Talking Cats (Symbol)
In Kafka on the Shore, talking cats are symbols for the existence of a parallel world. After his childhood coma, Nakata finds he has become a shell of a person, suffering cognitive impairment and losing most of his desires. However, he gains the ability to speak with cats. For much of the novel, this curious detail goes unexplained. However, when Hoshino discovers that he too can talk to cats, Hoshino learns from Toro that they can hear each other because they are "on the border of this world, speaking a common language." Having opened the portal to the other world by flipping the entrance stone, Hoshino becomes more like Nakata, existing on the borderline between standard reality and the supernatural alternate reality that exists alongside it.
Colonel Sanders (Symbol)
The character of Colonel Sanders is a symbol of Western influence in Japan. As the United States expanded its economic influence in Japan following the Second World War, Japanese culture became Americanized, flooded with American consumer products and shifting to Western ways of life. The metaphysical character of an American fast-food mogul who also works as a pimp is symbolic of America's crude and capitalist infiltration into the Japanese subconscious.
The Forest (Symbol)
The deep forest around Oshima's cabin is a symbol for the subconscious. Although Kafka is initially terrified to enter the forest, he discovers that in order to overcome his fears of his Oedipal curse, he must venture deep into the forest and confront his subconscious. After the ghost-like soldiers show him through the entrance to the limbo-like other world, Kafka finds that there is nothing to fear in the other world. He is able to make peace with the fact that his mother and sister deserted him. Having gone deep into the forest and deep into himself, Kafka returns to the world with a sense of peace and acceptance.
Oedipal Curse (Motif)
Kafka's Oedipal curse is a motif that reoccurs throughout the novel. Kafka's story parallels the Oedipus myth, beginning with how his father predicts Kafka will kill him and have sex with his mother. The motif suggests that fate is inescapable, as Kafka will meet his fate no matter where he travels and what choices he makes. Because of the presence of surrogate figures like Nakata, Miss Saeki, and Sakura, Kafka unwittingly fulfills the prophecy, just as Oedipus unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.
The Entrance Stone (Symbol)
The entrance stone that Nakata and Hoshino locate by a shrine in the woods is a symbol of the porousness between alternate realities. Just as talking cats represent the border between parallel worlds, the white LP-sized entrance stone is the physical device that, when flipped, creates a metaphysical opening between worlds. Once the stone is flipped, Kafka can enter the limbo village deep in the forest and confront his subconscious fears. Once he has done so, Hoshino needs to flip the stone back in order to prevent evil entities from moving between the world of the living and the world of dreams, the subconscious, and the dead.
