Post #1

Before this class I never read any Murakami books, I had only started reading Kafka on the Shore. I was only like 90 pages in though so I felt like I couldn’t really get a sense of his writing yet. However, I became a little knowledgeable about Murakami because my roommate would always tell me about the Murakami books he’d read and what he thought. After reading a Wild Sheep Chase and other short stories, I realize he was right in that Murakami uses suicide a lot. The character who commits the suicide, is usually important to the main character. Another thing I noticed was that the main characters seem to go in and out of reality and into a parallel world. In a Wild Sheep chase, the character seemed to leave reality and go into some sort of parallel reality with the sheep man. In the short story The Mirror the guard found no trace of the mirror the next morning, only his cigarette bud, maybe he was in a parallel reality when the mirror appeared. Back to a Wild Sheep Chase, we later realized that the Rat was dead from a suicide, I was shocked none the less but I also saw it coming. I kept Murakami’s constant use of suicide in the back of my mind so I kind of guessed that the Rat was already dead when Bako looked through the Rat’s things and realized he had been gone for about a week. I also realized the Rat was the Sheep as soon as Baku said the sheep had similar hand gestures to the Rat. I instantly thought Oh no he definitely is dead and he’s the sheep.  Mirrors also seem to be a big thing, Bako spent a considerable time cleaning the mirror and in the other short story we read about the night guard also had an interesting interaction with a mirror. I thought the usage of mirrors was interesting because of what they represent. For one, many have superstitions when it comes to mirrors, some believe they are portals to different realms. I noticed The Sheep Man appeared for the first time the day after Baku spent energy cleaning the mirror. Perhaps that’s why Baku didn’t see the Sheep’s (Rat’s) reflection when he was on the couch because he could only see the Sheep Man whenever he moved to this parallel reality. Another reason I thought It was interesting because mirrors represent inner reflection. I noticed the main characters are usually struggling with some sort of personal issues or dilemmas. The main characters are usually ‘Mr. Struggles’ in that they are kind of just moving through life, they’re not happy or sad they are just existing. In a job they don’t really care about, in relationships they seem emotionally unavailable for etc. In my opinion, generally people who would benefit from inner reflection.

Christy