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
Hoshino spends a listless day in the apartment trying to figure out what to do with the stone. He is reluctant to call the authorities to remove Nakata’s body until he can make a plan.
Without Nakata’s unusual but decisive direction, Hoshino feels lonely and adrift. He realizes that he has come to rely on Nakata and is unsure what to do now that he’s dead.
Themes
Hoshino spends the next day talking to the entrance stone, telling it stories about girls he’s dated. In the afternoon, he puts on the Archduke Trio, telling the stone he feels like the song is speaking to him. A black cat jumps up onto the windowsill, and Hoshino comments to the cat that it’s a nice day. Much to Hoshino’s surprise, the cat agrees that it is.
