On The Unreliable Narration In Kazuo Ishiguro's When We Were Orphans

As one of the most celebrated writers in contemporary Britain,Kazuo.Ishiguro is often regarded as one of the "Three Giants of British Immigrant Writers",together with Salman Rushdie and V.S.Naipaul.He wins the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature and fast emerges as an important cultural figure of contemporary times.Shortlisted for Book Prize in 2000,Kazuo Ishiguro's fifth novel PWhen We Were Orphans has great literature significance both in its narrative techniques and themes.In When We Were Orphans,the first-person narrator and protagonist Christopher Banks uses the unreliable narration to recall his mental journey to search for his lost parents and homeland.Focusing on the narrative technique of unreliable narration,this thesis intends to employ the theories of narratology,memory and trauma to give a detailed analysis of the manifestation of the unreliable narration,the reason to use the unreliable narration and the healing of trauma through the unreliable narration.The introduction gives an overview of the author Kazuo Ishiguro and the researches on this novel at home and abroad.It briefly introduces the theories of narratology,memory and trauma.It also points out the feasibility of the study from the perspective of unreliable narration.Chapter one deeply analyzes the main manifestations of Banks'unreliable narration.Underreporting on the axis of facts and underreading on the axis of perception are the main two types of unreliable narration in the novel,which are manifested by Bank's repressed infatuation and his infantile perception.The second chapter explores the purposes that the narrator uses the unreliable narration.Behind the unreliable narration,Banks' effort to escape from his painful childhood shadows and the nostalgia for his idealized childhood are hidden.The obscurity,concealment and self-deception in the narrative process indicate that he has been reluctant to face his traumatic past,highlighting the long-term effects of traumatic experiences on his life.Chapter three discusses the therapeutic effects of the unreliable narration on the traumatized subject Banks.Although the unreliable narration may delay the process of trauma healing,Banks manages to achieve an emotional catharsis with the help of it.It is through these unreliable narration that Banks can take up his courage to gradually come out of illusions,to reach reconciliation with the identity of orphans and to accept the true past,so that he can live in the present and move toward the future.The conclusion gives a summary to the unreliable narration in the novel.Behind the unreliable narration lies Banks'suppressedtrauma,which includes his loss of parents,his suffering of infatuation and his confusion in self-identity.Thus the unreliable narration,the narrator's memory and trauma are inseparable.With the help of the unreliable narration,the narrator Banks finally gets out of his psychological trauma.Through unreliable narration,Kazuo Ishiguro manifests the narrator's predicament haunted by the painful experiences and probes into the possibility of presenting the ineffable tragedies into literature in order to heal the trauma.When We Were Orphans shows the anxiety of the cultural immigrants in the crisis of homelessness.and identity.In a sense,as a member of this group of people,Kazuo Ishiguro shows his humane concern for them in this novel.