In A Wild Sheep Chase, Kafka on the Shore, and I’m sure many other of Murakami’s works, he seems to revisit this idea of a divided“two worlds.” This is continued in The Second Bakery Attack, with the description of Boku’s metaphorical volcano.
Murakami seems to split the story into “two worlds,” a more literal one, and a metaphorical one. Volcanoes build up before eventually imploding, and, to me, the volcano seems to symbolize the curse, as well as a lingering guilt, or a need to reconcile with a past life (or “world”) before it catches up to him. The first reference to this metaphorical volcano corresponds when Boku is struck with “a special kind of hunger” in the literal world:
“One, I am in a little boat, floating on a quiet sea. Two, I look down, and in the water I see the peak of a volcano thrusting up from the ocean floor. Three, the peak seems pretty close to the water’s surface, but just how close I cannot tell. Four, this is because the hyper-transparency of the water interferes with the perception of distance.” (38)
At this point, the volcano serves as a reminder of his looming guilt, but it is not fully clear yet. It is not until he recalls the bakery attack he committed in his past that he notes, “the clarity of the ocean water all around the boat gave [him] an unsettled feeling, as if a hollow had opened somewhere behind [his] solar plexus–a hermetically sealed cavern that has neither entrance nor exit” (39). However, it is not until after his wife reveals that he must be cursed that the “water was even clearer than before–much clearer” (43). The volcano disappears after Boku and his wife rob the McDonalds, and break the curse.
All in all, it seems as though the volcano was implemented into the story and order to communicate the need to deal with past mistakes, traumas, etc. of the past, or else the guilt (the volcano) will continue to loom and consume you–even in your new present life (or “world”).
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