The giant, once well buried, now stirs. When soon he rises, as surely he will, the friendly bonds between us will prove as knots young girls make with the stems of small flowers. Men will burn their neighbours’ houses by night. Hang children from trees at dawn. The rivers will stink with corpses bloated from their days of voyaging. (Buried Giant 312)
These lines are evocative of the vindictive nature of human beings that reminds us of the Biblical phrase ‘eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth’. This spirit of vengeance can be traced in the Old English Heroic poems, for example, Beowulf, The Battle of Maldon etc. So, Kazuo Ishiguro in The Buried Giant has explored a new world where magical and realist elements co-exist. The boundary is so tenuous that we cannot separate these elements from each other. Set in a post-Arthurian Britain, with ‘Britons’ living in peace alongside Saxons, the novel was published in 2015, almost as a corollary after the publication of a science fiction dystopia, Never Let Me Go (2005). The Buried Giant takes recourse to a world where adventurous journeys are undertaken by warriors like Wistan, a Saxon warrior from a remote village, to kill a she-dragon, Querig in order to restore the memory of a long-forgotten past. Yet the novel does not stick to the ‘tradition of dragon-slayers’ in British fiction because the end of the dragon does not ensure the beginning of an era of peace and harmony. Instead, it marks the possibility of conflicts in future between the Britons and the Saxons. In this respect, the novel oscillates between certainty and uncertainty while dealing with the issues of guilt, treachery, war and peace.
There are four parts in this novel. Part one comprises five chapters; part two three chapters; part three six chapters and part four three chapters respectively. Chapters nine and fourteen are quite revelatory in the sense that they have exposed the merciless treachery and brutality hidden underneath the suave exterior of peace and togetherness. It is painful to realize how peace is restored at the cost of endless slaughter of human beings. Gawain’s reverie is that trope which is subtly employed by Ishiguro to expose this facade of peace. It also brings to the fore the theme of appearance and reality by excavating the buried past of the characters. So, Axl, the so called ‘Knight of Peace’ is ultimately turned out to be a traitor and slaughterer: “It was I won their trust where first there was only fear and hatred. Today our deeds make me a liar and a butcher, and I take no joy in Arthur’s victory” (BG 224).
The abrupt beginning of the novel draws its readers’ attention. It establishes the intimacy between the reader and the narrator, a boatman. It marks that intersection where the voices of the author, reader and narrator merge together: “You would have searched a long time for the sort of winding lane or tranquil meadow for which England later became celebrated…” (BG 9). This technique applied by Ishiguro reminds us of Charlotte Bronte’s direct address to the readers in Jane Eyre. It is the elderly couple’s journey in search of their lost son that marks the focal point of the story. Like other victims of the mist of forgetfulness they too could not remember the sort of life they have been leading. Yet they have strong determination to find out their son. It creates the occasion for the storyline to progress and to reach to its climactic point when the fierce she-dragon is slain in its cairn by Wistan. It reminds us of Beowulf’s slaying of Grendel’s mother in her cavern.
Despite the fact that there was friendship and mutual respect between the Britons and the Saxons, the elderly couple, Axl and Beatrice had to lead an ‘isolated life’ in a sprawling warren devoid of any candlelight and ‘less protected from elements’ because of the ruthless edict of the Saxon community. One also observes how Wistan is hated and isolated by his fellow Britons. These incidents are indicative of secret hostility and jealousy cherished by the two races against each other. In this context we can interpret the mist of forgetfulness as an instrument in the hands of Lord Brennus to repress this brutal instinct of two arch rivals. In Freudian terms the mist acts as the Superego which always tries to bury the giant which symbolizes monstrosity and brutality. The mist is responsible for the amnesia and people relentlessly strive to recover their memory. “For in this community the past was rarely discussed. … I mean that it had somehow faded into a mist as dense as that which hung over the marshes” (BG 13). Memory plays an important role in this novel. It becomes a litmus test for the characters when they strive to come to terms with their past. The restoration of memory always coincides with the awakening of the guilt-ridden consciousness. In spite of their ‘unusual devotion to each other’, there lies a secret resentment between Axl and Beatrice. In the last chapter it is revealed that an act of ‘small infidelity’ on the part of Beatrice compels Axl to stop her visiting their son’s grave. He washed his dirty linen in public by saying: “I spoke and acted forgiveness, yet kept locked through long years some small chamber in my heart that yearned for vengeance” (BG 327).
Even in this God forsaken land plagued by ogres and dragons, people are much concerned with their survival by securing food and firewood: “How to get food out of the hard ground; how not to run out of firewood; how to stop the sickness that could kill a dozen pigs in a single day and produce green rashes on the cheeks of children” (BG 9). People are susceptible to their human frailties and they also believe in superstitions. So, they refuse to provide shelter to Edwin saved from the fiend’s clutches by Wistan. The boatman’s words draw our interest and remind us of Charon who ferries people across the river to the world of oblivion. He puts forward a condition before ferrying: “Occasionally a couple may be permitted to cross to the island together, but this is rare. It requires an unusually strong bond of love between them” (BG 47). His mysterious power can see through deceptions and can trace ‘resentment, anger, even hatred or a great barrenness’. He has emphasized the ‘Abiding love that has endured the years’ and go beyond the cocooned existence.
The Buried Giant questions the official version of history by unravelling the truth buried underneath. Though Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s last surviving knight, said that “Our beloved Arthur brought lasting peace here between Briton and Saxon” (BG 122). Wistan challenges the very strategy of bringing it: “By what strange skill did your great king heal the scars of war in these lands that a traveller can see barely a mark or shadow left of them today” (BG 122). He exposed the secret motive of Lord Brennus behind this façade of peace. So, remembrance of things past can awake the buried giant, ‘dark hatred as bottomless as the sea’. One is caught in a dilemma to choose between forgetting and remembering: whether to forget one’s past in order to live peacefully or to remember the guilt-ridden past and to face the adversity. Even Father Jonus warns Beatrice regarding the fading of the mist: “Take care, for it’s a secret guarded jealousy by some, though it’s may be for the best it remains so no longer” (BG 169). War only continues in another form. Even Sir Gawain admits it: “Where could it end? Babes growing to men knowing only days of war” (BG 287). In spite of his realization, Sir Gawain makes his last attempt to convince Wistan regarding the necessity of the mist in a land racked by war. Wistan subverts this false consciousness: “Foolishness, sir. How can old wounds heal while maggots linger so richly? Or a peace hold for ever built on slaughter and a magician’s trickery?” (BG 299). The irony stems from the fact that despite the knowledge of this truth human beings hesitate to confront what is inevitable. The idea of mercy and forgiveness can sustain humanity but the irony of the situation lies in the fact that it only gives men ‘license to pursue their greed, their lust for land and blood, knowing a few prayers and a little penance will bring forgiveness and blessing” (BG 163). The parting message of the elderly couple to Edwin is worth mentioning: “Master Edwin! We both beg this of you. In the days to come, remember us. Remember us and this friendship when you were still a boy” (BG 316).
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