murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

somehow to the East India Company?' "Does smashing the
educational-industrial complex mean we're not supposed to work for a
company after we graduate?' And stuff like that. But nobody was
willing to explain anything to me. Far from it - they got really angry.
Can you believe it?"
"Yeah, I can," I said.
"One guy yelled at me, "You stupid bitch, how do you live like that
with nothing in your brain?' Well, that did it. I wasn't going to put up
with that. OK, so I'm not so smart. I'm working class. But it's the
working class that keeps the world running, and it's the working
classes that get exploited. What kind of revolution is it that just throws
out big words that working-class people can't understand? What kind
of crap social revolution is that? I mean, I'd like to make the world a
better place, too. If somebody's really being exploited, we've got to
put a stop to it. That's what I believe, and that's why I ask questions.
Am I right, or what?"
"You're right."
"So that's when it hit me. These guys are fakes. All they've got on
their minds is impressing the new girls with the big words they're so
proud of, while sticking their hands up their skirts. And when they
graduate, they cut their hair short and march off to work for
Mitsubishi or IBM or Fuji Bank. They marry pretty wives who've
never read Marx and have kids they give fancy new names to that are
enough to make you puke. Smash what educational-industrial
complex? Don't make me laugh! And the new members were just as
bad. They didn't understand a thing either, but they pretended to and
they were laughing at me. After the meeting, they told me, "Don't be
silly! So what if you don't understand? Just agree with everything they
say.' Hey, Watanabe, I've got stuff that made me even madder than
that. Wanna hear it?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Well, one time they called a late-night political meeting, and they
214