Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Kafka on the Shore, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Mind vs. The Body
Fate and Prophecy
The Virtues of Self-Sufficiency
Music and Introspection
Summary
Analysis
Nakata is attempting to get information about Goma from a striped brown cat he calls Kawamura, but they are having a difficult time understanding each other. A refined Siamese cat named Mimi joins them and helps translate. In this way, Nakata learns that Goma was spotted in a grassy lot nearby. But, Mimi warns, a strange, dangerous man has been capturing cats from that area, so it may be unsafe.
As Nakata continues to search for Goma, Murakami shows that he has learned to leverage his unique skill of talking to cats to become an efficient investigator. Meanwhile, Mimi’s ominous warning foreshadows the danger that lies ahead if Nakata continues to pursue his search.
Themes
Undaunted, Nakata settles into a corner of the grassy lot to wait for Goma to reappear. As he waits, Nakata lets his mind wander, feeling as if he is standing on the edge of a great, dark abyss.
Nakata is able to figuratively let his mind drift away from his body, paralleling his childhood accident in which doctors observed that is seemed as if his consciousness had left his body to wander elsewhere.
Themes
