Because, Why Not? The Role of Will and Nihilism in Murakami’s “A Wild Sheep Chase”

Throughout Murakami’s “A Wild Sheep Chase”, the star-marked sheep can be seen as a representation of the concept of will. Some characters also seem to embody a Nietzschean or Schopenhauerian view of this will. While the Ainu youth are distraught at the sudden loss of their crops at the hands of a locust swarm, Japanese settlers seem unfazed and just get right back to work. While the Ainu youth/shepherd’s border collies cry beside his corpse, the non-star-marked sheep just stood there grazing in unison, unmoved. When Boku speaks with the Rat for the final time he seems deeply saddened by his friend’s death as he tries to ask him if he could’ve saved him, but the Rat just tells him bluntly that nothing could be done and to just have some beer. The way the two parties handle loss is, obviously, starkly different. The Japanese settlers, sheep, and Rat all embody a kind of Schopenhauerian view, there is no point in grieving a loss, from dust we came and to dust we’ll return, you just shut out the sadness. While the Ainu youth (at first), border collies, and Boku all take up a Nietzschean stance. They do not turn away from their sadness and rather, in the case of Boku by the end of the book, accept it as part of life and live meaningfully because of it. 

This is a main aspect of Boku’s transformation. He begins the book with no aspirations, no hopes, and no dreams. He’s just ambling down whatever path happens before him, in fact he takes up this sheep chase purely because not doing so would disturb the routine he has. This nihilistic, uncaring, and detached mien seems to slowly begin peeling away as he pursues the sheep. But right as he thinks he’s been doing things on his own accord, he finds out that he’s been following a path set by the Boss’ assistant the entire time. Upon this realization he thinks this to himself: "I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, but for what? Long, long before this moment, there had to have been something worth crying about. I went into the kitchen and got the bottle of whiskey. I could think of nothing to do but drink." His fall back into this nihilistic mindset is punctuated by a simple question: “but for what?” But by the end of the book, Boku seems to have moved past this nihilism as we see him break down into tears, showing the emotions and attachment to life flow back into him. This is reflected in the final lines: “I brushed the sand from my trousers and got up, as if I had somewhere to go. The day had all but ended. I could hear the sound of waves as I started to walk.” This idea of moving despite having nowhere to go shows his embodiment of doing things merely for the purpose of doing them. But this is divorced from the cold and uncaring perspective, as he keeps the sound of his paved ocean with him as he walks away.

Nicholas Nebiolo