Tokai? He is described as 'not the sort of person with an excessive amount of room for misunderstanding' (78), yet the narrator seems to have complicated feelings about him, calling him both a 'principled soul' and also someone lacking 'intellectual acuity' (77) who 'only thought of himself' (91).

Kitaru makes up his own lyrics to the song 'Yesterday.' Why do you think Kitaru plays with the words, and how does the narrator react? How does this mirror the ways in which both Kitaru and the narrator want to become 'a totally different person' (45)? How do they each accomplish this? Does either of them succeed?Ħ. Why does Kitaru want the narrator to date his girlfriend, Erika Kuritani? Why do Kitaru and Erika eventually break up? Do you think they are ultimately destined to be together? Do you think it is possible for the men in these stories to have platonic relationships with women?ĥ. How is he - and other men in this collection - both aware of and oblivious to what’s going on around him?Ĥ. Kafuku has a 'blind spot' in his vision that prevents him from driving, but also a 'sixth sense' that enables him to know his wife is cheating on him. What’s the effect of classifying people in this way? What does it reveal about how Kafuku sees the world? Do you think there’s any truth to these kinds of classifications?ģ. For example, he says female drivers are either 'a little too aggressive or a little too timid' (3) and identifies two types of drinkers: 'those who drank to enhance their personalities, and those who sought to rid themselves of something' (29). Kafuku, the protagonist of 'Drive My Car,' divides people into groups.

Are there similarities between their situations? What does it mean to be a man without women, both in the title story and throughout the collection?Ģ. Consider the ways in which the men in these stories find themselves alone, not just without women but, in many cases, without friends as well. The title of the collection is Men Without Women.

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