Kafka on the Shore #31

I know this is past the due date, but I just felt like blogging.

Preparing for finals:

I learned a bit about Haruki Murakami after doing some research. He had a lot of Western influences while growing up. That's why his stories are so full of them.

Miss Saeki and Nakata are not complete. For example, Nakata's shadow is light and Miss Saeki seems to be stuck in her past. They are not fully there in the present. Is it because they left part of themselves when they entered the entrance stone? Does the entrance stone take them to the deepest parts of their hearts? If so, it makes sense as to why Miss Saeki didn't want Kafka to stay in the entrance stone. She didn't want him to make the same mistakes. Kafka needed to live life in the present instead of burrowing deeper into his past memories and regrets. She helped free him in that regard.

The quotes I chose are:

"The more you think about illusions, the more they'll swell up and take on the form. And no longer be an illusion."

This relates to the "with dreams comes responsibilities" thing. With Kafka's dreams. He kept thinking about the prophecy and escaping, but in doing so, he got closer to it. He could never escape his fate.

"We're caught up in a whirlpool, pulled beyond time. Somewhere, we were struck by lightning. But not the kind of lightning you can see or hear."

 Water. Time. Lightning. So many recurrent images. Kafka and Miss Saeki are sucked into the axis of time? So... I can't explain this quote very well, but it means so much to me. They are both lost in their memories, their past. Kafka can't forgive his mother. Miss Saeki is still that 15 year old who is very much in love with her boyfriend. Her life ended when her boyfriend died. They are in that entrance stone. Their labyrinth. The deepest parts of their hearts. They can't escape until they let go. The lightning? That's what opened the entrance stone in the first place.