Steve Fouse asked this question about Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World:
Has anybody got any ideas about why none the characters have names? The narrator is never named, and there are the chubby girl, the librarian(s), the Gatekeeper, and others. It may be a way of making the story's themes apply universally rather than just to specific people, but the characters are described in detail, and seem too real to be just nameless, non-specific persons.
Ellen I think is has to do with his mind. He isn't experiencing the world or his life fully so giving names to the other characters gives them more meaning,…moreI think is has to do with his mind. He isn't experiencing the world or his life fully so giving names to the other characters gives them more meaning, substance, reality. The characters in the town I don't think they have names because they are either fragments of his memories and reality or pieces of his own personality. (less)
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