reasons to support my claim are because most people in survival situations try to save themselves before others. The other logic that supports this is he might not of made it in time if he saved his friend.

Imagine deciding to do something that is completely out of the ordinary--a dream that you have always thought about doing--and it goes perfectly. It’s as if it’s all just a hallucination, so perfect that it’s unrealistic. The experience is breathtaking, impeccable, absolute perfection--until it becomes actually breathtaking. Imagine that during this moment of serenity, tragedy strikes, and you’re left in a battle between life and death. Majority of people would do whatever it took to survive, and in this situation you’re left with only risky decisions. Imagine surviving this catastrophe by yourself until rescue workers come to save you, a blessing. That is until the bill is seen. Luckily, this is just a little scenario, but for many people this is a reality.

Many people debate whether The Seventh Man should forgive himself for not rescuing K. Like Judy Belmont said, “Forgive yourself for not having the foresight to see what now seems so obvious in hindsight.” In “The Seventh Man” by Haruki Murakami, The Seventh Man lived his life isolated from the things that made him happy because of the guilt he felt. The Seventh Man should forgive himself because of many reasons.

The Seventh man should not forgive himself for not saving K. My point of view is supported by “The Cost of Survival” by Theo Tucker. For example, “People who take extreme risks should pay for their rescue operation” (127). Meaning, when the man says “Child though I was, I had grown up on the shore and knew how frightening the ocean

Mistakes are made every day. Some of them are monumental, and can alter your life and the ones around you. Others are tiny, but can still lead to terrible circumstances. How we choose to cope with our mistakes is our decision. When you hold the guilt in your heart, it can damage your entire life. In the story The Seventh Man by Haruki Murakami, a character who goes by the name of the seventh man has this situation occur in his life when his best friend K. dies right before his eyes. The seventh man takes the blame for the death and lets it haunt him for the remainder of his living. The seventh man should have forgiven himself for the death of K.

The Deadly Seven are escaping Gehenna, section of Hell where the damned souls and fallen demons are tortured and punished by the Furies. Abaddon, the tormentor, sends his enslaved souls to capture the Deadly Seven and promised to set free the tormented souls who successfully capture the Deadly Seven. As they are trying to escape the souls split up the group by causing the cave to collapse. Greed, Wrath, Sloth, and Gluttony, on the other side, find an exit out of the Gehenna Realm. Once they get an injured Wrath out and safe from the souls, Greed and Sloth go back for the others. Envy, and Pride fight off as many souls as they can as Lust starts to punch her way through the boulders that blocking them in. Greed and Sloth arrive on the other