The City of Cats written by Haruki Murakami, is an exquisite tale about a young man named Tengo. The story describes a particular day in Tengo's life while also reflecting on his unimaginable childhood. The story provides a tremendous amount of information about Tengo's relationship with his father, especially at a young age. The suffering relationship between father and son is very evident in the story. The setting takes place in many different locations in the short film. The author has learned to create a story within a story and has mastered turn timing beautifully. The story begins with Tengo at a train station in Koenji. “He had nothing planned that day.” The story then stated that "Wherever he went and whatever he did (or didn't do) was entirely up to him." (Town,1) It is important to the story because it shows a sense of power that was absent in Tengo's childhood. After contemplating what to do for the day, he decides to visit his father, who was residing in a sanatorium in Chikura. The sanatorium is for people suffering from cognitive disorders. After deciding to visit his father, the narrator describes Tengo's relationship with his father. He stated that he "never really liked the man, nor did his father have any special love for him." (Town, 2) The reader then discovers that Tengo has only visited his father twice since he was admitted to the sanatorium four years ago. The story then explains why Tengo doesn't like Sundays. We learn that as a child, Tengo worked every Sunday for his father, who worked as a tax collector for NHK, Japan's quasi-government radio and television network. Tengo dreaded Sundays because he went door to door with his father and never had much time to be a child on the weekends. I keep w......middle of paper......rristays in the city because he feels it's where he should be. It's crucial because Tengo wants to know where he belongs but is so lost in his loneliness. The character in the short gave Tengo hope that he too will find where he belongs. Both themes were present in both “The City of Cats”. Haruki Murakami truly told an unforgettable story of a serious barrier between a father and son. It shows that things aren't always what they seem and that everyone deserves to be somewhere they belong. Murakami provides an appreciation of literature in the short by showing how influential writing is to people. The author demonstrated that not all relationships between people and family members are perfect. “City of Cats” showed both realism and fantasy, which was remarkable. The exhibition shows how a boring day can be so literarily interesting.