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Kafka Tamura
Nakata is one of two protagonists of the story, serving as the subject of half of the chapters in the book (although, unlike Kafka’s chapters, Nakata’s chapters are written in the third person). During World War II, when he was a young boy, Nakata was struck by a mysterious illness that left him in a coma for many weeks. When he awoke, Nakata had lost all of his memories as well as the ability to read. As an adult, Nakata leads a solitary life in Tokyo. Because of the childhood incident, Nakata has lost the ability to understand abstract concepts, and sometimes speaks in the third person, which many people he meets find disconcerting. He supplements his government subsidy with money that he earns using a special power: Nakata can speak to cats, and uses this talent to find missing pets for a small fee. Nakata can’t remember what happened to him during the coma, but he has a vague feeling that his mind briefly travelled to another world, a belief that intensifies over the course of the novel. Nakata feels guided by fate to find the mysterious entrance stone—but even he doesn’t know what it is.
Satoru Nakata Quotes in Kafka on the Shore
The Kafka on the Shore quotes below are all either spoken by Satoru Nakata or refer to Satoru Nakata. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 8
Quotes
It might sound strange to put it this way, but it seemed like the real Nakata had gone off somewhere, leaving behind for a time the fleshy container, which in his absence kept all his bodily functions going at the minimum level needed to preserve itself. The term “spirit projection” sprang to mind.
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Chapter 20
Quotes
Experience had taught him it was better not to let on that he didn’t know how to read. Because if he did, people stared at him like he was some kind of monster.
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Chapter 32
Quotes
“I used to be normal, just like everybody else. But something happened and I ended up like a container with nothing inside.”
“Yeah, but if you look at it like that we’re all pretty much empty, don’t you think?”
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Chapter 48
Quotes
“I think that whenever something happens in the future I’ll always wonder—What would Mr. Nakata say about this? What would Mr. Nakata do? I’ll always have someone I can turn to. And that’s kind of a big deal, if you think about it. It’s like part of you will always live inside me.
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Satoru Nakata Quotes in Kafka on the Shore
The Kafka on the Shore quotes below are all either spoken by Satoru Nakata or refer to Satoru Nakata. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 8
Quotes
It might sound strange to put it this way, but it seemed like the real Nakata had gone off somewhere, leaving behind for a time the fleshy container, which in his absence kept all his bodily functions going at the minimum level needed to preserve itself. The term “spirit projection” sprang to mind.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20
Quotes
Experience had taught him it was better not to let on that he didn’t know how to read. Because if he did, people stared at him like he was some kind of monster.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32
Quotes
“I used to be normal, just like everybody else. But something happened and I ended up like a container with nothing inside.”
“Yeah, but if you look at it like that we’re all pretty much empty, don’t you think?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 48
Quotes
“I think that whenever something happens in the future I’ll always wonder—What would Mr. Nakata say about this? What would Mr. Nakata do? I’ll always have someone I can turn to. And that’s kind of a big deal, if you think about it. It’s like part of you will always live inside me.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
