The Narrow Road to the Deep North Literary Elements

Literary fiction

The 1920s to the near present. Tasmania; WW2 POW camps, Thailand; Japan; Australia

Omniscient third-person narrator. Multi-perspective points of view

Harrowing, moving, poetic

Dorrigo Evans is the protagonist. The antagonist is Major Nakamura

After having an affair with his uncle’s wife, Amy, Dorrigo becomes an officer in World War II. When his men become prisoners of war in a Thai concentration camp, he does his best to keep up their spirits and preserve their lives.

The narrative leads up to the death of Darky Gardiner

When Dorrigo first meets Amy, she is wearing a red camellia behind her ear. This crimson flower foreshadows much of what is to come in the novel. Associated with love and pain, it represents the passion that will develop between the characters and also the suffering it will cause. Later in the novel, Dorrigo spots a crimson flower in the POW camp after reading Ella’s letter claiming that Amy is dead.

“It’s a trick, Dorrigo said. Like pulling a coin out of someone’s ear.” Chapter 4

Dorrigo says this after reciting ‘Ulysses,’ by heart, to Amy. The understatement makes light of what Tennyson’s poem has come to symbolize for him.

Flanagan alludes to Japanese poetry and fiction throughout the novel. By doing so, he contrasts the beauty of Japanese culture with the horrors inflicted in the Japanese POW camps.

The author opens each section of his novel with the translation of a traditional haiku. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry made up of three lines and 17 syllables. Often inspired by a single object in the natural world, these short poems probe beyond the physical world to capture the very nature of existence.

Flanagan’s novel also takes its title from a piece of Japanese literature. 'Oku no Hosomichi' (meaning the narrow road to the interior) was written by the seventeenth-century poet Matsuo Basho. Basho’s original text was written as the author embarked on a dangerous journey on foot from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to the northerly interior region known as Oku. The journey took 156 days and covered almost 1500 miles. Basho’s written meditations take the form of a haibun (a combination of prose and haiku). 'Oku no Hosomichi' is considered one of the central texts of classical Japanese literature.

One of the central images of the novel is the circle. The meaning of this imagery is encapsulated in references to the circle death poem by Shisui. In this poem, Shisui captured the essence of life and death in the image of a circle. While the circle represents oblivion, it also has no end or beginning, signifying eternal return. When Dorrigo dies, he comes to understand the meaning of this poem fully.

Flanagan presents the circle as the antidote to ‘the Line’ and everything it stands for. While the circle offers hope and redemption, the line of the Death Railway is a merciless track from life to death that offers no meaning. In the end, this line is broken, as parts of the track fall into disrepair or are taken away. By contrast, the circle of death, followed by new life, is eternal and can never be broken.

Dorrigo’s personality is a paradox. In his personal life, he is often cruel and irresponsible. This is demonstrated when he has an affair with his uncle’s wife and shuns his own family. In his role as an officer during the war, however, he is compassionate and heroic, putting his own life at risk to protect his men.

Flanagan’s novel has parallels with the Japanese short story, 'Rashomon' by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In Akutagawa’s story, a servant who has lost his job must decide whether to starve to death or become a thief. Although he wants to live as a good man, he is quickly convinced that hurting others is justifiable in the name of survival. The servant’s moral dilemma has parallels with the actions of Flanagan’s characters who must choose between ethics and survival. The ruined city of Kyoto, where the gate of Rashomon stands, bears similarities to the descriptions of fire-bombed Tokyo in 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North.' The physically devastated landscape reflects the moral wasteland in both texts.

“My disgraceful, wicked heart, thought Amy, is braver than the world.” Chapter 17

Amy attributes her “wicked” nature to one part of herself. Her heart comes to represent her socially unacceptable desires.

“the moonlight formed a narrow road on the sea that ran away from his gaze into spreadeagled clouds.” Chapter 4