Kazuo Ishiguro Writing Styles in When We Were Orphans

This Study Guide consists of approximately 36 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of When We Were Orphans.

Kazuo Ishiguro Writing Styles in When We Were Orphans

This Study Guide consists of approximately 36 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of When We Were Orphans.
This section contains 1,261 words
(approx. 4 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the When We Were Orphans Study Guide

Point of View

The whole story is told in the first person, with Christopher Banks as the narrator. This perspective is critical, because Ishiguro's intention is to show the unreliability of memory and the misperceptions of self. There are several times in the book when Christopher is annoyed, because someone from his past describes him as being other than whom he remembers himself to be. Christopher perceives himself to be one who, for the most part, has been able to keep up a good front, always maintaining respectability. This is challenged by people making off-hand remarks. He is immediately offended by them and explains it away as being a product of the other person's need to protect their self-image.

It does become apparent, however, that Christopher does in fact lose his demeanor from time to time. The first person narrative allows the reader to know only as much as...

(read more)

This section contains 1,261 words
(approx. 4 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the When We Were Orphans Study Guide
Copyrights
BookRags
When We Were Orphans from BookRags. (c)2024 BookRags, Inc. All rights reserved.