How do the authors use metaphor to show the effects of control in Graham Greene’s “The Heart of the Matter” and Kazuo Ishiguro’s “When we were orphans”?

Within the two novels Colonialism, and Catholicism run as underlying metaphors throughout. Within Ishiguro’s novel the use of the “country house” detective genre creates a both gripping narrative and an extended metaphor for the effects of colonialism. Greene uses a third person narrative and looks at the effects of a loveless marriage and pity on one individual. Control is imposed by the locations of each novel, they cause the protagonists to be disconnected from society; it is stated in Greene’s novel that there is “no particular interest attached” to the protagonist. In Ishiguro’s the protagonist is described to be a “miserable loner” by his peers. In Ishiguro’s novel effects of control are imposed by an ignorance Christopher has (the protagonist) to the factors that gave him his class status, as a result he has a disillusioned nature causing him to act without extensive thought, putting himself in danger. In Greene’s novel Scobie’s job, duration of time spent in the country, and his relationships with others cause him to pity himself and those around him, because he feels after fifteen years of spending time in the country he hasn’t earned any money or risen above his station at work.   Through using the location, relationships and events going on around them as symbols, the authors show the effects of control through the protagonist’s actions.

In When we were Orphans Ishiguro points at the class gap in Shanghai in the 1920’s and 1930’s when the novel is set. He focuses on the International settlement in Shanghai at the time but in particular the ignorance of the bourgeoisie. With constant reference to “Shanghai” by the protagonist, we as the reader only have to look Christopher’s social class to understand why this repetition occurs. Christopher is part of the bourgeoisie implying immediately he has an ignorance to how the working class live because of his academic upbringing compared to having had to endure hard labour. When the protagonist is in Shanghai, Ishiguro points at the fact that Christopher does not acknowledge the war going on around him as much as his concern to solve his own interests, being the case of his missing parents. Dining in the “Palace Hotel” juxtaposed with living in conditions that are like an “ants nest” in the same city at the same time, highlights the arrogance in the bourgeoisie and within the protagonist who despite actually going behind enemy lines and putting his and his taxi drivers lives at risk states his case is “urgent” The element of control can be read here to be the protagonists will to solve his own mission, or, the problem within Shanghai is so great that a message resonates in the mind of the protagonist, a lead detective, to solve the problem of the class gap. His ignorance however doesn’t allow him to see it. The protagonists “mission” is a symbol for the ignorance and arrogance of the bourgeoisie. The taxi Christopher is in gets lost when it goes behind enemy lines, this represents how oblivious the bourgeoisie are to the problems of the working class, so much so that they are unable to navigate through them and be able to help.

Within the country itself the foreigners alien presence isn’t defined, their higher living standards cause bewilderment, and confusion in the form of a war. The war it can be said even symbolises the shame the nations feel of themselves, as they have allowed the settlement to gain such power within their homeland.

It can be said then that Christopher in Ishiguro’s novel is lives in a dreamlike world. Christopher finds a wounded Japanese soldier who he who he claims to be ‘Akira’, his childhood friend. The soldier never admits to be Akira, meaning he most likely isn’t. This highlights Christopher’s disillusioned and immature attitude in a situation that could cost him his life. The fact that he convinces himself to believe that it is his friend highlights a theme that recurs in both novels, there is a longing in both protagonists to be connected with their previous unbroken selves. Christopher longs to be reunited with his family as his childhood wasn’t lived out properly. Scobie longs to be reunited with himself to the time before he was married.

 

The effects of control can be seen in the way Scobie arranges his office, “A table, two kitchen chairs, a cupboard, some rusty handcuffs… a filing cabinet”, the description used is in a list format, the numerical way in which the things are ordered, are as if when walking into the room, they are seen in that particular order. This resonates two recurring themes within the novel of routine and order.

Scobie’s relationship with his wife has developed a routine. “Comfort, like the act of sex, developed a routine”, this description of how he interacts with his wife illustrates his lack of compassion, that the love he had is gone, and a routine has developed for showing affection. This implies that no thought or emotion goes into the act of intercourse, and that it is an act to ensure his mind is at ease knowing his wife feels like she is loved.

The order element is shown through Scobie’s occupation as a policeman. The job causes him to lose compassion for others and only care about his own interests. Scobie’s duty is to inspect ships and retrieve illegal documents, because of this he doesn’t show any emotion toward a Portuguese Captain of the “Esperanca”. The ship’s name translates to ‘hope’ in English, Greene uses this device to illustrate divine intervention, in itself an element of control as God’s power is far superior than mans. As the novel is set in wartime, procedures must be followed correctly. The ship, and the Captain who is a fellow Catholic of Scobie’s act as symbols of God’s hope to test Scobie’s Faith against his duty, and highlight which factor is the most controlling. The captain has a hidden letter written to his daughter. The phrase “it’s a formality” said by Scobie ties both routine and order as his job requires him to search, recover, and abolish anything illegal found aboard. This phrase foreshadows how the conversation between the two men will result. “It can’t be done” said again by Scobie to the Captain. This shows his lack of compassion toward a “fellow countryman” even though it says in the bible “if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”, he is caused then by his duty to his work to go against his religion completely, which questions his morals as a “man of God” [1] .     

 

The structure of the Heart of the Matter is made up of three books, with a varying number of parts, and chapters in each. Greene’s regimented style, is in itself a symbol of his own life, where he worked for the Foreign office in Sierra Leone during World War 2. An informative and accurate way of writing is used by the protagonist within his diary. Posted abroad with an army rank and a code to live by can be said to have been an element of control upon Greene, influencing how he wrote the novel. Scobie logs down minor details in his diary. The details can be deemed pointless from the readers, or another characters perspective, but the date, time and temperature however all imply a sense of entrapment. “November 3…Temperature at 2. P.M. 91o”, these three factors can be said to be the only factors in his life he has control of, as they change each day he writes new ones. The metaphor here being colonialism, and the sense of entrapment it imposes on the British who had to live in colonial towns. This caused them to become mentally isolated and ostracised from British culture. Scobie is in the country for “fifteen years”, he describes white people as looking like “albinos” in the first part of the novel. Fifteen years ago he says “he had thought his wife beautiful.” To say he ‘thought’ gives the idea that he no longer loves her, and from being stationed there for so long he has formed a hatred to the British white people who sent him there, and he no longer feels part of British society. A sense of regret resonates within Scobie’s character as he states “fifteen wasted years”, implying he has a longing for change, and with a tone of despair foreshadows his suicide at the end of the novel.

 

His job as a police officer requires him to follow the law, and log down minor details to be accountable for his own actions. He claims he does not lie in the diary and because of this a sense of vulnerability is formed. He talks of his mistress in the book which increases his accountability for committing adultery. His wife admits at the end of the novel that she knew of his mistress “It’s why I came home”, not from the diary, but from “Mrs Carter” through a letter. This sense of having no privacy within the town, forms the comparison between the town and a prison yard, a place where different inmates, who symbolise the British within the town talk of each other’s problems as it is the only thing they can talk about in a foreign country. The sense of isolation only becomes greater because people watch what they say, and how they act more closely.

In Ishiguro’s novel the narrative is in the form of a dramatic monologue. Told to the reader in a clipped and restrained style; “It was an accepted feature of our lives to be visited from time to time by an official from Morgan Brook and Byatt”. The phrase does not indicate, and isn’t justified why it is “an accepted feature”, from the exposition to the end of the novel it is never explicitly said why the protagonist expects the reader to have a knowledge of prior events. In all of Ishiguro’s writing this is a recurring theme, most of his novels use this of style of language, it highlights a denial within the protagonist that isn’t faced and as a result forms of a sympathy within the reader for Christopher. The book reads as a murder mystery, key facts are withheld from the reader and are gradually revealed piecing together a story that seems increasingly irrelevant in the light of war. The protagonist’s innocence allows a murder mystery novel to accompany a piece that is a metaphor for colonialism.

Within both novels as a result of being controlled both protagonists are forced to become unintentionally self-centred.