Emma's post on The Strange Library

 I really enjoyed The Strange Library, it was one of my first introductions to Murakami and it still sticks with me even after reading much more of his work. One thing I found interesting about the story was the topic of voice. Most of the characters in the story do not have access to their own voice in one way or another. As we learn, the young beautiful girl who turns out to be the starling cannot speak, this is the most physical example. I find this first example particularly interesting because she is a bird and birds are first and foremost known for their voices. Secondly, the protagonist finds himself unable to say no or be impolite in any way to the old man, even when he learns what his motives are. The sheep man, too, describes how he loses the ability to resist the old man when he is faced with the whip which can be seen as another inability to use one’s voice or own volition. Lastly, when the boy returns home at the end of the story, his mother does not ask him at all what happened and not a word about the event was ever spoken between them. I think that this must be connected with the mother’s death at the end of the story when she passes away from an inexplicable illness. Perhaps the mother’s death has something to do with internalized pain and the inability to share or express trauma?
Emma Larkin