What begins as a story of a man trying to recover from his past traumas, including both a failed marriage and a deceased friend, quickly devolves into an almost aimless wandering. Through Boku, the reader is exposed to a world that is built on the absurd: Recollections of whale penises, irresistible ears, and sheepmen all contribute towards creating an environment that can be taken in any way but literally. Regardless, the characters that are directly exposed to such a world barely question what is happening around them. For them, being able to "kill ears," to endure sheep-caused blood cists, and to witness sheep-induced dreams is part of everyday life.
Through all of these experiences, Boku remains unfazed. Still, the novel's protagonist is strongly attached to memories of his past life. Indubitably, the character's near-complete stoicness is primarily due to the fact that he cannot live in the present, as his mind is stuck to memories of the Rat, recollections of J's old bars, and doubts over his past wife for the entire duration of the novel. While Boku is trying to grasp the flow of time, countless characters around him repeatedly remind the protagonist of its passing. For instance, Boku's ex-wife says that "body cells replace themselves every month. Even at this moment." The Boss's assistant gives Boku a deadline of a month to find the sheep. The Rat winds up the old clock in the cabin. Even Boku's new girlfriend tells the protagonist "sometimes I get real lonely sleeping with you," implying that his head is not focused on the moment.
As the novel goes on, Boku's perception of time gradually becomes more distorted. His perception of his surroundings slowly becomes more unreliable, with Boku being unable to distinguish a town from a drawing. Days move slower until essentially coming to a stop during his visit to the cabin. Once time pauses, Boku is able to interact with the same characters that almost seemed non-existent throughout the rest of the novel. Boku's conversations with both the Sheepman and the Rat (which are later revealed to be the same character) are unique in the aspect that imaginary characters are able to interact with the physical world. The reader is well aware of the fact that these characters should not exist, or at least can only exist within the realm of Boku's imagination. The absurdity of characters like the Rat or the Sheepman derives from the fact that these "imaginary" characters can interact with the physical world. On the one hand, the Sheepman knocks on the door, drinks brandy, and kicks the mud off from his own boots. On the other, the Rat picks up cans of beer, opens the fridge, and even drinks the beer that he was handed. If these characters had only belonged to Boku's psyche, then they would not have been able to perform such actions. Still, they don't really exist, or at least not in the material world. The major indicator of said quality is the fact that the reflection of neither character can be seen in the antique mirror.
Maybe the cabin is the bridge between those two worlds. Maybe Boku's travels were a way for him to grieve the Rat. Maybe Boku's distorted perception of time is a representation of his detachment from reality. Regardless of the interpretation given, it is difficult to assume that only one message can be attributed to Murakami's novel. The idea that a story always has to have a deeper meaning definitely has to be discarded: it's easy to come up with an interpretation for the story at the beginning of the novel and then exclusively pay attention to the evidence that backs it up while ignoring the rest. Nonetheless, there are some specific elements that I believe have a specific meaning. For instance, the sheep that took over the Boss was confirmed to have come to Japan alongside the other sheep. Thus, the sheep was not native to Japan and instead became an invasive specifies. On the same line of thought, numerous parallelisms were drawn between the life of a human and that of a sheep, as they both just follow the current and very rarely question their position in life. Keeping in mind that the protagonist never truly questions his surroundings and always goes along with whatever happens, Boku is also incredibly similar to the sheep that he is looking for.
Daniele
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