After reading the article assigned to us the other day, my mind is now geared towards associating the darkness and the unconscious in Murakami's writings. Therefore, my first instinct when reading The Strange Library was to assign the maze/labyrinth to the unconscious.
As the story proceeds, we learn that the sheepman is unaware of the girl's existence, and we also learn that the boy is perpetually worried about his mother who is waiting for him back home. Furthermore, we learn that the boy is traumatized by a large black dog that attacked him as a kid. I am usually not one to speculate much at all about the themes and symbols of a story, but in this one, I do believe that grief and trauma are an important idea at play. The mother dies at the end of the novel, but perhaps she is already actually dead? When the boy finally returns, she is expressionless, even though readers expected her to cry out tears of joy upon the boy's return, as they clearly loved each other deeply. Furthermore, the mystery girl within the maze brings him food every night like a caring mother, and the boy clearly has a penchant for her upon first sight. Therefore, I wonder, is the entire underground of the library his unconscious, unprocessed grief, whereas the mystery girl is actually his already dead mother? Also, when the black dog was getting ready to attack (interesting here again that the dog is associated with darkness), the mystery girl (or deceased mother) helps the boy escape in the form of his pet bird. However, one thing is clear - there is no happy ending. The book ends with the boy having nothing and not having anyone. The novel ends with the boy lying in the dark at 2:00am in the morning. After all, how is a young child supposed to make sense of such grief and trauma?
Perhaps the simplicity of it lent a hand, but I really enjoyed this simple, short read by Murakami. The combinations of the drawings and the brevity made for a really fun read.
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