Literature Analysis #2: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Exposition: The story begins when a boy named Kafka Tamura runs away from home to look for his lost mother and older sister. Kafka makes a first stop to Shikoku, Japan where he finds out mysteries about his father’s death. There are traces of his mother and sister but Kafka is still unsure of where they are. The book transitions to a new character named Nakata who is older than Kafka, he was a special talent to communicate with cats. In elementary, something happened to Nakata, he suddenly became unintelligent and unable to read or talk. Since Nakata can speak to cats, people pay him to find cats. One day, he gets an offer from a woman named Koizumi looking for a cat named Goma, he finds out from other cats that Goma is with Johnnie Walker, who is supposedly Kafka’s dad. Walker kills catsand uses the souls to make a magical flute. He was going to kill Goma but they make a trade off. But Walker eats the beating heart from a random cat and Nakata becomes furious and kills him. At the mean time, Kafka wakes up in the middle of Shikoku with blood on his chest; the exact same spot where Nakata kills Walker. Kafka meets a girl named Sakura on the bus and he wish she was his sister.Also, Miss Saeki is a librarian and he wishes she was his mother, the librarian also has a ghost and Kafka falls in love with her. Climax: Nakata suddenly loses his talent to speak to cats and dies. Ending: Kafka believes that he has achieved his goal to become the strongest fifteen year old in the world by running away. At the end, Kafka goes back to his hometown and calls Sakura to thank her. The narrative is able to achieve the author’s purpose because Murakami wants two stories to collide and connect without Nakata or Kafka every meeting each other.
The theme of the book is journey, (funny that we are writing about journeys) or life is a journey. The whole point of the book is about Kafka looking for his mother and sister. Although, along the way he finds about the death of his father, Johnnie Walker, but Kafka successfully believes he has ended his journey by finding Sakura and Miss Saeki who are not really his mother and older sister.
The author's tone is puzzling and mystique (just like the story itself). Some parts of the book is genuine genius, for example, his quotes and personal reflection. Sometimes I wonder if this book is some sort of philosophy. “With a jolt of panic I remember my backpack. Where could I have left it? No way I can lose it -- everything I own's inside. But how am I going to find it in the dark?...”
a. Diction: The diction of the book is pretty basic sentence structures. Since, the idea and storyline of the book is all ready complex enough, Murakami didn’t make the book difficult to read. There’s a lot of dialogue compared to other AP books. "I try to soothe that reaction, supress it."
b. Symbolism: I personally believe this book is influenced by the author Franz Kafka, who is a Germanic writer. He was one of the most influential writers in Europe. His books often talked about family problems and relationships. Similar to Kafka in Kafka on the Shore, whose father is dead, mother and sister are lost. "Kafka sits in a chair by the shore."
c. Imagery: Murakami uses an intense amount of imagery throughout the entire book, he has multiple amount of times when Kafka is in his “dream world” and lives out to do things he doesn’t do in real life such as having a sexual dream with Miss Saeki, the librarian when she was younger. "Waiting for the fifteen year old Miss Saeki to return to this room."
d. Foreshadow: The part when Nakata stabs Johnnie Walker who isn’t an actual real human being foreshadowed that Nakata was going to be punished which he was. He wasn’t able to talk to cats and suddenly died. "In Kafka on the Shore, I feel something urgent and serious."
e. Tragic Flaw: The tragic flaw in the story is that Kafka believes that his mother is Miss Saeki, but he falls in love with her younger ghost. Even after he has sexual intercourse with Miss Saeki’s younger self in another world, he is still convinced that she is his mother. "After Nakata's death, Hoshino couldn't pull himself away from the apartment."
f. Irony: It’s ironic that Kafka goes looking for his lost mother and sister, but ends up back where he started. Everything he has ever done has been within all his mind. He thought found his mother and sister and he thought he was the strongest fifteen year old, but it was all in his mind. "Farewell, Kafka Tamura," Miss Saeki says. Go back to where you came from."
g. Characterization: Nakata is shown as a medically challenged person. He can’t speak well or read at all due to an incident when he was younger. After his parents gave up on him, he was able to find a special talent to talk to cats.
h. Mood: The mood of the book is very calming yet intriguing. It’s a general story about Kafka’s journey to find his mother and sister, but Murakami intensifies the story by adding Johnnie Walker eating a cat’s beating heart. (Slightly grotesque) "Open their chests with a knife, extract their still-beating hearts, and cut their heads off."
i. Allusion: Johnnie Walker is an allusion to the myth about cats eating human’s soul while they are sleeping. Walker who eats cat’s soul contradicts the myth. Nakata who loves cats and he is able to communicate so therefore, kills Walker. "A moment later blood gushed out, wetting Jognnie Walker's hands and running down his vest."
j. Foil: Nakata is a foil character, because Kafka and Nakata don’t know that they exist, but Nakata has connected Kafka to Walker by killing him. The connection of Kafka and Walker is within their blood, yet Kafka does not know. Nakata allows the audience to realize the connection, without Kafka actually finding out in the book. "Johnnie Walker collapsed at Nakata's feet. He was on his side, curled up like a child." (When Nakata kills Johnnie and Kafka wakes up with blood on his chest.)
Characterization.
a. Direct Characterization: Murakami showed direct characterization in Nakata’s doctor. When Murakami first introduced Nakata, he described him as a calm and sharp doctor. “Dr. Nakazawa is so big boned and dark skinned he looks more like a farm fore than a doctor.” Another character would be, Nakata, he was described briefly at first but later on added on with indirect characterization. "Nakata was always serious and well mannered, with a pleasant smile."
b. Indirect Characterization: Murakami used actions to show the indirect characterization in Johnnie Walker. His violent act of eating cats showed him that he is an antagonist, “Johnnie Walker started whistling again. He finished cutting off Kawamura’s head and tossed the headless body into the garbage bag.” Kafka shows that he is living in a freewill, the ultimate freedom for a fifteen year old. "I could go to Hiroshima, Fukuoka, wherever, nothing is keeping me here."
The author uses both to approach just to get more diversity and meaning in to the book. Certain characters were given direct and others indirect. My impression is the same as most audience would think in each other the characters which was unquie and intriguing.
Syntax & Diction: The syntax and diction to characterize the story was not really used. Murakami didn’t explain all that thoroughly about how Kafka is. The author uses mostly indirect characterization to explain. The diction used explained how the characters were, but Murakami left characters like Johnnie Walkers
Static & Dynamic: Most of the characters in Kafka are static. Kafka never changes to become someone who he wasn't or he wants to change. Nakata never wanted to become normal again and continue talking to cats forever. No character in Kafka I would consider Dynamic because no one changes, everyone was the same from the beginning to the end. Kafka and Nakata were round characters because the audience fully understood them, but characters like Johnnie Walker and Miss Saeki were flat because they were side characters. Not important as Kafka or Nakata in the story line.
After reading: I would definitely want to meet Kafka because he is so young and determinate into finding his sister and mother. That type of energy is what I would want also. He is also,imaginative and wishful which makes him a little childish, but his dreams and wishes about loving Miss Saeki and finding his mother and sister is quite interesting to hear about. Also, Miss Saeki is very influential, she has a philosophical voice within her. ““Look at the painting,”” she says quietly, “keep looking at the painting, just like I did.””
