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Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 2023, 6(6); doi: 10.25236/AJHSS.2023.060602.

Trauma of Female Characters in a Pale View of Hills: War and Family

Author(s)

Xinke Song

Corresponding Author:
Xinke Song
Affiliation(s)

School of Foreign Languages, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China

Abstract

In A Pale View of Hills, a female immigrant Etsuko recalls her experiences living in Nagasaki, Japan, after World War II. A series of characters in the novel are more or less affected by the war and show some psychological trauma. However, war traumas are not the only ones. In addition to the war trauma, the female characters also suffer from the "invisible" trauma from within the family. As a stay-at-home wife, Etsuko was tolerant and reserved for the war trauma. As a mother, Sachiko's war trauma has paralyzed her sense of duty and responsibility; As a daughter, Mariko's trauma cannot be seen by her mother, which eventually leads to her self-destruction. This paper attempts to analyze the double traumas suffered by Etsuko, Sachiko and Mariko from war and family, and study how they bear and deal with traumas under different family ethical identities. Through the interpretation of the double trauma suffered by the female characters, readers can better understand the attitude towards trauma and the choice of life of the female characters in Kazuo Ishiguro's novels.

Keywords

Trauma; War; Family

Cite This Paper

Xinke Song. Trauma of Female Characters in a Pale View of Hills: War and Family. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 6: 4-8. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2023.060602.

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