The Intertextual Elements of Parodies in A Pale View of Hills

Ishiguro recounts the immigration experiences of the narrator Etsuko and her friend Sachiko through its polyphonic structure to parody the typical opera Madame Butterfly. Compared with Etsuko， the image of Westernized housewife surfaces to readers imagination， echoing the parodied geisha Cio-Cio-San. The suicide complex in the parodying text continues the self-aphasic of Cio-Cio-San resulting from cultural hybridization， which parallels the similar state of living alone and suffering from the estrangement of their own families. The orientalist scrutiny conceives of Keikos suicide as national instinct， disregarding that the popularity of exaggerating films of shomin-geki and samurai can not confirms the suicide complex the Western have imagined. Once people are classified as certain cultural belongings， they will be regarded as different species， such as the respective British and Japanese national ethnicity represented by Niki and Keiko.

The immigrants such as Etsuko and Keiko treat their homelands as a mixture of memory， speculation and imagination， who “are not and will never be unified culturally in the old sense， because they are inevitably the products of several interlocking histories and cultures， belonging at the same time to several homes – and thus to no one particular home” （Gilroy， 362）. The oriental immigrants suffering from the conflicts of different cultures reluctantly identify with their western tradition and even posit themselves in the predicament of anxiety and despair， which forces them to respect and combine the bi-cultural legacies to reestablish their new self-definition.   Floating outside the culture of her migrated homeland， Keiko becomes the vagrant exile away from her imagined homeland and even excluded from her own family， “Keiko had retreated into that bed room， shutting us out of her life. She rarely came out […] had no friends， and the rest of us were forbidden entry into her room […] when by some impulse Keiko ventured down into our living room， we would all feel a great tension” （53）. Readers recognize that the private space Keiko has resolutely safeguarded haunts the survivors like a curse， and the little girl swinging in Etsukos nightmare prefigures her anxious feeling of guilt stepping from the negligence of her elder daughters happiness.

Despite her immersing in western culture， Keiko adheres to her oriental legacy and its identification， and forces her to undertake the compulsively embedded position of subordinates， suffering from the loss of equally communicating with others， and even the discrimination and estrangement from her sister and stepfather. Confronted with alienated identification， the immigrant Others have never enjoyed any fruits of their integrating into locale society， for its communal culture is endowed with its unique social tradition， cultural values and ideology. As the inheritor of bi-cultural legacies， Niki represents the compulsive or voluntary phenomenon of post-war migration， and foreshadows the currently alleged international identity-narrative of post-colonial society. The hybrid identity of Niki posits herself outside the ambience of extreme nationalism and cultural prejudice， consoling the disturbed soul of her mother. The dilapidation of courtyard insinuates the heart-breaking family relations and the conditions of Keikos being neglected， and stimulates Niki to reflect upon the national categories her father and sister respectively represents， which endows her the impartiality to revalue her family history and the mistreatment of Etsuko towards her daughter.

Seen from Etsukos memorial labyrinth， the pathetic and sorrowful tragedy gradually looms， but its consequent conflicts and reconciliation of cultural ideology will continue to haunt others. The fragments of memory have been infused into the traumatic reenacting of realistic living status， “what animates such appeals is not only disagreement about what happened in the past and what the past was， but uncertainty about whether the past really is past， over and concluded， or whether it continues， albeit in different forms” （Said， 3）. Such individuals of diaspora encounter their confusing and temporary transformations of identity， and attempt to reestablish the new international narrative which exceeds the anger and mania of subordinates to concentrate on the private happiness and restrained emotions of secular society.

Ishiguro posits the cultural identification and confusion of immigrants in the context of historical events， and enacts the contemporary pilgrim to integrate into other cultures through Etsukos Freudian defense mechanism of “remembering” and “mourning” elaborated by the parodied text. Seduced by similar American soldiers， Etsuko and CioCio-San react passively with distinct attitudes which provides the new oriental context for Ishiguros identity narrative. The ethnocentric complex of Madame Butterfly produces comical and discordant comparison and its consequent anxiety of textual influence. Despite her disgust of the obscene and laziness of her drunkard lover， Etsuko voluntarily chooses to marry into foreign land. Confronted with the dominant position of western culture， the narrator Etsuko suffers the collective aphasia of inferiority complex， but to attain her self-decision of national ideology through combing her specific national characteristics and ethnocentric hierarchy.

Instead of extolling her choice of self-serving prospects， the narrating Etsuko finds herself the victim of external events， fatefully determined by the outer world of post-war Nagasaki， alone and powerless to react against her tragic trajectory. The similar American soldiers Frank or Franklin act as an intertextuality of parody in relation to the opera Madame Butterfly by Puccini， who both seduce and later abandon the Japanese female protagonists Cio-Cio-San and Etsuko. Barry Lewis compares the “kujibik stand” episode where Mariko wants to win a basket for her kittens with the settings of “exotic costuming， its sets of flake cherry blossoms and sliding rice-paper screens” （Lewis， 23）， and emphasizes their mutual fictive quality of artifacts born out of memories and imaginations. Distinct from the innocent image of the parodied oriental otherness， Etsuko is clearly aware of her lover Franks quality of lecherous drunkard， and regards him only as the means of escaping or avoiding her family responsibility-the care of her daughter， just like her repressed desire to confess， “Id go to America one day， that Id go there to become a film actress” （109）. Etsukos desire or in Lacans term “absence” of self-identity， infuses into the specific objects or symbols and leads to her permanent anxiety to approximate the object-fulfilling complex.

This cultural intertextuality applies the parody of colonial and figurative signifier to deviate and subvert its system of overwhelming ideology， but its complicated complex of coexisting obedience and resistance produces their hesitation or stasis. Even if eager to escape from Nagasaki， Etsuko consciously realizes that her romantic love should be betrayed and abandoned， and feels the oscillating choice of her migration. To readers surprise， Etsuko immediately posits her in the dilemma of flirting with American soldier to serve her selfish prospects， which contributes to her later confession of ignoring her motherhood leading to the scapegoated fact that Keiko “wouldt be happy over there” （176）. The narrative of autobiographical acts is so internalized personally and culturally that the narrators “seem ‘natural and ‘universal characteristics of persons”， and the competing “ideological notions of personhood coexisting at any historical moment” （Smith and Watson， 77）. Whereas American soldiers Pinkerton and Frank similarly regard their eastern lovers as the innocent and delicate Others awaiting their white knights to save， the invaded Others Etsuko and Cio-Cio-San can only alienate their traditional morality and religious belief to reconstruct their new identity belongings. Just as the parodied Cio-Cio-San is fascinated with her lover Pinkerton and even disengages herself with her family and replaces her Shintoism for Christianity， the image of intertextuality Etsuko appreciates American democratic rights and even at all times talks of its household patterns and fashions， “The Americans come. They abandon our system without hesitation. They decided our schools would be like American schools， the children should learn what American children learn. And the Japanese welcomed it all” （66）. Despite the paralleled trajectory of their life choice， the contemporary Other Setsuko transforms into woman knight to save her American soldier from his living mires， and starts her adventurous journey to foreign land at the expense of abandoning her Japanese family and sacrificing the happiness of her daughter.

While writing her confessional narrative， Nagasaki remains the psychological centre of Etsukos universe. Despite her living abroad for several decades， she instinctively returns to her youth and past expediences to compare with the current living state. The exaggerating portrayal of parodied text Madame Butterfly prefigures the later questioning and defying the conventions of normative autobiographical fiction to express the narrators critical opinions. Ishiguros reflection upon the ideological defaults to prevent the reenacting of historical tragedies will provide more justifiable self-definition for individuals in muti-cultural conditions.

References：

[1]Gilroy， P. The Black Atlantic： Modernity and Double Consciousness[J]. London and New York： Verso，1993.

[2]Ishiguro， Kazuo. A Pale View of Hills[J]. New York： Vintage，1990.

[3]Lewis， Barry. Kazuo Ishiguro， Manchester： Manchester University Press，2000.

[4]Said， E. W. Culture and Imperialism[J]. New York： Vintage Books， 1993.

[5]Smith， Sidonie and Julia Watson. Reading Autobiography： A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives[M]. Minneapolis： University of Minnesota Press， 2010.

【作者簡介】李厥云（1979-），男，山东济南人，山东工艺美术学院副教授，研究生，研究方向：当代英美文学方向。