Kafka on the shore

Kafka on the Shore: Characters

Fig. 2 - Franz Kafka wrote surreal stories, like one where a character wakes up to realize he became a giant bug. Kafka also means "crow, which is why the main character is named Kafka.

Kafka on the Shore: Summary

Kafka Tamura has been training to prepare to leave his home. His father, a famous sculptor, is violent and abusive. He claims that Kafka is cursed to kill him and sleep with his long-lost mother and sister. They ran away from home when he was four, and Kafka hopes to find them. All he has is a photo of them from over ten years ago. While he has prepared for this escape for years, he is nervous about leaving, and he ultimately decides to go after consulting with his alter-ego, Crow.

On a bus to Shinjuku, Kafka meets Sakura. He gets her phone number after they arrive. He's attracted to her but is worried she may be his long-lost sister. Kafka goes to a small library in Takamatsu, where he meets Miss Saeki and Oshima. Oshima is welcoming and takes Kafka under his wing. Kafka believes that Miss Saeke might be his mom. He takes shelter in the library and goes to the gym in the mornings.

We learn that Nakata was in a coma for a few weeks due to a childhood incident. He lost his ability to read, write, and think abstractly. He also lost nearly all his memory of the event and seemed unable to form new long-term memories. However, he gained the ability to talk with cats. He searches for lost cats to help supplement his living from social security checks. He feels compelled by an intangible force and embarks on a mission to help reverse the course of the fate of the world. Hoshino, a truck driver, encounters Nakata. He reminds him of his grandfather and offers to help drive Nakata with his time off.

Kafka wakes up one day with blood on his shirt and no memory of why. He learns in the newspapers about a famous sculptor's murder. Despite being far away from the incident, he feels responsible. Oshima lets him stay in his family's cabin in the woods. Kafka experiences a series of surreal and magical events while living in the woods. The woods are a labyrinth and constantly changing. Sakura has a dream about Kafka wandering in the woods.

Nakata intuitively moves closer to intersecting with Kafka. He learns he can complete a series of tasks to free Kafka from his Oedipal curse. Hoshino continues to support and travel with Nakata. They arrive at the library and meet with Miss Saeki. She and Nakata die after nearly completing the Oedipedal curse tasks. Hoshino helps finish the final steps. Kafka is freed from his curse, yet he does not find his mother or sister. He returns home to sort out his inheritance.

Kafka on the Shore: Moral Lesson and Main Idea

The main moral lesson, point, and message of Kafka on the Shore is that we are responsible for how we handle what life throws at us. Given any scenario, humans have an unlimited amount of options. Often we feel we have much less, but only our willingness to use our imagination gets in the way. While we cannot handle the circumstances we may find ourselves in, we always have a choice on how to move forward. Kafka realizes that he had control over his fate.

Kafka on the Shore: Themes

Kafka on the Shore deals with many subjects, though three prominent themes include: self-sufficiency and autonomy, music as communication, and destiny and prophecy.

Self-Sufficiency and Autonomy

Despite their shortcomings and flaws, the two protagonists manage to make a living. Kafka is not yet a full-grown man, yet he has many mature adult qualities like self-discipline. He's physically very fit and able to fend for himself. Despite being disabled and illiterate, Nakata makes a living finding lost cats for other people, often his expertise being sought after.

Author Murakami himself maintains a private life despite his fame. He often writes stories about self-sufficient protagonists who are loners and wanderers. In Kafka on the Shore, the characters' success depends on their ability to devise alternative solutions to problems where the ideal solution seems impossible. For example, Kafka runs away from home to escape a curse. With Oshima's help, he can build a new life for himself. As he solves more cases with lost cats, Nakata gains more confidence in his abilities.

Music as Communication

Music plays a communicative role throughout Kafka on the Shore. Often characters share music with someone they trust. When the music plays, characters are entranced and brought into reveries. Kafka on the Shore, the title, comes from a song that Miss Saeki wrote and played for her high school lover. When Kafka hears the song, he believes he can embody her young lover, and the two embark on a romance.

Destiny and Prophecy

In Kafka on the Shore, Kafka is trying to escape an Oedipal curse: his father says he'll kill him and sleep with his mother and sister. Kafka meets Sakura and Miss Saeki, believing them to be his sister and mother. Yet, he still has the power to make choices that will affect the fulfillment of the curse. Nakata is tasked with breaking the curse, or rather, providing the means to give Kafka the power to break the curse.

Fig. 3 - The Oedipus Complex, coined by Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, theorized that every child goes through a phase of hating their father and desiring their mother.

Kafka on the Shore: Quotes

Below are some quotes from Kafka on the Shore that summarises the main themes of the book.

Crow and Kafka share this conversation at the beginning of the story, from a place that occurs after the story. It foreshadows the story to come. It also touches upon the power of transformation and growth through hardship and struggle. Difficult times help us build integrity and character.

Kafka is struggling to understand and process all the events that are happening around him. He feels a lack of control. This lack of control affects his sense of identity. He remarks that the more he fights back, the farther he feels from his sense of self. Oshima counsels and reassures him that good people are "drawn into tragedy" not because of weakness or flaws, but because of their virtues. He insists that Kafka focuses on the positive details.

The librarian Oshima leaves this note to Kafka. He takes Kafka under his wing and tries his best to support him. Kafka feels responsible for great violence but has no memory of any related event. He suspects he did something wrong though he has no idea what or how. So far though, Kafka has proven himself to be a resilient person. A recurring theme in nearly all of author Haruki Murakami's books is the power of self-sufficiency and autonomy.

1. Jay Rubin. Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words. 2002.