A pattern Murakami exhibits in his short stories South Bay Strut and Where I’m Likely to Find It, and perhaps A Wild Sheep Chase, is the inversion of the goal by result of the detective’s introspection. In their failure to fulfill their detective mission, the protagonists in both stories appear to themselves be the subject of their search. In South Bay Strut, the detective shudders at the thought of his eventual death, repeating, admittedly “all the time”: “I don’t want to die” and “it’s too soon for me to die” (2). His occupation as a detective, exposed to what is depicted as a deadly South Bay and “machine gun bullets,” fundamentally contradicts his fear. His ulterior goal to protect his own life, as a result, hinders his duties as a detective for he falls right into the lawyer’s trap. Thus, he himself becomes the victim. The focus strays from the duplicitous lawyer and instead toward what caused the detective to find himself in such circumstances. A similar inversion appears in Murakami’s Where I’m Likely to Find It where a nervous and neurotic protagonist volunteers to search for a missing husband. His supposed dedication, however, quickly becomes clouded by his curiosity for the other inhabitants of the building. When asked what he is searching for, he has “‘no idea’” (288). His assignment is ultimately not the driving factor for, once the husband is found, the detective declares his “search will continue,” for what he remains unsure (290). Both characters appear to be motivated by an internal goal, which is revealed through their unrelated detective obligations.
Agnes Jonsson
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