Murakami Blog Post 1: The Fantastical Mind

In my reading, I have really appreciated the way that Murakami describes the thoughts of Boku in "A Wild Sheep Chase". It is simultaneously ridiculous and easy to conceptualize the thoughts he has. I think his metaphors are kind of on the nose but only if you understand what he is trying to say. My father loves to use metaphors so it almost reminds me of my father's metaphors but in a more fantastical way. The ridiculous picture that Murakami painted that was my absolute favorite was definitely the dream about the cow, where there's no definite answer for what it truly means or why he had the dream. It's just a ridiculous dream that may or may not be connected to his journey. 

I also enjoyed much of the discussion in class about the sheep and what it actually means. I kind of subscribe to the idea that the sheep is "The Will", influencing the characters to carry out its purpose or "will" in exchange for power. I think it's a little contradictory though. It only gives you the power to do its will so are you really gaining anything from it? Or is just power what drives the men? It has only possess men too, I think that's really interesting because of the mentions of various wars within the book, like men seeking power through the sheep similarly to how men seek power through war. It reminds me of a quote from "Fleabag" where they said "women have pain built into their bodies, men have to go outside and seek that pain; Women are the truly powerful gender"-or something along those lines-, so it almost feels like the sheep doesn't go to women because women don't seek power in the same way men do. Just food for thought though.

 

                                                                                                            Kashai