Libraries in Murakami Stories- Carly

I think most people associate the library with being a safe, quiet place to learn or just to be. However, in Murakami's stories, libraries are often strange or even dangerous. In The Strange Library, Boku is trapped in a jail-like cell and is forced to memorize books until he finally escapes through an underground maze. In this story, the library became a place of control over Boku, a reversal of the common belief that knowledge gives you freedom. 

It also made me think of Fahrenheit 451. In Ray Bradbury's novel, books are forbidden due to the government's fear that people will start to critically think about the world around them. The government fears that people won't be able to handle the negative emotions that come from the freedom of thought.  In The Strange Library, books are not burned, but similarly to the government in Fahrenheit 451's ideology, the content of those books poses some sort of threat to your life. Books can take you away from your family, consume you, and hold you hostage. 

In Murakami's stories, I think libraries and books show how looking deeper into yourself can be uncomfortable. Boku going deeper into the library and having to question his reality is similar to the process of entering the hidden parts of the mind. Like bookshelves in libraries, we also store memories, fears, and desires. In Murakami's stories, libraries are used as a pathway to question your unconscious mind, which at times can feel difficult to escape.