Murakami and The Grasping of The Subconscious in Barn Burning - Alex Gibbs

Writers (and all other creatives, for that matter) have been trying to understand and grapple with the idea of the subconscious mind for centuries, even before the term was coined by psychologist Pierre Janet in 1899. The notion of a deeper layer of human consciousness is a fascinating topic and a very difficult one to capture artistically. As a painter, the idea of the subconscious has captivated me for years. I have dedicated a lot of time exploring movies, television, music, and sometimes books that explore the alluring mystery of the subconscious and how it affects human beings. Many of these sources are interesting, but do not resonate with me on a deeper level. When it comes to this topic, my intuition is rather strong. With that in mind, once in a rare while, I’ll come across a piece of subconscious-related media that just feels right, for lack of a better word. That something, whatever it may be, somehow activates an intuitive feeling in me, a feeling that I believe must indicate an accurate representation of the deeper forces that govern my mind. I found myself feeling this after our conversation about Barn Burning. 

On one hand, nothing any of the characters say can really be taken at face value. Everything feels like it could be a metaphor for something else, something deeper. As I suggested in class, the boyfriend’s admission that he burned barns had a bit of a sinister tone to it, considering Boku never finds any evidence of any burned barns. The sudden disappearance of Boku’s friend only adds to this eeriness and supports the serial killer theory. Perhaps the tie to the subconscious in this story was more evident in how I did not immediately piece together this information. Very slowly over the course of the discussion, I constructed the theory in my head. When it finally all came together, I was rather thrown off guard and disturbed. It all clicked in that moment, and I felt like it had to be the truth. That was right about when that intuitive feeling hit me. To me, that is the most crucial element of great subconscious-focused art: a deeply intuitive, unignorable gut feeling must be activated in the audience, one that unites us all. A force that we do not fully understand yet, but ultimately one that has a great effect on our lives. While every person is different, I feel that every person has explored media that triggers this intuitive feeling, whether they are aware of it or not.