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A Letter to Oshima, from 'Kafka on the Shore'

Respected Oshima,

I remember you because you taught me a new word, 'Phallocentric'. I don't know why, but I specifically remember you for this word. It's funny that you, being a transgender person, taught me this word. I was caught off-guard when it was revealed that you were transgender. I have used the word 'phallocentric' several times in conversations, which always reminded me of you. other people have also appreciated the vocabulary I learned through the book. You are from my favourite book, Kafka on the Shore, and after reading it, I became an avid reader and I feel that reading became a passion for me. 

Even though you are not my favourite character from the novel, I have always felt a strong desire to have a talk with you because of your taste in music and impeccable fashion sense. 

I remember that night when you were driving Kafka to the mountains and the way you drove recklessly, because you use death as an inspiration and the concept of death amuses you. This was very fascinating for me, and made me drawn to you out of all the side characters in the novel.

In the beginning, you seemed really reserved, but gradually, you opened up to Kafka with your deep and dark thoughts about death, and more interesting things that you have going on in that beautiful mind of yours. 

The deep conversations that you had with Kafka in the beginning about soulmates, and the split between the mind and the body, were ones with concepts that I found really beautiful, and these opened my eyes to a new direction of a thought process. It also showed me more about your view of the world and how you felt that everyone is constantly looking for someone else to complete them and give them the sense of feeling whole again.

You have also shown your struggles with prejudice and discrimination, which you faced as a transgender gay man. The way you expressed how you found solace in classical music and the library, reading and listening to classical music while guiding Kafka in his journey, along with teaching him about literature, made me wish that I could meet someone like you in real life. 

I guess this is the closest I can get to talking to you, Oshima. Farewell, until I read Kafka on the Shore again.

Yours sincerely,

Sakshi Powar    

This letter was one of the top ten entries in the P.S. I Love Literature Letter Writing Competition of The Novel Room, our Book Discussion Club. Students wrote letters to characters, writers, poets, books as part of a creative review and response activity, and these were read out in the session on April 29, 2021.


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