Theme And Features In Kazuo Ishiguro's Fiction

In the latter half of the 20th century, post-colonialism, together with othertheories such as post-structuralism, post-modernism and feminism, has been prevalentin the Western academies and considered as major critical discourses. Thecontemporary immigrant writers, such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Vidiadhar Naipaul, SalmanRushdie, and Timothy Mo, attempt to describe the different experiences of unfamiliarcultures and values, explore the sense of loss, loneliness, and cultural identity thatrepresent the mental dilemmas that the immigrants have felt, and show much concernfor the source and effects of cultural or racial conflicts. In When We Were Orphans,Ishiguro, the British Japanese-born novelist, through successfully applying the themeof bicultural identity and writing technique, explores the crisis of cultural identity theimmigrants have encountered.This thesis analyzes the novelist's treatment of its theme and genre throughexploring the issues of cultural identities and techniques of writing. Thus it exploresthe crisis of bicultural identity, Banks, the protagonist in Orphans, has faced,demonstrates the author's focus on historical events and contemporary situation, andreconsiders the cultural cause and essence that have made the modern people deprivedof belongingness of identity, and thus have their identities torn between differentcultures or national tradition. It also explores the political, social and cultural effectsof decolonization, and manages to change the ways we think of the world after thecolonial age.This thesis consists of five parts. Introduction aims to give a brief survey of theauthor's literary career and his works, and makes clear the purpose and perspectivesof this thesis. From the retrospective view on the studies of Ishiguro, it is found thatthe theme of cultural identity and the unique features applied in Orphans havereceived little systematic discussion. Thus this thesis demonstrates the reconsiderationof Ishiguro's concern for humanity, moral values and cultural identity upon the issueof theme and genre of this novel.Chapter one mainly deals with the literary tradition and contexts of immigrantwritings in the 20th century, and the author's attitudes towards international fiction.Through analyzing the writing context of immigrant writers and images of Othernessthey have created in literature, this chapter firstly explores the mental states ofimmigrants and their crisis of cultural identity, reconsiders the mental confusion andalienation of immigrant writers caused by the clash of civilizations between the Eastand the West. Secondly it analyzes the creative attitudes and experience of Ishiguro's"international fiction", explores the major factors of being international art in thetradition of post-colonial context, and expounds the author's concern for multiculturalidentification through the Other's point of view.Chapter two demonstrates the crisis of identity the protagonist has encounteredand the issue of national or cultural identity. A brief survey of identity and itsreconstruction in the context of immigrant writing, especially the tradition anddevelopment in Western literature is firstly offered here. Secondly this chapterexplores the confliction of European and Orient cultures or ideology, and the crisis ofidentity it has caused. The protagonist, straddling both Chinese and British cultures,frequently reveals his Eurocentric perplex, and attempts to act as the savior of theOrient for the collapsing civilisation. On the other hand, Banks is suffering a lot fromthe crisis of identity together with his friend Akira, and turns out to be "part ofEngland, yet…outside it", which probably reflects Ishiguro's own state of culturalidentity. Lastly it analyzes the sources of cultural conflicts and solution to thesemental dilemmas. Because of his childhood trauma, Banks later returns to Shanghainot only search for his missing parents, but resolve the crisis of identity haunting himcontinuously and even rescue the collapsing civilization. Through observing thepursuit of identity, this thesis reconsiders the confusion of immigrants' identities, andexplores the author's exploration into multicultural identification.Chapter Three mainly explores the genre and characteristics of this novel. Thischapter firstly analyzes the unreliable first-person narrative of nostalgia, somewhatlike the psycho-realism, displays the inner world of the characters and their feelings,moral values and humanity, and then explores the effects of nostalgia for Banks toquest for his missing parents and cultural identity. Thus, readers can never be sure ofwhether the events he has retold are located in reality or just in his "mental world".Secondly it explains the use of parody and its comic effects. Here Ishiguro draws inthe style and tone from the detective fiction of the Golden Age, and makes Banksridiculous when he attempts to resolve not only the case of his missing parents, butavert the world-wide civilization from collapsing completely.Conclusion summarizes the theme of cultural identities and characteristics ofgenre, especially the unreliable narrative of nostalgia and usage of parody, andexposes the tragedy of depriving cultural identities of the contemporary immigrants.Thus the fiction of Ishiguro is related to the conventions and context of postcolonialwriting, reflects the author's own drifting state of cultural identity, and represents anew trend in the postwar immigrant fiction.