Kafka, Nakata, and Miss Saeki all believe that their lives and actions are dictated by fate. Some actions seem to be motivated by the idea of predestination, but the acts themselves lead to the fate.

Saeed and Nadia become part of a community of refugees that support one another, despite all they've been through

Janina is motivated by anger at the indifference of the world to the damage they inflict on the environment. One could argue that she reacts so violently because she's carrying the responsibility of society at large to be angry for climate change.

To Janina, she is the egg against the wall. This is the truth in 2 ways. First, she is fighting against a system that is uncaring and unwilling to listen. Secondly, and sadly, her actions have done nothing to progress her mission. She is the epitome of Murakami's "egg".

To Janina, people who harm the natural world must pay with death. Never mind that the punishment doesn't fit the crime. She spent her whole life being ignored. If. it won't change anything, it certainly will be cathartic. She murders because she perceives the world as committing an act of injustice by not prosecuting her victims for their crimes.

This is not a story about refugees as much as it's a story about a man changing his perspective toward them and developing compassion. It's not about him helping them as much as it's about his realization that he has an obligation to be compassionate to them.

As the main characters experience insecurity with food and shelter, the rest of the world experiences insecurity in the form of conflict brought to their doorstep. They can no longer rely on borders or distance to feel secure, so they must find a way to adapt to this new world. Going back is not an option

The characters in this novel are thrust into a position of challenging authority against their will. They encounter a conflict in their home city, the first wall. They encounter blockades in London, the second wall, which they need to struggle against on a daily basis for survival. Then comes the third wall. The wall they built between themselves. At the end of the story, 50 years later, they begin to dismantle that one. This book takes this metaphor further. The doors become the egg against the walls that have constrained the borders of the world.

We experience many different betrayals in this book, but two come to mind here, First, Tambudzai joins with the mob as they attack her hostel mate, Gertrude. As a woman shunned by society, she should be defending her. Second, Tambudzai betrays and exploits her village and her family for her job. She does the unthinkable because she is viewing her village through colonialist eyes due to her time at college.

Tambudzai becomes the target of anger from her village. Anger she should have felt herself about what the tour company wanted her to do to her village.

As Richard learns of the plight of the refugees, he becomes angry. How can this country, not 80 years removed from the holocaust, be so hostile? Germans feel shame for their role in the Holocaust, but treat these migrants with open hostility? He has a right to be angry with his country.

Kafka goes through his journey relying on the compassion af Oshima, while Nakata relies on Hoshino. Whether by fate or simple human compassion, Oshima and Hoshino guide Kafka and Nakata to success in their missions.

Johnnie Walker serves as the Wall in this story. Kafka on the Shore comes across as allegorical to me, and Johnnie Walker represents an agent of chaos and disruption. Kafka and Nakata must fight against this to achieve their goals.

After being fired by Aimee, the narrator throws a grenade into Aimee's life and inadvertently, her own too. Ignoring the ethics of what Aimee does, the narrator arguably resorts to exact revenge through drastic action.

Yeong Hye has lived in accordance with her society's rules all her life until the trauma she carries causes her to reject it. She ignores beauty standards, shocking her husband, and begins rejecting meat. Her husband responds to both of these first with embarrassment, then abandoning her.

This theme is more nebulous, but Yeong Hey begins to imagine herself dissociated from humanity and imagines herself as a plant. In doing so, she embodies the characteristics of a plant.

Almost every main character goes against societal expectations. Mr. Nakata is expected to be a simple minded pensioner, yet becomes a catalyst for the events of the story by opening the Entrance Stone. Kafka is a teenager escaped from home, expected to go to school. When he drops out, he does more learning in the library than in school. Oshima is trans and gay. Those labels are used to oppress the LGBTQ community even today.

Richard quickly becomes part of the refugee community. In doing so, he becomes equipped with the tools to help with their struggles against the government and the fight against public opinion.

Tambudzai and the tour service employer feel indifferent toward the victims of their actions in favor of the money of foreign tourists. Tambudzai views her students with indifference that verges on scorn, eventually leading her to attack one of them. She and the tour service employer feel indifferent toward the victims of their actions in favor of the money of foreign tourists.

By book's end, the narrator develops compassion for Tracey where earlier there was anger, then pity. She begins to understand the struggles Tracey is going through, between being a single parent to navigating a child with learning disabilities. The narrator feels pity at first, with a plan to "rescue" Tracey, but then comes to understand that Tracey doesn't need rescuing. She needs understanding. Compassion is not a selfish act. Pity is, because while one feels bad for someone, they either do not help or help in ways that aren't helpful, like creating infrastructure in an area that doesn't have the means to support it, or adopting Tracey's children to rescue them. Both are self serving and do little to solve the undermining problem.

From Aimee adopting a wanted child to the ways black dance has been appropriated, there is much to talk about. The narrator talks about how the villagers do so much for her that goes unnoticed, like carrying water for her toilet to ensuring her comfort. These acts of kindness are taken for granted by the narrator, making her accessory to exploitation. At Kunta Kinteh Island, we witness the past and the present of white exploitation on Africans. A slavery museum stands among tourist gift shops and restaurants, locals are barred from interacting with the tourists, and the museum is barred off from actual impoverished villages. In the past, we took them. In the present, we take from them.

Both Tracey and the narrator grow up differently, but in similar circumstances of poverty and uncertainty. This fact makes it all the worse for the narrator to betray Tracey by leaving her behind.

One big "wall" in the world is the apathy that society has with the idea of something being "not my problem, not my responsibility'".

This book makes being indifferent a crime. There are no longer any geographical borders so one city's problem quickly becomes everyones problem. You don't have the option for indifference.

The system the refugees must navigate is unjust. Most of the laws are contradictory and are thoughtless at best, but very likely malicious. The refugees are a drain on the system and must be deported, yet they are begging for jobs. One refugee receives a citation for not showing proper ID, but is unable to fight it because the person is out of office. Richard asks what would be if he spent his last few euros on the bus fare, but this is met with indifference.

Germany's indifference to the plight of the migrants.

The world's indifference to Janina's world

In addition to her husband, Yeong Hey is betrayed by her brother in-law and her father. The brother in-law sexually exploits her, while her father tries to force feed her pork. Family is who you turn to, but they betrayed her.

In this scenario, intentional bureaucracy is the wall.

In Hye is the only person within the novel to treat her sister with humanity at a time when she most needs it. By now, it might be too late for Yeong Hye as she's become very ill.

Growing up with food and housing insecurity