The Inner Psyche In The Strange Library

    Murakami's The Strange Library can be interpreted as Boku's journey through his own inner psyche. I interpret the library itself to be representative of a place in his mind that obscures reality; potentially representing a psychological disorder such as PTSD. Once he enters into this library, it seems as though he falls deeper and deeper into this journey with seemingly no way out. With the simple intention of renting a book, Boku is effectively forced deeper into the labyrinth-like library, losing sense of all direction. In connection to living with psychological disorders such as PTSD, people with these disorders may wake up everyday with positive, simple intentions of having a good day. Yet these disorders often end up getting the best of people, and result in a disconnect from reality and/or depressive symptoms. When Boku is at what seems to be the lowest and darkest level of the library, he meets the Sheep Man, who I interpret as the part of Boku that has given up on getting back to reality and has accepted his life in the library (given up on the hope that his psychological disorder can be cured). However, when these two parts of himself come together (Boku and the Sheep Man), the part of Boku that has given up is finally encouraged to make an escape back to reality. Finally, once they reach the final door, the Old Man and the Black Dog are there, blocking their exit. Both of these figures represent the root cause of psychological disorder, such as a traumatic experience. When there seems to be no escape, a familiar pet from the real world (Boku's bird) saves him from the last obstacles. I interpret his pet bird representing the connection between the imaginary world of the library and the outside reality in which Boku is trying to escape to; it is this connection (the bird) that saves Boku from this overpowering psychological disorder.

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