The Sheep as the Modernist Grand Narrative and Its Rejection

Postmodernism is a philosophical, cultural, and artistic movement that emerged in reaction to modernism’s emphasis on logic, progress, reason, and overarching “grand narratives,” a term argued by Francois Lyotard. In contrast, postmodernism is skeptical of totalizing explanations, instead favoring fragmentation, multiplicity, subjectivity, and blurred boundaries. Rather than embracing “grand narratives” – “the stories a culture tells itself about its practices and beliefs” – postmodern thought accepts that life is made up of many subjective experiences, not a single unifying truth, (Postmodernism, Dr. Klages, 4). A Wild Sheep Chase is a story that rejects “grand narratives,” and instead exemplifies how a single story isn’t able to explain everything.

The sheep with the star-shaped birthmark functions as a metaphor for the idea of “grand narratives.” It is a totalizing power that offers promises too good to be true in exchange for complete submission. Its possession strips its host of their autonomy and feeds them visions of greatness, purpose, or transformation. This mirrors how grand narratives require ideological submission and in return present satisfying but simple answers to grand problems. Additionally, Lyotard argues that “all aspects of modern societies… depend on grand narratives,” similarly to how the sheep depends on human hosts to execute its plans, (Postmodernism, Dr. Klages, 4). Both the sheep and grand narratives offer simple overarching explanations to difficult questions, which is seductive but ultimately hollow. 

Boku, the main character in A Wild Sheep Chase, goes through the majority of the story assuming that all he has to do is find the sheep and he can go back to his life of passivity. However, it is not so simple. When he eventually confronts the grand narrative (sheep) it is already gone. His friend that was the most recent host has killed himself and taken the sheep along with him. The sheep and the grand narrative is dead, and the answers Boku received from The Rat aren’t satisfying nor simple. Shortly after, the book ends with Boku crying on a thin shoreline. The grand narrative, which was supposed to put his life back on track, instead was rejected, leaving Boku almost certainly more fragmented than whole by the end of the story. In fact, Dance Dance Dance is primarily about Boku’s search for A Wild Sheep Chase’s loose end, his girlfriend, thus, showing his departure from passivity after the rejection of the sheep.

Connor Friedman