A Wild Sheep Chase: Analysis

A wild sheep chase: Analysis

The main problem for the main character is that he exhibits a lack of motivation. This is why his wife leaves him, why he chooses to eat at bars, and why he continues to work at a job he isn’t exactly interested in with his old alcoholic college friend. In the end of the book it is even shown that he is actually a very good cook so he chooses to go out and eat bar food.

An interesting parallel is the ear model woman. The main character sees her ear once, and then eventually becomes infatuated with it. So much so that he has to track her down to satisfy himself. This is exactly what happens with those who see or experience the star sheep. They become entirely infatuated with it and spend the rest of their lives tracking it down. They are a changed as a person and cannot rest until they find it. So much so that the Sheep Professor starves himself once he knows he will never find the sheep again. 

The sheep’s host can accomplish almost anything. The book references Genghis Khan and how the star sheep that was inside him enabled to take over almost all of Asia. It is referenced that the sheep grants immortality to it’s host. The ear model serves as a similar divide to the main character. His life is uneventful and he is lacking motivation. People call him a dreamer, where he has potential but will never reach it because that is the kind of person he is. Once he meets the girl his life is thrown out of order. She convinces him to go on this ‘Wild Sheep Chase’. He wasn’t going to do it at all if it wasn’t for her. During his time with her looking for the sheep he accomplishes a great deal. He scales a crumbling mountain. He gains an intense sum of money. He is able to eventually track down the sheep and help a friend ensure that the spirit or god of the star sheep dies. However, throughout his time with his girlfriend, he criticizes her. He constantly said he didn’t want to go, wanted to give up after the first day, was upset at her for choosing a certain hotel, and did little in the way of talking to and spending time with her. All of the people who were possessed by the sheep claim that, if you didn’t realize your potential while the sheep was in you, it would leave. You would no longer be useful to it. She leaves him when he is on the mountain. 

Once the adventure is complete and he goes back home his life returns to normal. He no longer has to work because of his money but his life is still just as average as it was before. He is still just as unmotivated and unaccomplished as he was when he left to find the sheep. Only now he realizes what he had and what it means to have lost it. He goes to the sea and cries, realizing that he will never again experience the feel of fulfillment and success that he did on that journey. He had lost his sheep.